Terry Rossio
Rossio (born July 2, 1960) is an American screenwriter and film producer. He co-wrote the films Aladdin, The Mask of Zorro, Shrek, and all five of the Pirates of the Caribbean series. For Shrek, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and won the Annie Award for Writing in a Feature Production and BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Terry Rossio

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- Name
- Terry Rossio
- Birth Name
- Terry P.
- Born
- 2 July 1960
- Occupation
- Screenwriter, film producer
- Nationality
- United States
- Education
- California State University and Fullerton · Saddleback High School
- Known for
- Shrek · Pirates of the Caribbean
- Languages
- English
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Rossio (born July 2, 1960) is an American screenwriter and film producer. He co-wrote the films Aladdin, The Mask of Zorro, Shrek, and all five of the Pirates of the Caribbean series. For Shrek, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and won the Annie Award for Writing in a Feature Production and BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
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Note VALÉORINE
Terry Rossio (born 1960) is an executive producer, film producer and poet, among other activities, of American nationality. The executive producer was born in Kalamazoo. Terry Rossio was educated at California State University, Fullerton and Saddleback High School.
Among the works are Pirates of the Caribbean and Shrek. Languages used include English. Works are held at Harvard Film Archive.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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Authority files
wikidata · Q942914 · wikipedia · Terry Rossio
In this article
Biography
Biography
He often collaborates with fellow screenwriter Ted Elliott.
Terry Rossio studied at California State University, Fullerton and Saddleback High School. The recorded working language is English. Works named in the authority record are Shrek and Pirates of the Caribbean. Work by Terry Rossio is recorded in the collections of Harvard Film Archive.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Terry Rossio • Birth Name — Terry P. Rossio • Born — 2 July 1960 • Occupation — Screenwriter, film producer • Years Active — 1989–present
Life and career
Life and career
Rossio was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan. After graduating from Saddleback High School in Santa Ana, California, he went on to study at California State University, Fullerton where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Communications, with an emphasis in radio, television and film. He is the founder of Wordplay, also known as Wordplayer.com, one of the premier screenwriting sites on the Internet. Along with his writing partner Ted Elliott, Rossio has written some of the most successful American films of the past 30 years, including Aladdin, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Shrek. He is the eleventh-most successful screenwriter of all time in terms of domestic box office receipts with totals at around $5.5 billion. In May 1993, Rossio and Elliott were hired by TriStar Pictures to write a screenplay for Godzilla, which featured Godzilla battling a shape-shifting alien in New York. Their script was dropped by Roland Emmerich in favor of a new script of his own co–written with Dean Devlin. However, Rossio and Elliott retained a "Story By" credit. In 2011, Terry Rossio was working on a script for a fifth Pirates of the Caribbean film without his partner Ted Elliott. Rossio's script was discarded in 2012, and the writer stated on his website Wordplay that a major reason was its use of a female villain, which made actor Johnny Depp "worried that it would be redundant to Dark Shadows, which also featured a female villain." By January 2013, Disney hired Jeff Nathanson, with whom Rossio shared co-story credit with. Following the theatrical release of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales in 2017, Rossio released his unproduced screenplay, and made it available on Wordplay. In 2015, Dodie Gold Management filed a Commissions Non-Payment Lawsuit against Rossio and sought a jury trial for "damages of more than $25,000 plus a court declaration that they are entitled to the 10% commissions and a full look at the records and accounting of Rossio and his Chamaeleon Productions." In March 2017, Legendary Entertainment announced that Rossio would lead their writers room to help develop the story for Godzilla vs. Kong. He received "story by" credit on the film. In June 2019, Rossio was announced as the screenwriter for The Amazing Maurice. In 2021, Rossio and Bill Marsilii sold their spec script Time Zone to Amazon Studios. The film will be a joint venture between Amazon Studios and Davis Entertainment. In February 2023 Ashly Bell and Dr. Bernice A King (daughter of Martin Luther King) announced their intent to executive produce Cash Money, written by Terry Rossio and Kevin Arbouet, concurrent with the launch of ReadLife Entertainment, which plans to create television and film projects centered around strong social messaging. Arbouet is going to direct Cash Money.
Controversy
Controversy
On November 23, 2018, Rossio expressed his condolences to parents of "vaccine damaged children", however, he likened the term "anti-vax" to a slur equivalent to "nigger." Following immediate outcry, he apologized the day after for using the slur and for proclaiming that both epithets were analogous.
