Allan Loeb
{{short description|American film producer}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Allan Loeb
| image =
| imagesize =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1969|7|25}}
| birth_place = Highland Park, Illinois, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| notableworks = 21
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
| occupation = Screenwriter, Movie Producer, Television Creator/Producer
| period = 2004–present
| alma_mater = Ithaca College
}}
Allan Loeb (born July 25, 1969) is an American screenwriter and film and television producer. He wrote the 2007 film Things We Lost in the Fire and created the 2008 television series New Amsterdam. He wrote the film drama 21, which also was released in 2008. Among his other credits, he wrote and produced The Switch (2010). He also co-wrote Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010), and wrote The Dilemma (2011), and Just Go with It (2011). He performed a rewrite for the musical Rock of Ages (2012), and the mixed martial arts comedy Here Comes the Boom (2012).
Life and career
Loeb was born to a Jewish family[https://www.jewishtampa.com/jews-in-the-news/jews-in-the-news-jason-fuchs-david-frankel-and-joseph-gorden-levitt Tampa Jewish Community Centers & Federation: "Jews in the News: Jason Fuchs, David Frankel and Joseph Gorden-Levitt"] December 10, 2016 in Highland Park, Illinois, the son of Elsie and Henry Loeb. He attended Ithaca College in New York from 1988 to 1992,{{cite web| url = http://allthingspark.blogspot.com/2005/10/ever-write-script-ever-want-to.html| title = Ever write a script? Ever want to?| accessdate = 2008-05-05| author = Lynch, Dianne| date = October 12, 2005| publisher = All Things Park}} dropping out to work at the Chicago Board of Trade.{{cite news| url = http://www.topix.net/content/trb/2007/10/screen-scene-highland-parks-allan-loeb-took-his-time-creating-fire| title = Screen Scene: Highland Park's Allan Loeb took his time creating 'Fire'| accessdate = 2008-05-05| author = Elder, Robert K.| date = October 18, 2007| newspaper = Chicago Tribune| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191208190643/http://www.topix.net/content/trb/2007/10/screen-scene-highland-parks-allan-loeb-took-his-time-creating-fire| archive-date = December 8, 2019| url-status = dead}} He relocated to Los Angeles, California in 1993 to pursue a career in screenwriting.{{cite news| url = http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/la-et-scriptland27sep27,1,5285823.story| title = Former gambler now in the chips| accessdate = 2008-05-06| author = Fernandez, Jay A.| date = September 27, 2006| newspaper = Los Angeles Times}} In 2004, after graduating from the University of California, Los Angeles,{{cite web|url=http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/21/production-notes.html |title=21: Production Notes |accessdate=2008-09-26 |year=2008 |publisher=Sony Pictures Entertainment |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080915221607/http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/21/production-notes.html |archivedate=15 September 2008 |url-status=dead }} he moved to New York to write the script for The Only Living Boy in New York, which was eventually made into a 2017 film. Loeb returned to Los Angeles and continued writing his script with the help of Little Miss Sunshine producers Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa. He also joined Gamblers Anonymous to address his gambling addiction, which he claims changed his writing for the better. Around this time, Loeb began work on his next script, Things We Lost in the Fire.
Things We Lost in the Fire was met with mixed reviews and was a box office failure grossing only around $8 million worldwide. In 2008, Loeb shared 'screenplay' credit with Peter Steinfeld on the film 21 (2008 film), produced by and starring Kevin Spacey. In 2010, Loeb wrote The Switch, which premiered in August 2010. The film received relatively poor reviews and grossed nearly $50 million worldwide. He also co-wrote Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps directed by Oliver Stone. The film received generally favorable reviews and earned $135 million worldwide at the box office. In addition, he wrote a pair of 2011 films, The Dilemma and Just Go With It, which grossed $67 and $215 million, respectively.
Loeb rewrote the $75 million 1980s rock musical Rock of Ages, starring Tom Cruise, which Loeb received a shared 'screenplay' credit on. The film was a box office disappointment grossing only $56 million worldwide upon its release in June 2012.{{Cite web|date=2014-01-06|title=Disney's Bob The Musical Getting A Rewrite From Rock Of Ages Scribe|url=https://www.cinemablend.com/new/Disney-Bob-Musical-Getting-Rewrite-From-Rock-Ages-Scribe-40969.html|access-date=2020-10-11|website=CINEMABLEND}} Additionally Loeb co-wrote, along with Kevin James, the script to the mixed martial arts comedy Here Comes the Boom.
