As 3D productions are on the way to becoming the norm, Ken Dautio is right on trend with two high-profile 3D animated films on his résumé.
Daurio and his writing partner, Cinco Paul, are the hot Hollywood screenwriting team who penned Despicable Me for Illumination Entertainment/Universal Pictures and Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! for executive Chris Meledandri during his tenure at 20th Century Fox. After Paul and Daurio’s work on Horton led to a box-office gross of nearly $300 million worldwide, the duo found themselves in demand in the animation world. Daurio and Paul further forged their strategic relationship with Meledandri when Meledandri formed the film production company Illumination Entertainment, which specializes in animation. It’s no coincidence that Illumination’s first three movies that were given the green light were all written by Daurio and Paul (Despicable Me, Hop and Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax), something unheard of in the history of animation.
Daurio and Paul are known throughout the entertainment industry for their unique pitching style, often singing their pitches to high-level studio executives. For the Disney film College Road Trip, they belted out the ’80s tune “Double Dutch Bus,” complete with harmony and melody. An estimated 90 percent of their pitches in the last nine years have involved musical performances.
Daurio met Paul while working on a church musical and they bonded immediately. In 1999, they sold their first screenplay, Special, which they later turned into a short film that played the festival circuit due to the dark comedic story line. Next came the 2001 cult classic Bubble Boy, which starred Jake Gyllenhaal as Jimmy Livingston (a boy without an immune system), a twisted take on the John Travolta television movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble. Paul and Daurio also had the distinct honor of being handpicked by Audrey Geisel (the widow of Theodor Seuss Geisel) to pen Horton Hears a Who! and The Lorax film projects on behalf of the estate of Dr. Seuss.
Upon graduating from high school, Daurio began directing music videos for up-and-coming bands like Blink 182, AFI and Jimmy Eat World. More than 100 music videos later, he teamed up with Cinco Paul to write his first feature script. Daurio and Paul are now one of Hollywood’s most sought-after screenwriting teams.
Illumination Entertainment
