Paul Wernick is a Canadian

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

and producer. He is best known for writing screenplays for the ''

Zombieland ''Zombieland'' is a 2009 American post-apocalyptic zombie comedy film directed by Ruben Fleischer in his directorial debut and written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. It stars Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin, ...

'' films and the ''

Deadpool Deadpool is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld, the character first appeared in ''New Mutants'' #98 (December 1990). In his comic book appearances, Deadpool is ...

'' films with his creative partner Rhett Reese.

Career

Wernick has produced several network reality shows, including

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

's '' Big Brother 2'' and

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

's '' I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here!''. Wernick won three

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

for his work in news, which included producing stints at

KVOA KVOA (channel 4) is a television station in Tucson, Arizona, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Allen Media Group. The station's studios are located on West Elm Street north of downtown Tucson, and its primary transmitter is located ...

, KOLD,

KTVK KTVK (channel 3) is an independent television station in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. It is owned by Gray Media alongside CBS affiliate KPHO-TV (channel 5) and low-power station KPHE-LD (channel 44), a grouping known as "Arizona's Fam ...

, KSL and

KCAL KCAL may refer to: * KCAL (AM), a radio station (1410 AM) licensed to Redlands, California, United States * KCAL-FM, a radio station (96.7 FM) licensed to Redlands, California, United States *KCAL-TV KCAL-TV (channel 9) is an independent tel ...

. ''Big Brother 2'' inspired Wernick and Rhett Reese, a screenwriter friend of his brother back from

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

, where both attended high school to create their own take on reality television, ''

The Joe Schmo Show ''The Joe Schmo Show'' is an American Reality television#Parodies and hoaxes, reality television hoax show created by Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese. The series was originally broadcast in the United States on the Cable television, cable network ...

''. Broadcast on

Spike TV Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel and the flagship property of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global, who operates it through the MTV Entertainment Group. The network's headquarters are locate ...

, the series drew the highest ratings for the channel. ''The Joe Schmo Show'' was also named on numerous Best Of lists, including ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine's "Top 10 TV Shows of 2003" and ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

s "50 Best TV Shows Ever on DVD." In 2004, Reese and Wernick created and executive-produced ''Stuck on ODB'', a comedy reality show starring

Ol' Dirty Bastard Russell Tyrone Jones (November 15, 1968 – November 13, 2004), known professionally as Ol' Dirty Bastard (often abbreviated as ODB), was an American rapper. He was one of the founding members of the New York rap group Wu-Tang Clan, which forme ...

(ODB) of the

Wu Tang Clan Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip hop collective formed in Staten Island, New York City, in 1992. Its members include RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, and, until his death in 2004, Ol' Dir ...

for Spike TV. However, ODB died before the show ever aired. A year later, Wernick and Reese followed up with '' Invasion Iowa'', a high-concept, high-stakes comedy hybrid starring

William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1966 debut as the captain of the starship USS Enterpri ...

. The show premiered on Spike on March 29, 2005. Wernick and Reese's first feature collaboration was the 2009 film ''

'', which they created and also executive-produced. The film was released by

Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acquires, and distributes filmed entertainment (theatrical motion pictures, television programs, and rec ...

on October 2, 2009, and became the highest-grossing zombie film at the time. Wernick and Reese followed ''Zombieland'' with

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

' '' G.I. Joe: Retaliation'' (2013), starring

Dwayne Johnson Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972), also known by his ring name The Rock, is an American actor and professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on a part-time basis. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional w ...

Channing Tatum Channing Matthew Tatum (born April 26, 1980) is an American actor and producer. He made his film debut in the drama ''Coach Carter'' (2005), and had his Breakthrough role, breakthrough with the sports comedy film ''She's the Man'' (2006) and t ...

, and

Bruce Willis Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series ''Moonlighting (TV series), Moonlighting'' (1985–1989) and has appeared in over one hundred films, gaining ...

. The sequel outperformed the original, grossing $375 million. In February 2012, it was announced

Universal Studios Universal Studios may refer to: * Universal Studios, Inc., an American media and entertainment conglomerate ** Universal Pictures, an American film studio ** Universal Studios Lot, a film and television studio complex * Various theme parks operat ...

had acquired Wernick and Reese's script for a feature film adaptation of '' Cowboy Ninja Viking''. In September 2012, their original science fiction spec screenplay ''Epsilon'' was sold to

, with plans to co-produce with

Michael De Luca Michael De Luca (born August 13, 1965) is an American film studio executive, film producer and screenwriter. He is also the former president of production at both New Line Cinema and DreamWorks. De Luca has been nominated for three Academy Aw ...

. In April 2015, Wernick and Reese had optioned Thomas Oliver's book ''The Real Coke, The Real Story'' to produce a film about the failed launch of

New Coke New Coke was the unofficial name of a reformulation of the soft drink Coca-Cola, introduced by the Coca-Cola Company in April 1985. It was renamed Coke II in 1990, and discontinued in July 2002. By 1985, Coca-Cola had been losing market share to ...

Filmography

Film Television

References

External links

*
Check out these Exclusive stills from ZOMBIELAND starring Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin!
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wernick, Paul 21st-century Canadian screenwriters Canadian male television writers Canadian television writers Canadian television producers Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Skydance Media people