Roger Avary

Though not as widely recognized or worshiped as his one-time collaborator Quentin Tarantino, writer-director Roger Avary was nonetheless at the forefront of the new wave of neo-noir filmmakers to emerge in the mid-1990s and revitalize a stodgy industry. In fact, Avary had his hand in many of Tarantino's early projects, most notably as a co-writer on the pair's ode to 1950s pulp novels, "Pulp Fiction" (1994). After sharing the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, however, Avary and Tarantino went their separate ways. Avary delved into his own directing projects, helming "Killing Zoe" (1994) and "The Rules of Attraction" (2002). Avary also became one of the biggest and most highly paid script doctors in the business, which eventually led to getting writing assignments on some of the biggest movies in Hollywood.