After writing both Tranfsormers 2 and Star Trek, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci have pretty much taken over Hollywood, putting a slew of movies into development, which they will either write or produce. Now Kurtzman is turning his hand to directing, and he’s got some heavyweight support in the form of Steven Spielberg.
Vulture is reporting that he will make his directing debut with Welcome To People, which Kurtzman co-wrote with Orci and Jody Lambert. Although they’re best known for their balls to the walls action/sci-fi, Welcome To People is far more intimate and ‘tells the story of a struggling twentysomething man who, after flying home to L.A. for the funeral of his estranged record-producer father, discovers that the will stipulates that he must deliver $150,000 in cash to a 30-year-old alcoholic sister he never knew existed, and her troubled 12-year-old son. Determined to keep the money to solve his own problems, he’s nonetheless fascinated by his unknown kin and makes contact with the two without revealing who he really is.’
The screenplay was apparently written six years ago, but it’s only now that Kurtzman has the clout to get it onto the screen, and wants to make it his directing debut to show he and Orci aren’t just about action. He’s convinced Dreamworks and Steven Spielberg to help him do just that. Indeed Dreamworks seems to like being in the Kurtzman and Orci business, as the duo wrote and are producing Cowboys & Aliens, which is currently shooting, and several of their other projects are lined up at the studio, including a recently announced TV version of the graphic novel Locke & Key.