"DreamWorks has signed the writing tandem of Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci to a two-year first-look deal for them to pen, produce and direct films for the studio. They'll start with an untitled pic based on an idea generated by Steven Spielberg. ?

While they are best known for exec producing the ABC drama Alias, Kurtzman and Orci have quickly established themselves as fixers of films close to production starts. For DreamWorks, they rewrote The Island, the Michael Bay-directed drama to star Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson. DreamWorks recently set Warner Bros. as its partner on the film.

Kurtzman and Orci served the same function on The Legend of Zorro, doing a rewrite of the Martin Campbell-directed sequel Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones are now filming in Mexico.

The scribe team just took the job of rewriting Mission: Impossible 3 for Alias creator J.J. Abrams to direct.

They were signed to the deal by DreamWorks production head Adam Goodman, with the expectation they can be go-to guys for projects that need help getting to the starting line.

Their feature momentum is sudden, but Kurtzman and Orci have been working toward feature careers since they met at a Santa Monica high school and began writing scripts together at age 15. They continued collaborating on writing projects by phone each night when Kurzman attended NYU and Wesleyan and Orci matriculated at the U. of Texas. Those early efforts might not have borne much fruit, but by the age of 23, Kurtzman and Orci became head writers on the syndicated series ""Hercules"" and were then tapped by Abrams to join Alias.

We've been writing together so long that we've developed a voice that works when we're together, Kurtzman said. If I can't get an idea past Bob, it won't make the page.

Orci said they will apply the producing lessons they learned from their TV series stints and will jump aboard any project DreamWorks gives them, as well as bringing in their own supply of material. They will be based at the studio's headquarters.

Whether it's a week's work here or there, we're available to them, Orci said. We want to make a lot of movies here.

Source: /www.variety.com"">Variety.

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