Hollywood Screenwriter Swift '88: From The Hill To Hollywood

10/26/2020

Hollywood screenwriter Mark Swift ‘88, whose resume includes box office hits “Friday The 13th,” “Baywatch,” and “Freddy vs. Jason,” spoke with Benjamin alumni via Zoom the afternoon of October 22.

Swift, whose career has taken him from Capitol Hill to Hollywood, spoke to dozens of former Benjamin students, current students, and past teachers. He recalled his time as a student at USC, where he took “all the film classes I could” before transferring to Johns Hopkins where he graduated with a major in International Relations and a minor in Philosophy.

“I was going to work in government. I applied to the CIA, State, I worked on the Hill, but then Bill Clinton was elected and there was a hiring freeze,” said Swift. Around that time, his old roommate at USC reached out, urging him to give Hollywood one more shot.

When Swift first moved to Los Angeles, he recalls having no money, no car, and walking to work at his Universal Studios job.

“I was an assistant, I wrote screenplays at night,” he said. Swift’s first “big break” happened when a producer invited him to the set of the film “American Pie” in 1998.

“I have been lucky to work ever since,” he said.

That work, although transmogrified by the coronavirus pandemic, has continued along with the ups and downs of Hollywood. Swift acknowledged that it’s a difficult time right now with theatres closed amid a transition to streaming services.

“The way people are consuming media is brand new. The good news is - if you’re a writer or a director, people want content and entertainment, and there is a place if you can create it. There are more ways to get your ideas out than ever before. It’s a fun job, it beats having a real job. Besides, I have no actual skills left,” Swift self-deprecatingly chuckled. “The only thing I understand now is movies.”

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Hollywood Screenwriter Swift '88: From The Hill To Hollywood

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