He began his career as a
story editor for
primetime television series such as
The Six Million Dollar Man and
The Hardy Boys Mysteries, before graduating to the role of producer and writer. He produced the first season of
Knight Rider, and was the creator of the short-lived sci-fi series
The Powers of Matthew Star. De Souza started his film career writing, directing, and producing the low-budget
stoner comedy ''
Arnold's Wrecking Co., which won the Special Jury Prize at the 1972 Atlanta Film Festival. Beginning in the early 1980s, he became a prolific screenwriter of feature films, specializing in blockbuster action and thriller films like Commando
and Die Hard. He wrote some of the most successful films of the era, including 48 Hrs., The Running Man, The Flintstones, and Die Hard 2. For Commando
and Die Hard 2
, De Souza created the fictional Latin American country Val Verde. He was frequently hired by studios as a script doctor in order to rewrite preexisting screenplays during production to add more action and humor. He has been nominated twice for the Edgar Allan Poe award, an award given to any piece of media for excellence in mystery writing. The first in 1984 for 48 Hrs
. and again in 1989 for Die Hard
. De Souza also "won" the 1991 Razzie Award for Worst Screenplay for Hudson Hawk. He wrote and directed the 1994 video game adaptation Street Fighter'' after being introduced to the franchise by his son. Though the film received negative critical reception and failed to spawn an intended franchise, it has since become a
cult classic in some circles. In 2000, he was honored with the
Norman Lear Award for Lifetime Achievement in writing. In 2004, he received the Dr. Bird award, which is given for achievement in the arts to people of Jamaican descent. De Souza appeared in the feature-length documentary
Dreams on Spec, which profiled three aspiring screenwriters and featured comments from a number of distinguished writers like
James L. Brooks,
Nora Ephron,
Carrie Fisher, and him. His Web series
Unknown Sender became a triple honoree at the 2009
Webby Awards for Best Writing,
Best Dramatic Series, and Best Individual Performance. In 2011, he teamed with
Family Guy director
Pete Michels for the
Fox Network animated pilot "Spyburbia." De Souza has also written for
The New York Times,
The Los Angeles Times and
Premiere,
Empire magazine,
Buzz, and
Fade In. ==Filmography==