A scene from the film Identity Thief.

Jerry Eeten ’90 had a love for the movies, even dreaming of writing one while completing a marketing degree at Illinois State.

He moved to Los Angeles after graduating, taking jobs as a banquet manager, insurance salesman and waiter while working on scripts. Having married and settled into the role of husband and dad in Florida, he put his writing on the back burner and pursued his other passion of teaching. Now he’s living both dreams, as a script he wrote six years ago was optioned by Universal Studios.

His storyline became the movie Identity Thief, which hit theaters this year.