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Allan Loeb
American film and TV writer

Allan Loeb (born July 25, 1969) is an American screenwriter and film and television producer. He wrote the 2007 film Things We Lost in the Fire and created the 2008 television series New Amsterdam. He wrote the film drama 21, which also was released in 2008. Among his other credits, he wrote and produced The Switch (2010). He also co-wrote Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010), and wrote The Dilemma (2011), and Just Go with It (2011). He performed a rewrite for the musical Rock of Ages (2012), and the mixed martial arts comedy Here Comes the Boom (2012).

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Life and career

Loeb was born to a Jewish family1 in Highland Park, Illinois,2 the son of Elsie and Henry Loeb. He attended Ithaca College in New York from 1988 to 1992,3 dropping out to work at the Chicago Board of Trade.4 He relocated to Los Angeles, California in 1993 to pursue a career in screenwriting.56 In 2004, after graduating from the University of California, Los Angeles,7 he moved to New York to write the script for The Only Living Boy in New York, which was eventually made into a 2017 film. Loeb returned to Los Angeles and continued writing his script with the help of Little Miss Sunshine producers Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa. He also joined Gamblers Anonymous to address his gambling addiction, which he claims changed his writing for the better.8 Around this time, Loeb began work on his next script, Things We Lost in the Fire.

Things We Lost in the Fire was met with mixed reviews and was a box office failure grossing only around $8 million worldwide. In 2008, Loeb shared 'screenplay' credit with Peter Steinfeld on the film 21 (2008 film), produced by and starring Kevin Spacey. In 2010, Loeb wrote The Switch,9 which premiered in August 2010. The film received relatively poor reviews and grossed nearly $50 million worldwide. He also co-wrote Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps directed by Oliver Stone. The film received generally favorable reviews and earned $135 million worldwide at the box office. In addition, he wrote a pair of 2011 films, The Dilemma and Just Go With It, which grossed $67 and $215 million, respectively.

Loeb rewrote the $75 million 1980s rock musical Rock of Ages, starring Tom Cruise, which Loeb received a shared 'screenplay' credit on. The film was a box office disappointment grossing only $56 million worldwide upon its release in June 2012.10 Additionally Loeb co-wrote, along with Kevin James, the script to the mixed martial arts comedy Here Comes the Boom.

Loeb also rewrote the 2015 earthquake disaster 3D project San Andreas at New Line Cinema, and the action comedy The Machine, with Vin Diesel attached to produce and star at MGM.11

In 2015, Allan Loeb's long-developing script Out of This World, a project he had been writing since 2007, finally moved forward. Retitled The Space Between Us, the film was released in 2017. He sold his spec script, Collateral Beauty (2016), to Palm Star Media, with Will Smith cast in the lead.1213

Personal life

Loeb was a compulsive gambler from the age of ten until he joined Gamblers Anonymous in 2005, claiming: "Literally the minute I quit gambling my writing changed. It was magical. I had been giving so much emotional energy to gambling that only half of myself was out there writing. Gambling was a time suck, an energy suck, a creativity suck. I started going to GA meetings every Thursday night, and the writing flourished. It had so much more energy and passion."14 He lost up to $30,000 to his gambling addiction in a single weekend and he was eventually left with $150,000 in credit-card debt.15 In 2010, he relapsed and began gambling often for the next decade. In 2019, he began shorting Tesla stocks, losing what he called "the equivalent of a three-bedroom house."16 He was later able to escape gambling, and used his experience to advocate for legalization with guardrails.17 Loeb is a keen follower of rock band Grateful Dead, which he compares to the film industry in its fanbase.18

Filmography

YearTitleWriterProducerNotes
2007Things We Lost in the FireYesExecutive
200821YesNoCo-wrote with Peter Steinfeld
2010The SwitchYesCo-producer
Wall Street: Money Never SleepsYesNoCo-wrote with Stephen Schiff
2011The DilemmaYesNo
Just Go with ItYesNoCo-wrote with Timothy Dowling
2012Rock of AgesYesNoCo-wrote with Chris D'Arienzo and Justin Theroux
Here Comes the BoomYesNoCo-wrote with Kevin James
So UndercoverYesYesCo-wrote with Steven Pearl
2015The AbandonedNoExecutive
2016Collateral BeautyYesYes
2017The Space Between UsYesExecutiveCo-wrote with Stewart Schill and Richard Barton Lewis
The Only Living Boy in New YorkYesNo
2020Last Moment of ClarityNoYes

