Scott B. Smith

Novelist-screenwriter Scott B Smith burst onto the movie scene with his acclaimed script for Sam Raimi's "A Simple Plan" (1998), which he adapted from his best-selling novel of the same name. The thriller imagines what happens when three men happen upon the wreckage of a small plane and find within it $4 million. Greed, paranoia and plain bad luck conspire in an escalating body count to reveal the ultimately predatory nature of man. Raimi (who stepped in when John Boorman became unavailable) scored a hit with his first non-genre outing which concentrated on character development and real human emotions. Smith altered his original story for the film. Allowing the audience to care more about the relationship of the brothers, saying: "Even though they have grown apart, they're still connected and I think that was a huge effort on the part of Billy Bob Thornton and Bill Paxton."