Filmography
Filmography
• Year — Film — Credit — Notes — Ref. • 1989 — Little Monsters — Written by — Co-wrote with Ted Elliott • 1992 — Aladdin — Screenplay by — Co-wrote screenplay with Ted Elliott & Ron Clements and John Musker • 1994 — The Puppet Masters — Screenplay by — Co-wrote screenplay with Ted Elliott and David S. Goyer • 1998 — The Mask of Zorro — Screenplay by Story by — Co-wrote screenplay with John Eskow and Ted Elliott Co-wrote story with Ted Elliott and Randall Jahnson • Godzilla — Story by — Early unproduced screenplay; Co-wrote with Ted Elliott • Small Soldiers — Written by — Co-wrote with Ted Elliott & Gavin Scott and Adam Rifkin • 1999 — Men in Black — Screenplay by — Co-worked with Ted Elliott; uncredited • 2000 — The Road to El Dorado — Written by — Co-wrote with Ted Elliott • 2001 — Shrek — Written by Co-producer — Co-wrote with Ted Elliott & Joe Stillman and Roger S. H. Schulman • 2002 — Treasure Planet — Story by — Co-wrote story with Ted Elliott & Ron Clements and John Musker • 2003 — Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl — Screenplay by Story by — Co-wrote screenplay with Ted Elliott Co-wrote story with Ted Elliott & Stuart Beattie and Jay Wolpert • 2005 — The Legend of Zorro — Story by — Co-wrote story with Ted Elliott & Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman • 2006 — Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest — Written by — Co-wrote with Ted Elliott • Déjà Vu — Written by Executive producer — Co-wrote with Bill Marsilii • 2007 — Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End — Written by — Co-wrote with Ted Elliott • National Treasure: Book of Secrets — Story by — Co-wrote story with Ted Elliott & Gregory Poirier & Cormac Wibberley and Marianne Wibberley • 2009 — G-Force — Associate producer — Uncredited rewrite • 2011 — Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides — Screenplay by Executive producer — Co-wrote screenplay with Ted Elliott • Pirates of the Caribbean: Tales of the Code – Wedlocked — Written by — Short film; Co-wrote with Ted Elliott • 2013 — Lovestruck: The Musical — Written by Executive producer — TV film; Co-wrote with Jaylynn Bailey • The Lone Ranger — Screenplay by Executive producer — Co-wrote screenplay with Ted Elliott and Justin Haythe • 2017 — Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales — Story by Executive producer — Early unproduced screenplay; co-story credit with Jeff Nathanson • 2019 — Aladdin — Based on — Credited with Ron Clements & John Musker and Ted Elliott • 2021 — Godzilla vs. Kong — Story by — Head of writers room; co-wrote story with Michael Dougherty and Zach Shields • 2022 — The Amazing Maurice — Screenplay by • 2024 — Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire — Screenplay by Story by — Co-wrote script with Jeremy Slater and Simon Barrett Co-wrote story with Barrett and Adam Wingard
Other credits
Other credits
• Year — Film — Role • 1997 — Men in Black — Additional literary material (uncredited) • 1998 — Antz — Creative consultant/advisor • 2003 — Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas • 2004 — Shrek 2 — Creative consultant • King Arthur — Additional literary material (uncredited) • National Treasure — Additional literary material (uncredited) • 2008 — The Spiderwick Chronicles — Additional literary material (uncredited) • 2015 — Jake and the Never Land Pirates — Episode #89 – Captain Frost Co-wrote storyboards with Ted Elliott • 2016 — Star Trek Beyond — Additional literary material (uncredited) • 2021 — Arcane: League of Legends — Writing consultant
Identity
Identity
Terry Rossio is recorded as screenwriter, film producer, poet and executive producer.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1960
Terry Rossio born at Kalamazoo.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Terry Rossio”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q942914: Terry Rossio
Unverified · Wikidata
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.Terry P. Rossio - WGA Directory. Writers Guild of America.
- 2.Lodge, Guy. 'The Amazing Maurice' Review: Spry British Animated Romp Shows a Cat (or Even a Rat) May Look at a King. Variety. 2023-01-30.
- 3.The Numbers - Top Grossing Screenwriter at the Worldwide Box Office. the-numbers.com.
- 4.Aiken, Keith. Godzilla Unmade: The History of Jan De Bont's Unproduced TriStar Film – Part 1 of 4. SciFi Japan. May 10, 2015.
- 5.Fleming, Mike Jr. Disney Sets Terry Rossio To Script Fifth 'Pirates of the Caribbean' Installment. Deadline Hollywood. January 14, 2011.
- 6.Rossio, Terry. Wordplay/Columns/55. "Time Risk" by Terry Rossio. Wordplayer.com. August 7, 2016.
- 7.Pirates of the Caribbean 5 Lands Writer Jeff Nathanson. movieweb.com.
- 8.Wordplayer.com: PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES by Terry Rossio. www.wordplayer.com.
- 9.Patten, Dominic. 'Pirates' Scribe Terry Rossio Hit With Commissions Non-Payment Lawsuit. Deadline Hollywood. August 4, 2015.
- 10.Kit, Borys. 'Godzilla vs. Kong' Film Sets Writers Room (Exclusive). The Hollywood Reporter. March 10, 2017.
- 11.Warner Bros. Pictures' and Legendary Entertainment's Monsterverse Shifts into Overdrive as Cameras Roll on the Next Big-Screen Adventure "Godzilla Vs. Kong". Business Wire. November 12, 2018.
- 12.Aguilar, Carlos. Terry Pratchett's 'The Amazing Maurice And His Educated Rodents' Is Being Developed Into An Animated Feature. Cartoon Brew. June 16, 2019.
- 13.D'Alessandro, Anthony. Bill Marsilii & Terry Rossio Sell Sci-Fi Action Thriller Spec 'Time Zone' To Amazon Studios. Deadline Hollywood. August 4, 2021.
- 14.Jackson, Angelique. Ashley D. Bell Announces Ready Entertainment Production Company (EXCLUSIVE). Variety. 2023-02-13.
- 15.Ramos, Dino–Ray. 'Pirates Of The Caribbean' Screenwriter Terry Rossio Says Using The N-Word Was A "Mistake" – Update. Deadline Hollywood. November 25, 2018.
- 16.Simpson, Mj. Cult films and the people who make them: interview: Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio. Cult films and the people who make them. 2013-04-27.
- 17.Godzilla vs. Kong. Writers Guild of America.
- 18.Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Writers Guild of America.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Partially resolvedauthority record
Partially resolved
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 14 August 2026.
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