Loeb also rewrote the 2015 earthquake disaster 3D project San Andreas at New Line Cinema, and the action comedy The Machine, with Vin Diesel attached to produce and star at MGM.{{Cite web|date=2012-07-19|title=Former 'Lost' Showrunner Carlton Cuse to Rewrite 'San Andreas: 3D'|url=https://www.slashfilm.com/lost-showrunner-carlton-cuse-rewrite-san-andreas-3d/|access-date=2020-10-11|website=/Film|language=en-US}}
In 2015, Allan Loeb's long-developing script Out of This World, a project he had been writing since 2007, finally moved forward. Retitled The Space Between Us, the film was released in 2017. He sold his spec script, Collateral Beauty (2016), to Palm Star Media, with Will Smith cast in the lead.{{Cite news|url=https://www.thewrap.com/hugh-jackman-rooney-mara-to-star-in-indie-drama-collateral-beauty/|title=Hugh Jackman, Rooney Mara to Star in Indie Drama 'Collateral Beauty'|date=2015-05-13|work=TheWrap|access-date=2018-09-10|language=en-US}}[https://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/review-collateral-beauty-review-forgive-the-great-cast-for-they-knew-not-what-they-did-2283665 'Collateral Beauty' Review: Forgive the great cast for they knew not what they did:] December 17, 2016
=Personal life=
Loeb was a compulsive gambler from the age of ten until he joined Gamblers Anonymous in 2005, claiming: "Literally the minute I quit gambling my writing changed. It was magical. I had been giving so much emotional energy to gambling that only half of myself was out there writing. Gambling was a time suck, an energy suck, a creativity suck. I started going to GA meetings every Thursday night, and the writing flourished. It had so much more energy and passion." He lost up to $30,000 to his gambling addiction in a single weekend and he was eventually left with $150,000 in credit-card debt. In 2010, he relapsed and began gambling often for the next decade. In 2019, he began shorting Tesla stocks, losing what he called "the equivalent of a three-bedroom house."{{cite web |last=Loeb |first=Allan |date= 9 March 2025|title=Hi, My Name Is Allan, and I’m a Compulsive Gambler |url=https://www.thefp.com/p/hi-my-name-is-allan-and-im-a-compulsive |website= The Free Press|publisher=The Free Press |access-date=9 March 2025}} He was later able to escape gambling, and used his experience to advocate for legalization with guardrails. Loeb is a keen follower of rock band Grateful Dead, which he compares to the film industry in its fanbase.
Filmography
| class="wikitable" | ||||
| Year | Title | Writer | Producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007
| {{yes}} | {{yes|Executive}} | | ||||
| 2008
| 21 | {{yes}} | {{no}} | Co-wrote with Peter Steinfeld | ||||
| rowspan="2"|2010
| {{yes}} | {{yes|Co-producer}} | | ||||
| Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
| {{yes}} | {{no}} | Co-wrote with Stephen Schiff | ||||
| rowspan="2"|2011
| {{yes}} | {{no}} | | ||||
| Just Go with It
| {{yes}} | {{no}} | Co-wrote with Timothy Dowling | ||||
| rowspan="3"|2012
| {{yes}} | {{no}} | Co-wrote with Chris D'Arienzo and Justin Theroux | ||||
| Here Comes the Boom
| {{yes}} | {{no}} | Co-wrote with Kevin James | ||||
| So Undercover
| {{yes}} | {{yes}} | Co-wrote with Steven Pearl | ||||
| 2015
| {{no}} | {{yes|Executive}} | | ||||
| 2016
| {{yes}} | {{yes}} | | ||||
| rowspan="2"|2017
| {{yes}} | {{yes|Executive}} | Co-wrote with Stewart Schill and Richard Barton Lewis | ||||
| The Only Living Boy in New York
| {{yes}} | {{no}} | | ||||
| 2020
| {{no}} | {{yes}} | |
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|1935734}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Loeb, Allan}}
Category:Film producers from Illinois
Category:American male screenwriters
Category:Television producers from Illinois
Category:American television writers
Category:Jewish American screenwriters
Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni
Category:American male television writers