Scott Smith
Scott Bechtel Smith (born July 13, 1965) is an American author and screenwriter. He has written two novels, A Simple Plan (1993) and The Ruins (2006). Both were adapted into films – A Simple Plan (1998) and The Ruins (2008), respectively – based on Smith's own screenplays.
Also recorded as Scott Bechtel Smith · Scott B. Smith
Scott Smith

The original uploader was David Shankbone at English Wikipedia. · CC BY 2.5
- Name
- Scott B.
- Born
- 13 July 1965
- Birthplace
- Summit, New Jersey, U.S.
- Occupation
- * Author
- Education
- * Dartmouth College
- Nationality
- United States.
- Known for
- A Simple Plan.
- Honours
- Best Crime Novel in Swedish Translation.
- Languages
- American English and English.
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Documentary summary
Scott Bechtel Smith (born July 13, 1965) is an American author and screenwriter. He has written two novels, A Simple Plan (1993) and The Ruins (2006). Both were adapted into films – A Simple Plan (1998) and The Ruins (2008), respectively – based on Smith's own screenplays.
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Note VALÉORINE
Scott Smith (born 1965) is a novelist, screenwriter and writer, of American nationality. The novelist was born in Summit.
Scott Smith was educated at Columbia University, Columbia University School of the Arts and Dartmouth College, among others. The novelist is a member of Writers Guild of America, East and worked in New York City.
Among the works is A Simple Plan. Languages used include American English and English. Honours include Best Crime Novel in Swedish Translation.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 27 September 2026
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
museum · 20493940 · wikidata · Q940902
In this article
Biography
Biography
He also wrote the screenplays for the films Siberia (2018) and The Burnt Orange Heresy (2019). His screenplay for A Simple Plan earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Scott Smith studied at Dartmouth College, Columbia University and Columbia University School of the Arts. The recorded working language is American English and English. Places of work recorded in the authority are New York City. Works named in the authority record are A Simple Plan. Distinctions recorded are Best Crime Novel in Swedish Translation.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Scott B. Smith • Born — 13 July 1965 • Birthplace — Summit, New Jersey, U.S. • Occupation — * Author • screenwriter • executive producer • Language — English • Education — * Dartmouth College • Columbia University (MFA) • Genres — Horror, thriller • Notable Works — A Simple Plan (1993), The Ruins (2006)
Early life and education
Early life and education
Smith was born in Summit, New Jersey in 1965 and moved to Toledo, Ohio as a child. He is the son of Linda and Doug Smith. He told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reviewer Regis Behe that, as a child, he read his father's "castoffs," the novels of Clive Cussler and Jack Higgins. "Growing up, I also read Ray Bradbury and Stephen King," he said. "I just had a sense of how to create these places that aren't real world places, but just with this provisional attachment to the real world. It is very much of your imagination, and I felt very much I could do that." After graduating from Dartmouth College and from Columbia University with a Master of Fine Arts degree in writing, he took up writing full-time.
Career
Career
He has published two novels, A Simple Plan and The Ruins. His screen adaptation of A Simple Plan earned him an Academy Award nomination. The screenplay won a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award and a National Board of Review Award. His second novel, The Ruins, was also adapted into a film, released on April 4, 2008. Stephen King called it "the best horror novel of the new century." King had also called A Simple Plan "simply the best suspense novel of the year." In 2016, it was announced that TNT had greenlit a pilot for Civil, a new TV series created by Smith about a second American Civil War following a hotly contested presidential election. A TV series adaptation of William Gibson's The Peripheral was commissioned in 2018 by Amazon, with Smith as writer. Smith created the series, and served as executive producer and showrunner. Vincenzo Natali directed the show's pilot.
Novels
Novels
• A Simple Plan (1993), • The Ruins (2006),
Short stories
Short stories
• "The Egg Man," Open City Magazine, Issue #20 (2005) • "Up in Old Vermont", originally published in Seize the Night: New Tales of Vampiric Terror (2015) by Gallery Books, edited by Christopher Golden • "Dogs", originally published in Dark Cities (2017) by Titan Books, edited by Christopher Golden • "Christmas in Barcelona", originally published in Hark! The Herald Angels Scream (2018) by Anchor Books, edited by Christopher Golden • "The New Boyfriend", originally published in Ten-Word Tragedies (2019) by PS Publishing, edited by Christopher Golden & Tim Lebbon
Translations
Translations
• Italian by Mario Biondi, "Un piano semplice", Rizzoli, 1993 • Slovak (by Katarína Jusková): Ruiny. - Bratislava: Ikar 2006. • Spanish by Jaume Subira Ciurana, "Las Ruinas", Ediciones B, Barcelona 2007. • Swedish by Olov Hyllienmark "Ruinerna" • Danish by Henrik Enemark Sørensen • Polish by Jan Kraśko - "Prosty Plan" • Spanish by Rosa Corgatelli "Un plan simple"
Filmography
Filmography
Film • A Simple Plan (1998) • The Ruins (2008) • Siberia (2018) • The Burnt Orange Heresy (2019) Television • The Peripheral (2022)
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1965
Scott Smith born at Summit.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Prince, Tom. "Brief Lives: Making a Killing," New York, August 30, 1993, p. 48. Accessed February 20, 2011.
- 2.Behe, Regis. Author Infuses The Ruins with Social Commentary. Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Tribune-Review Publishing Company. July 23, 2006.
- 3.The Hollywood Reporter http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tnt-picks-up-young-shakespeare-895205 "TNT Picks Up Young Shakespeare Series, Orders Modern Civil War Drama Pilot"
- 4.Elderkin, Beth. The Creators of Westworld Head to Amazon With New Scifi Series The Peripheral. Gizmodo. April 17, 2018.
- 5.Andreeva, Nellie. Jonathan Nolan & Lisa Joy's 'The Peripheral' Picked Up To Series By Amazon. Deadline. November 13, 2019.
- 6.Maas, Jennifer. Amazon Greenlights Sci-Fi Series 'The Peripheral' From 'Westworld' Creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy. The Wrap. November 13, 2019.
- 7.Open City #20 – Homecoming. Open City.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
Institutional database
OpenStreetMap gazetteer entry for Smith, Scott County, Virginia, United StatesOpenStreetMap Foundation
Institutional witnessInstitutional database
Wikidata, structured authority record Q940902: Scott SmithWikimedia Foundation
Institutional witness
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
He also worked under the name Scott B. The authorities additionally record the headings Scott Bechtel Smith and Scott B. His recorded languages were American English and English. Formation and teaching. Smith studied at Dartmouth College, Columbia University, Columbia University School of the Arts and Sylvania Northview High School.
Identity and origins
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 15 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
38,960 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Scott NearingAuthor
- Scott O'DellAuthor
- Scott O'HaraAuthor
- Scott PelleyAuthor
- Scott SnyderAuthor
- Scott SpeerAuthor
- Scott TurowAuthor
- Scott WesterfeldAuthor
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