“I grew up watching horror films,” Christopher Landon said. “I started at a pretty early age, inappropriately so, probably when I was about six. And, I was just obsessed. It was never a doubt or question it was what I was going to do.” 

Landon followed the traditional route, making shorts in high school, working internships as a young adult, and pursuing the path to screenwriting. “The great benefit to the internship, which I would credit for the writing side of my career, is that I exposed to so much material, both good and bad.”

This education eventually led Landon to write horror movies such as Disturbia, Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, Viral, Happy Death Day 2U, Freaky, and five films in the Paranormal Activity Franchise. 

“Script analysis inspired me to write. Any free time I had, I would sit and write and write and write. When I finally decided to step out into the world, I had spec scripts to show people. It was how I got my first job. I made a short, did a festival circuit, and a producer saw it and asked me if had anything.”

Landon gives this advice to anyone trying to break in today: “if you can write, write. That is you controlling your own IP. That is you having a ticket to getting in front of people and that’s critical.”

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