Daniel Waters (screenwriter)


Daniel Waters is an American screenwriter and film director.
He is the older brother of director Mark Waters.

Early life

Waters was born in Cleveland, Ohio and raised in South Bend, Indiana. In high school, Waters wrote a popular column titled "Troubled Waters" for his high school newspaper, where he wrote fictitious stories about his real-life classmates—not unlike the writing that appeared in his screenplay for Heathers. He then wrote, directed and starred alongside Larry Karaszewski in a local sketch comedy titled Beyond Our Control in the early 1980s. Waters moved to Montreal where he graduated from McGill University. After graduation, he moved to Los Angeles, and was the manager of a video store.

Screenwriting credits

Waters came to prominence in 1988 for writing the black comedy Heathers, for which he received a 1990 Edgar Award. Heathers was an attempt for him to write of the true nature of teenagers and high-school society. Heathers was not a box-office hit for Waters when it was released, but the movie has become a cult classic.
Over the next four years, Waters served as co-writer on the comedy The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, wrote the sequel Batman Returns, and then wrote the films Hudson Hawk and Demolition Man. He received the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screenplay for both Hudson Hawk and Ford Fairlane. In 2003, he authored a draft of Catwoman for Batman Returns producer Denise Di Novi but ultimately went uncredited.

Turn as a director

In 2001, Waters made his directorial debut with Happy Campers, another teen comedy in a black vein that, after a long delay, was released straight to DVD. His follow-up, Sex and Death 101, a hybrid of science fiction, dark comedy, and romantic thriller, won the Golden Space Needle Award for Best Director at the 2007 Seattle International Film Festival. It was released theatrically on April 4, 2008 in New York and Los Angeles. The film re-teamed Waters with Heathers star Winona Ryder.

Filmography