Darren Lemke (born 1969 or 1970) is an American screenwriter who has been active in the film industry since the late 1990s. With his work on the films Shrek Forever After (2010), Turbo (2013), Goosebumps (2015), Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween (2018), Shazam! (2019), and Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024), The Hollywood Reporter called Lemke "a known player in the family feature space".
Darren Lemke | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1969 or 1970 (age 55–56) |
| Alma mater | School of Visual Arts |
| Occupation |
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| Years active | 1997–present |
Background
Lemke was born in 1969 or 1970. Raised in Carlstadt, New Jersey, he went to Paramus Catholic High School in Paramus, New Jersey. After high school, he attended the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, New York to study screenwriting. In 1997, he sold two pitches to Touchstone Pictures for Tony Scott to direct; one of the pitches became Gemini Man, which was released in 2019. In 2004, Lemke wrote and directed the thriller film Lost. In the following year, Lemke pitched the idea of adapting the English fairy tale "Jack and the Beanstalk" with computer-generated imagery. By 2013, Jack the Giant Slayer was directed by Bryan Singer.
Lemke's first major screenwriting credit was for the 2010 film Shrek Forever After, which he wrote with Josh Klausner. Since then, he wrote and helped write for mostly family-oriented feature films. He also became one of the executive producers for the TV series The Wheel of Time (2021–2025).
In 2024, Disney hired Lemke to write a script for a detective film set in Disneyland's private dining club Club 33. In the same year, Lemke worked on a draft of a script for Shout It Out Loud, a biopic in development about the band Kiss with McG attached to direct.
Credits
| Year | Title | Medium | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Lost | Film | Wrote, also directed |
| 2010 | Shrek Forever After | Film | Writing credit with Josh Klausner |
| 2013 | Jack the Giant Slayer | Film | Story credit with David Dobkin; screenplay credit with Christopher McQuarrie and Dan Studney |
| 2013 | Turbo | Film | Screenplay credit with Robert D. Siegel and David Soren; story credit for Soren |
| 2015 | Goosebumps | Film | Screenplay credit; story credits for Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski |
| 2018 | Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween | Film | Story credit with Rob Lieber; screenplay credit for Lieber |
| 2019 | The Parts You Lose | Film | Writing credit |
| 2019 | Shazam! | Film | Story credit with Henry Gayden; screenplay credit for Gayden |
| 2019 | Gemini Man | Film | Story credit with David Benioff; screenplay credit with Benioff and Billy Ray |
| 2021–2025 | The Wheel of Time | Television | Executive producer; 24 episodes (three seasons) |
| 2024 | Kung Fu Panda 4 | Film | Writing credit with Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger |