Zak Penn (born March 23, 1968) is an American screenwriter. Penn wrote and directed Incident at Loch Ness and The Grand, wrote the script for The Incredible Hulk, co-wrote the scripts for X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, and the story for The Avengers. With Michael Karnow, Penn is the co-creator of the television series Alphas on the Syfy network.
Early life Penn was born in New York. He is the son of New York businessman and lawyer Arthur Penn, who led the acquisition of the Capital Markets Assurance Corporation from Citicorp.
Zak Penn graduated from Wesleyan University in 1990. His screenplay for PCU was based on his experiences at the Eclectic Society house.
Career
Films that Penn has been involved in writing include Last Action Hero, X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Elektra. Penn wrote early drafts of Hulk, The Incredible Hulk, The Avengers and Free Guy.
Penn is also a jury member for the digital studio Filmaka, a platform for undiscovered filmmakers to show their work to industry professionals.Filmaka Jury Member Zack Penn, Filmaka.com.
In July 2012, Avatar Press released the first issue of Penn's first comic book, Hero Worship. The six-issue series is co-written with Scott Murphy (scriptwriter for Star Wars: The Clone Wars) and illustrated by artist Michael DiPascale. The comic series centers on Zenith, an indestructible hero who has fans following every disaster, trying to catch a glimpse of the ultimate celebrity and risking their own lives in the process. One fan becomes so obsessed that it leads to the development of his own powers.
He directed the 2014 documentary film Atari: Game Over.
Filmography Films YearTitleCredited asNotes Director Writer1993Last Action Hero Co-story writer with Adam Leff1994PCUCo-screenwriter with Adam Leff1997Men in Black1998AntzStory consultant1999Inspector GadgetCo-screenwriter with Kerry Ehrin2000Charlie's AngelsScript revisions2001Behind Enemy LinesCo-screenwriter with David Veloz2002Reign of Fire2003X2Co-story writer with David Hayter and Bryan Singer2004Incident at Loch NessDirectorial debut; co-producer with Werner Herzog; on-screen appearanceSuspect ZeroCo-screenwriter Billy Ray2005ElektraCo-screenwriter with Stu Zicherman and Raven Metzner2006X-Men: The Last StandCo-screenwriter with Simon Kinberg2007The GrandCo-screenwriter with Matt Bierman2008The Incredible HulkStory; with uncredited screenwriting rewrites by Edward Norton2012The AvengersCo-story writer with Joss Whedon2014Atari: Game OverDocumentary; on-screen appearance2018Ready Player OneCo-screenwriter with Ernest Cline2021Free GuyCo-screenwriter with Matt Lieberman
Television YearTitleCredited asNotes Writer Producer Showrunner Creator2003–2004Ozzy & Drix Season 22011–2012AlphasCo-created with Michael Karnow2023Beacon 232026Stuart Fails to Save the UniverseCo-created with Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady
Video games YearTitleCredited asNotes Creative director Writer Technical director2005Fantastic FourCredited for game story and dialogue2006X-Men: The Official GameCredited for screenplay
References
External links
Interview with Zak Penn at IFC.com