Craig Borten

To get an Oscar nomination for your first screenplay is an incredibly impressive start to your writing career. However it wasn't an overnight success for Craig Borten and co-writer Melisa Wallack; it took over 20 years to get their first-ever script, for "Dallas Buyers Club" (2013), to the screen. In 1992 Borten first met with Ron Woodroof, the man whose life inspired "Dallas Buyers Club," and spent three days in his company recording their conversations. Woodroof died a few months after their interviews, but from that initial meeting Borten and Wallack wrote a script based on his experiences smuggling vital AIDS drugs into America. The script then sat in development for almost 20 years. In the meantime, Borten made his acting debut with a small role in "Looking For Jimmy" (2002), written and directed by its star Julie Delphy. "Dallas Buyers Club" finally found a champion in actor Matthew McConaughey, who took on the lead role as Woodroof. Now linked to director Jean-Marc Vallée, the film was eventually released in 2013; Borten himself took another small acting role in the film. "Dallas Buyers Club" received multiple award nominations including an Academy Award nomination for Best Writing, Original Screenplay for Borten and Wallack. McConaughey's faith in the story paid off, with his portrayal of Woodroof winning him an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a SAG award, among others.