Michael H. Weber

Michael H. Weber (born January 13, 1978) is an American screenwriter and producer. He and his writing partner, Scott Neustadter, are best known for writing the screenplay for the romantic comedy film 500 Days of Summer. The film is based on two real relationships Neustadter had. They also wrote the screenplays for the film adaptations of the novels The Spectacular Now, The Fault in Our Stars, and Paper Towns. For writing The Disaster Artist, Neustadter and Weber were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. They also created the sitcom Friends with Benefits, which lasted one season. Early life Weber grew up in a Jewish family in Great Neck, New York. He attended John L. Miller Great Neck North High School, and strongly identified with teen films as he was growing up, particularly those made by John Hughes and Cameron Crowe; he cites Ferris Bueller's Day Off and The Breakfast Club as two films he identified with in high school since he often skipped school and spent time in detention. He attended Syracuse University and graduated in 2000. Career Weber met his writing partner Scott Neustadter in 1999 at TriBeCa Productions when Neustadter hired Weber as his development intern. They started writing comedy together in their spare time, and soon after began writing a screenplay based on a failed relationship that Neustadter had experienced. They broke out as screenwriters in 2006, when they successfully sold their spec script, titled 500 Days of Summer, to Fox Searchlight Pictures. While 500 Days of Summer was still in pre-production, Sony Pictures Entertainment asked Weber and Neustadter to write The Pink Panther 2, the sequel to The Pink Panther (2006), which in turn was a reboot of the original Pink Panther franchise. They originally declined the job offer from Sony but ended up accepting it and writing the script after their managers stressed how "important [it was] to get a movie made". Both 500 Days of Summer and The Pink Panther 2 were released in 2009; although The Pink Panther 2 was panned by reviewers, 500 Days of Summer was well received by critics and audiences alike, and it was Fox Searchlight's highest grossing film of the year. The latter also received numerous awards and accolades, including an Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay and a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.