Author, screenwriter and video game designer Jordan Mechner is best known as the creator of the Prince of Persia franchise, with over 14 million games sold to date, and a feature film, books, toys and LEGO based on the games.
Mechner became the first game creator to successfully adapt his own work as a feature film screenwriter with Disney’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, directed by Mike Newell and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Sir Ben Kingsley, and Alfred Molina, Prince of Persia was the #1 movie in the world for its first two weeks of release in May 2010, and is the world’s highest-grossing video game adaptation ever. Mechner has screen story and executive producer credit on the film.
Mechner’s first graphic novel — Solomon’s Thieves, a swashbuckling action-adventure about the historical Knights Templar, illustrated by LeUyen Pham & Alex Puvilland — was published by First Second Books in May 2010. Mechner also penned Prince of Persia: Before the Sandstorm, a graphic novel prequel published by Disney Book Group to tie in with the film’s release. Mechner previously collaborated with First Second, Pham & Puvilland on the 2008 Prince of Persia graphic novel written by A.B. Sina.
Mechner began his career as a video game creator in the 1980s with Karateka and Prince of Persia, two of the first games to combine arcade action with realistic animation and cinematic storytelling. Both titles became #1 bestsellers and are now considered all-time classics. Created and programmed by Mechner on an Apple II and published by Brøderbund Software, Prince of Persia was adapted for nearly every computer and console platform and was a major influence in the development of the action-adventure video game genre. Mechner designed and directed a successful sequel, Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame.
Mechner next founded independent developer Smoking Car Productions, where he led a 30-person creative team in the production of the critically acclaimed 1997 CD-ROM adventure game The Last Express, still considered one of the most ambitious and artistically successful interactive narratives ever attempted. Karateka, Prince of Persia, and The Last Express secured Mechner’s reputation as one of the video game industry’s most highly regarded original creators.
In 2001, Mechner joined forces with Ubisoft Entertainment to relaunch his decade-old Prince of Persia for a new generation of gamers. Developed at Ubisoft Montreal with Mechner as game designer, writer and creative consultant, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was one of the biggest hits of 2003, sweeping the Interactive Achievement Awards (DICE) with 12 nominations and 8 awards, and making Prince of Persia one of the most successful and enduring video game franchises of all time.
Ubisoft has since published four more Prince of Persia sequels, bringing total game sales to over 14 million.
In 2004, Mechner pitched Prince of Persia to super-producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who challenged him to adapt his own creation as a feature film. The film was released in May 2010 and became the world’s top-grossing video game-based movie to date, surpassing the previous box office record of $275 million set by Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.
Mechner wrote and directed the documentary film Chavez Ravine: A Los Angeles Story. It won the 2003 IDA award for Best Short Documentary, was short-listed for an Academy Award nomination, and received its broadcast premiere on PBS Independent Lens in 2005.
Mechner’s upcoming projects include writing a feature film adaptation of Michael Turner’s comic book series Fathom for Fox Studios, and a new original graphic novel for First Second.
Mechner received his B.A. from Yale University. He posts sketches, old journals, and updates about his various projects on his blog at http://jordanmechner.com.
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