Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci

In The New York Times, David Itzkoff talks to screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci about how they went from a shared love of the French New Wave to writing the new Transformers film.

In Hollywood Mr. Kurtzman and Mr. Orci have become the go-to screenwriters for mega-budget fare like “Mission: Impossible III” and “The Island,” as well as this week’s film adaptation of “Transformers,” based on the Hasbro toy franchise. And they have recently completed a “Star Trek” prequel intended to rejuvenate that venerable science-fiction franchise.

Yet while these screenwriters concede with laughter that their careers may have strayed somewhat from their youthful auteurist tendencies, “that spirit,” Mr. Orci said, “lives on.”

Transformers trailer