Back in 2000, Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt met during a screenwriting class in Philadelphia. The two have been writing together ever since-all the way to Hollywood.
Rothenberger is a graduate of Boyertown Area Senior High and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Benedikt, a native of Iceland, eventually moved to Pennsylvania where she would attend Exeter Township High School and the University of Pittsburgh. The former Berks County residents balanced corporate life with screenwriting until making the trek across the country in search of their big break.
Together they explained how they had a lot of ‘near-misses’ while trying to get foothold in Pennsylvania.
‘We finally realized, if we’re going to do this thing-let’s just go, pick up, sell our house and move,’ said Benedikt.
The couple, now married, moved to Los Angeles in 2007.
From 2007 to 2012, Rothenberger says they wrote at least a dozen scripts and held tons of meetings. In 2012, their first script was picked up: ‘Olympus Has Fallen.’ After that, he said everything began happening at ‘warped speed.’
When Benedikt and Rothenberger were approached about the open writing assignment for ‘Expendables 3,’ it was a ‘no brainer’ to throw their hats in the ring for a chance to work with Sylvester Stallone.
‘We pitched it to the studio; we eventually had to pitch it to Sly directly and were hired,’ said Rothenberger in regards to their script for the film.
The couple worked with Stallone as screenwriters for ‘Expendables 3’-a franchise film with a star-studded cast.
‘Surreal’ was the first word Benedikt used to describe the experience, which included meetings with Stallone at his office and at his home.
‘The first time you’re sitting there, across from Sly in his living room and you think ‘oh my God, I’m sitting in Rocky’s living room,’ you have this little out-of-body experience,’ said Benedikt. ‘He’s a Hollywood legend. To get the chance to work with him was extraordinary.’
Rothenberger described times when they would sit and work at Stallone’s dining room table for six to seven hours at a time. ‘As a screenwriter, that was a great experience,’ he said.
‘He was so much fun to work with, he had the best stories; he’s been doing this for forty years,’ said Benedikt. ‘We really admire him because he did it all himself. He started with nothing; all of success if from his own blood, sweat and tears.’
‘He’s a terrific writer in his own right,’ added Rothenberger.
After Sly was happy with the script, the screenwriters flew to Bulgaria to write on set during filming. They were in Bulgaria for two months to see the movie being made while they were working on it. During that time, they had the chance to meet the cast along with everyone else involved in the film.
‘When you actually see what it takes for a movie to be made-it will blow your mind. All of the logistics, the scheduling,’ explained Benedikt. ‘A lot of it falls on the director.’
‘It’s a minor miracle,’ Rothenberger said in regards to a movie being made in general.
‘Working on this movie was a truly incredible experience. How often do you get to write for Rocky, The Terminator, Indiana Jones, Mad Max, Zorro, Blade, The Transporter? It was pretty awesome.’
As screenwriters, they talked about working with the actors as one of the most rewarding experiences.
‘It took a long time to get here; so we’ve very grateful that the sacrifices are paying off,’ said Rothenberger.
Rothenberger brought his mother, Joyce Rothenberger, to the premier of ‘Expendables 3’ on Aug. 11.
In regards to getting a script onto the big screen, they both spoke about the long process of getting a script read and the representation that is required.
Benedikt pointed out the fact that while ‘Olympus Has Fallen’ was their first sold script, their current project-an original action/thriller script-has brought them their current agent and manager.
‘We had to write a lot of scripts to get us our current representatives,’ said Rothenberger. ‘There were a lot of steps along the way, a lot of hard work.’
‘Had we not written that script after moving to L.A.-we wouldn’t be here,’ said Benedikt, stating the piece is a favorite of hers, of both of theirs. ‘It has a lot of heart.’
‘All of the scripts that we have written have been based on our original ideas,’ said Rothenberger.
In Hollywood speak, these original pieces are referred to as spec scripts-written on speculation. ‘Come up with the idea that you hope someone will be interested in buying, write it for free. You hope that someday you can sell it and ideally get it made.’
Right now their main focus in regards to genre is action and thriller, though they hope to branch into serious drama at some point.
‘We’re constantly writing,’ said Rothenberger. The couple has written roughly twenty scripts together since meeting 14 years ago.
In Sept. of 2000, they met in Philadelphia and have been collaborating ever since.
‘I had taken a screenwriting class in the mid-90s and I just fell in love with it,’ said Rothenberger. ‘Katrin and I-neither of us went to film school-we’re pretty much self-taught. We read and absorbed everything we could get our hands on; we took screenwriting seminars, read tons of scripts, watched hundreds of movies to learn the craft. So, that’s how we got into screenwriting.’
‘The best way to learn is to sit down and write every day,’ added Benedikt.
They explained how they both had regular corporate jobs while they were just beginning to get into screenwriting. Rothenberger remembers waking up a 4 a.m. before work each day to write, only to return in the evening to continue.
‘We both had to juggle the day job with writing on the side-that’s probably the most difficult part: to make time for it while you’re trying to support yourself,’ said Benedikt. ‘I think there’s a lot of people out there that want to write that book or write that screenplay-but to take the time to carve it out, that can be a real difficult hurtle.’
‘We’re the proverbial 10 year overnight success,’ explained Rothenberger.
In 2002, he received the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting for his true-life war saga, ‘The Chosin.’ Following that recognition, Rothenberger says he got his first agent and began writing full time, leaving the corporate world behind.
The couple, with families still residing in Berks County, Pa., currently resides in Newport Beach, Ca.-something they both, individually, had merely dreamt of.
Benedikt shared that years ago she had visited Newport Beach, ‘I remember thinking ‘wow-I would love to live here someday’; never thinking that I would and could on any level.’
Her husband shared a similar instance of attending a life class in Hawaii at which he had to list life goals; one of which was to live in Laguna Beach-a location now only miles from their current residence.
Living beachside and having just worked on a screenplay alongside one of Hollywood’s biggest celebrities, the couple is feeling fortunate-to say the least.
