Terry Rossio (born July 2, 1960) is an American screenwriter. He co-wrote the first Shrek film with his writing partner Ted Elliott, along with Joe Stillman and Roger S.H. Schulman.
Rossio and Ted Elliot had already penned features for DreamWorks prior to Shrek. They had previously written Small Soldiers and The Road to El Dorado. The duo had also previously collaborated with producer Jeffery Katzenberg on the Disney animated feature, Aladdin. They would be hired to co-write Shrek, which would see massive success during its release in 2001. This earned them several award nominations for "Best Adapted Screenplay" at the Academy Awards, with the duo winning the Annie Award and BAFTA for their script.
After the release of Shrek, Rossio and Elliot were slated to write the film's sequel. However, due to the two insisting on a "more traditional fairy tale," they were removed from the project. Their names can be spotted as "creative consultants" in the end credits of Shrek 2.
Around this time, the duo would write a screenplay based on the popular Disney attraction, Pirates of the Caribbean. In 2003, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl met with highly positive reviews and enormous box office success. This helped pave the way for one of the most successful film franchises of all time. The duo would return to write the next three installments, with Rossio providing the story treatment for the fifth film.
With the success of both Shrek and Pirates of the Caribbean, Rossio and Elliot would be known as the most successful American screenwriters in modern history.