References

  1. Tampa Jewish Community Centers & Federation: "Jews in the News: Jason Fuchs, David Frankel and Joseph Gorden-Levitt" December 10, 2016 https://www.jewishtampa.com/jews-in-the-news/jews-in-the-news-jason-fuchs-david-frankel-and-joseph-gorden-levitt ↩

  2. Elder, Robert K. (October 18, 2007). "Screen Scene: Highland Park's Allan Loeb took his time creating 'Fire'". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on December 8, 2019. Retrieved 2008-05-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20191208190643/http://www.topix.net/content/trb/2007/10/screen-scene-highland-parks-allan-loeb-took-his-time-creating-fire ↩

  3. Lynch, Dianne (October 12, 2005). "Ever write a script? Ever want to?". All Things Park. Retrieved 2008-05-05. http://allthingspark.blogspot.com/2005/10/ever-write-script-ever-want-to.html ↩

  4. Elder, Robert K. (October 18, 2007). "Screen Scene: Highland Park's Allan Loeb took his time creating 'Fire'". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on December 8, 2019. Retrieved 2008-05-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20191208190643/http://www.topix.net/content/trb/2007/10/screen-scene-highland-parks-allan-loeb-took-his-time-creating-fire ↩

  5. Lynch, Dianne (October 12, 2005). "Ever write a script? Ever want to?". All Things Park. Retrieved 2008-05-05. http://allthingspark.blogspot.com/2005/10/ever-write-script-ever-want-to.html ↩

  6. Fernandez, Jay A. (September 27, 2006). "Former gambler now in the chips". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-05-06. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/la-et-scriptland27sep27,1,5285823.story ↩

  7. "21: Production Notes". Sony Pictures Entertainment. 2008. Archived from the original on 15 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-26. https://web.archive.org/web/20080915221607/http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/21/production-notes.html ↩

  8. Fernandez, Jay A. (September 27, 2006). "Former gambler now in the chips". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-05-06. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/la-et-scriptland27sep27,1,5285823.story ↩

  9. Fernandez, Jay A. (September 27, 2006). "Former gambler now in the chips". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-05-06. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/la-et-scriptland27sep27,1,5285823.story ↩

  10. "Disney's Bob The Musical Getting A Rewrite From Rock Of Ages Scribe". CINEMABLEND. 2014-01-06. Retrieved 2020-10-11. https://www.cinemablend.com/new/Disney-Bob-Musical-Getting-Rewrite-From-Rock-Ages-Scribe-40969.html ↩

  11. "Former 'Lost' Showrunner Carlton Cuse to Rewrite 'San Andreas: 3D'". /Film. 2012-07-19. Retrieved 2020-10-11. https://www.slashfilm.com/lost-showrunner-carlton-cuse-rewrite-san-andreas-3d/ ↩

  12. "Hugh Jackman, Rooney Mara to Star in Indie Drama 'Collateral Beauty'". TheWrap. 2015-05-13. Retrieved 2018-09-10. https://www.thewrap.com/hugh-jackman-rooney-mara-to-star-in-indie-drama-collateral-beauty/ ↩

  13. 'Collateral Beauty' Review: Forgive the great cast for they knew not what they did: December 17, 2016 https://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/review-collateral-beauty-review-forgive-the-great-cast-for-they-knew-not-what-they-did-2283665 ↩

  14. Fernandez, Jay A. (September 27, 2006). "Former gambler now in the chips". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-05-06. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/la-et-scriptland27sep27,1,5285823.story ↩

  15. Fernandez, Jay A. (September 27, 2006). "Former gambler now in the chips". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-05-06. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/la-et-scriptland27sep27,1,5285823.story ↩

  16. Loeb, Allan (9 March 2025). "Hi, My Name Is Allan, and I'm a Compulsive Gambler". The Free Press. The Free Press. Retrieved 9 March 2025. https://www.thefp.com/p/hi-my-name-is-allan-and-im-a-compulsive ↩

  17. Loeb, Allan (9 March 2025). "Hi, My Name Is Allan, and I'm a Compulsive Gambler". The Free Press. The Free Press. Retrieved 9 March 2025. https://www.thefp.com/p/hi-my-name-is-allan-and-im-a-compulsive ↩

  18. Elder, Robert K. (October 18, 2007). "Screen Scene: Highland Park's Allan Loeb took his time creating 'Fire'". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on December 8, 2019. Retrieved 2008-05-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20191208190643/http://www.topix.net/content/trb/2007/10/screen-scene-highland-parks-allan-loeb-took-his-time-creating-fire ↩