Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman have been responsible for writing some of the biggest blockbusters in Hollywood history, but they will no longer be working together on feature films. Their working relationship as writing partners is over as of today.
Orci and Kurtzman recently collaborated with Marc Webb on The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and with Damon Lindelof and J.J. Abrams on Star Trek Into Darkness. They also worked together on Abrams’ first Star Trek film, Transformers and Mission: Impossible III. They also co-wrote People Like Us, which Kurtzman directed himself.
Despite all that success, the two have decided to part ways amicably, Variety first reported. They will still work together on television projects and their joint production company, K/O Paper Products, will be refit to meet their needs as individual writers.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Kurtzman and Orci were starting to drift apart as they became more interested in working on individual franchises. Orci is still working on Paramount’s third Star Trek movie in Abrams’ rebooted universe and is even in talks to make his directorial debut with the project.
Kurtzman is looking to work more on Sony’s Amazing Spider-Man series. He has been picked to direct the Venom spin-off film.
K/O Paper has an overall deal with CBS TV Studios, although their most most recent hit was Fox’s Sleepy Hollow. They currently have a pilot at CBS called Scorpion, one at The CW titled Identity and another at El Rey called Matador. They are also executive producers on Hawaii Five-0.