Warren Skaaren (March 9, 1946 – December 28, 1990) was an American screenwriter and film producer.^[1]

Career

Skaaren was appointed by Governor Preston Smith as executive director of the newly formed Texas Film Commission on December 9, 1970.^[2] His first success was getting the film The Getaway (1972) shot in Texas. Skaaren later formed FPS Inc., a television and film productions services company in Dallas. The company handled location shooting for the television series Dallas and worked on the film Tender Mercies (1983).^[3] Meanwhile, he was pivotal behind the distribution of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), to which he claimed credit for crafting the film's title.^[2] The success of the film enabled Skaaren to leave the Film Commission and begin his career in the film industry.^[4]

In 1983, Skaaren was approached by a Texas businessman to write a script about the Gurkhas, who were Nepalese soldiers serving in the British Army. He spent one year writing the spec script titled Of East and West.^[2] Although the script was never produced, it gained Skaaren an agent, Mike Simpson at the William Morris Agency, and attracted then-Paramount Pictures executive Dawn Steel's attention, who hired Skaaren to rewrite the screenplay of Fire with Fire (1986).^[5] He was later hired to rewrite Top Gun (1986) and credited as an associate producer having compiled the last ten drafts.^[6] Among his revisions were changing Kelly McGillis's character from being a gymnast into a military instructor.^[2]

Skaaren later wrote Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), Beetlejuice (1988), and Batman (1989). At the time of his death, he had completed a script titled Beetlejuice in Love.^[3]

Personal life

Skaaren was a native of Rochester, Minnesota. He graduated from Rice University in Houston, Texas in 1969.^[2] He served as the Student Association President from 1968–1969 and was a member of Hanszen College. He moved to Austin, Texas and began working at the Texas Department of Health and Human Services.^[6]

He married Helen Griffin on March 7, 1969. He and his wife fostered seven children,^[6] and he helped found the Travis County Foster Parents Association. He also served on the board of directors of the Deborah Hay Dance Company. In 1986, he established a private charitable trust, the Laurel Foundation, and was involved with the East West Center, a macrobiotic dietary provider.^[7]

He died of bone cancer on December 28, 1990. He was 44 years old.^[8]

Legacy

Skaaren's archive resides at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin.^[7]

In 2021, it was reported that Rochester Community and Technical College (of which Skaaren was an alumnus) had received a $75,000 gift from Skaaren's trust fund, which funded scholarships for students in need of financial aid.^[9]

Filmography

• Fire with Fire (with Bill Phillips, Paul Boorstin and Susan Boorstin) (1986)
• Beverly Hills Cop II (with Larry Ferguson) (1987)
• Beetlejuice (with Michael McDowell) (1988)
• Batman (with Sam Hamm) (1989)

References

Further reading

• Macor, Alison (2017). Rewrite Man: The Life and Career of Screenwriter Warren Skaaren. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-75945-9. JSTOR 10.7560/2759459.

External links

• Warren Skaaren at IMDb