Christopher Landon

Christopher Beau Landon (born February 27, 1975) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter best known for working in the horror and comedy horror genres. He has worked as a screenwriter on the thriller Disturbia and most of the films in the Paranormal Activity found-footage horror series. He wrote and directed Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones as well as the horror comedy films Happy Death Day, Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, Happy Death Day 2U, Freaky, and We Have a Ghost. He wrote and made his directorial debut on the satirical thriller film Burning Palms (2010). Early life Landon was born in Los Angeles and is the son of actor Michael Landon and Lynn Noe. He is the youngest of four children produced by their marriage. His parents divorced in 1980, when he was four years old; he resided with his father until the age of sixteen, when his father died of pancreatic cancer. One of his brothers is Michael Landon Jr., an actor, and one of his half-sisters is Jennifer Landon, an actress. His paternal grandfather was Jewish, whereas his paternal grandmother was Catholic, although his father was raised Jewish. Career Landon, following his father Michael Landon's footsteps in filmmaking, studied screenwriting at Loyola Marymount University, but dropped out three years into the course to pursue a career when film director Larry Clark offered him a writing job after reading one of his scripts. He went on to co-write the script of Another Day in Paradise with Eddie Little and Stephen Chin. After writing Another Day in Paradise, he came out as gay, aware that homophobia may have harmed his potential in the industry. "I may fall off some list because of my sexuality. But if that happens, then I really don't want to be on that list anyway," he said, speaking of homophobia in Hollywood and the film industry. "I was the flavor of the month, and then I was quickly dismissed. I reached a point in my career when I couldn't get a meeting anywhere." He moved from Los Angeles to Austin, Texas, contemplating the future of his career, which he revived only a few years later.