David Kajganich

David Kajganich (born November 15, 1969) is an American screenwriter and film producer. He has written several works in the horror genre, including the network series The Terror (2018) and the film Bones and All (2022). He has collaborated on three films with the Italian director Luca Guadagnino, A Bigger Splash (2015) and the horror films Suspiria (2018) and Bones and All (2022).

David Kajganich
Born	(1969-11-15) November 15, 1969 (age 55) Lorain, Ohio, U.S.[1]
Alma mater	University of Iowa
Occupation(s)	Screenwriter, film producer
Years active	2006–present

Early life and education

A native of Ohio, Kajganich graduated from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and began teaching English at the University of Iowa.

Career

While still living in Ohio, Kajganich was hired to adapt Heinrich Böll's The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum for the screen, but the project fell through.^[1] He was then hired to write the screenplay for The Invasion (2007), a reimagining of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.^[1] His following screenplay, initially titled Town Creek,^[1] was filmed in 2009 and released under the title Blood Creek, directed by Joel Schumacher.^[2] He wrote the screenplay for True Story (2015), a crime-drama starring Jonah Hill and James Franco, based on the Michael Finkel book of the same name.^[3]

Kajganich wrote the screenplay for Luca Guadagnino's 2015 remake, A Bigger Splash,^[4] a loose remake of the 1969 film La Piscine.^[2] He subsequently wrote the screenplay for Guadagnino's remake of the horror film Suspiria.^[5]

Kajganich developed The Terror (2018), a television series based on the Dan Simmons novel of the same name.^[5] He served as co-showrunner alongside Soo Hugh for the show's first season.^[6] In 2016,^[2] Kajganich began co-writing a new adaptation of Stephen King's Pet Sematary, which was released in 2019.^[7] He was ultimately not credited on the film.

On April 8, 2019, it was announced that Kajganich would adapt Camille DeAngelis's novel Bones & All for the screen.^[8] The film, Bones and All, directed by Luca Guadagnino, premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in 2022.^[9]

Personal life

Kajganich is openly gay.^[10][11]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Functioned as		Director	Notes	Ref.
		Writer	Producer
2007	The Invasion	Yes	No	Oliver Hirschbiegel	Based on The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney	[1]
2009	Blood Creek	Yes	No	Joel Schumacher		[2]
2015	True Story	Yes	No	Rupert Goold	Based on True Story by Michael Finkel	[3]
	A Bigger Splash	Yes	Executive	Luca Guadagnino		[4]
2018	Suspiria	Yes	Yes		Based on Suspiria by Dario Argento and Daria Nicolodi	[12]
2022	Bones and All	Yes	Yes		Based on Bones & All by Camille DeAngelis	[13]

Uncredited script contributions

Year	Title	Director	Notes	Ref.
2019	Pet Sematary	Kevin Kölsch Dennis Widmyer	Screenplay by Jeff Buhler Based on Pet Sematary by Stephen King	[7]

Television

Year	Title	Functioned as			Notes	Ref.
		Writer	Executive Producer	Showrunner
2018-19	The Terror	Yes	No	Yes	Developed by Wrote 4 episodes	[5]