Derek Connolly

Derek Connolly (born c. 1976)^[1] is an American screenwriter and film producer. He is best known for his collaborations with filmmaker Colin Trevorrow, writing films including Safety Not Guaranteed (2012), Jurassic World (2015), and its sequels Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) and Jurassic World Dominion (2022). He also co-wrote Kong: Skull Island (2017), Detective Pikachu (2019), and the unproduced original draft of Star Wars: Duel of the Fates, which became Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019).

Derek Connolly
Born	c. 1976 (age 48–49) Miami, Florida, U.S.
Occupation	Screenwriter film producer
Alma mater	Tisch School of the Arts
Years active	2005–present

Education

Connolly attended Miami Palmetto Senior High School in Miami and New York University Tisch School of the Arts.^[2]

Career

Connolly rewrote Kong: Skull Island (2017), for Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures.^[3] Connolly co-wrote early (and ultimately uncredited) drafts of Pacific Rim: Uprising with Guillermo del Toro, Jon Spaihts and Zak Penn; the final screenplay was by Steven S. DeKnight, Emily Carmichael, Kira Snyder and T. S. Nowlin; based on characters by Travis Beacham and del Toro^[4] Connolly and his writing partner Colin Trevorrow co-wrote the screenplays for Jurassic World (2015) and its sequel Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018), and by February 2018, had written a story treatment for Jurassic World Dominion, was released on June 10, 2022.^[5] Connolly and Trevorrow also co-wrote the first draft of Star Wars: Duel of the Fates, the final film of Star Wars sequel trilogy, but both left after Trevorrow stepped down as director, they were later replaced by J. J. Abrams (who directed Star Wars: The Force Awakens, eventually replaced Trevorrow as director) and Chris Terrio; however Connolly and Trevorrow received a story credit with Abrams and Terrio on Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019).

Connolly was reported to be working on a remake of the film Flight of the Navigator,^[6] as well as writing an upcoming original Pixar film directed by Teddy Newton^[7] and a live action Legend of Zelda film directed by Wes Ball and produced by Shigeru Miyamoto and Avi Arad.^[8] Connolly has been tapped to pen the script for a Metal Gear film.^[9]

Writing credits

Year	Title	Director	Notes
2012	Safety Not Guaranteed	Colin Trevorrow	Also credited as producer
2015	Jurassic World
2016	Monster Trucks	Chris Wedge
2017	Kong: Skull Island	Jordan Vogt-Roberts
2018	Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom	J. A. Bayona
2019	Pokémon Detective Pikachu	Rob Letterman
	Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker	J. J. Abrams	Story only
2022	Jurassic World Dominion	Colin Trevorrow	Story only
2025	Deep Cover	Tom Kingsley

Awards and nominations

Year	Title	Award/Nomination
2012	Safety Not Guaranteed	Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay Nominated – Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature
2015	Jurassic World	Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Writing