Laurence Dworet

Laurence Dworet, M.D. (usually just credited as Laurence Dworet) is an American screenwriter.^[1]

This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. (February 2011)

In 1990, he and his writing partner Robert Roy Pool sold their spec screenplay The Ultimatum for $500,000 against $1,000,000 if a film was made. It was the story of terrorists who plant an atomic bomb in an American city and threaten nuclear devastation unless their demands are met.^[2] Steven Spielberg described it as one of the three most exciting scripts he had ever read and was going to direct it, but the script became bogged-down in endless rewrites.

Using his medical background, Dworet and Pool wrote the screenplay for Outbreak which they sold to producer Arnold Kopelson for $250,000 as he wanted a rival virus picture to Fox's Crisis in the Hot Zone. Kopelson then paid Ted Tally $500,000 to rewrite the script.

An interview with Dworet can be found in William Froug's book The New Screenwriter Looks at the New Screenwriter.