Derek Connolly is an American writer who made his movie debut by writing for the sci-fi romantic comedy Safety Not Guaranteed, winning the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay. Following his well-received debut, he co-wrote the screenplay of the 2015 sci-fi action adventure Jurassic World, which won a Saturn Award nomination for Best Writing, Monster Trucks in 2016, and the 2017 monster movie Kong: Skull Island.

In 2018, he penned the story of J.A. Bayona`s Hollywood action adventure Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, starring Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard in lead roles. His other releases includes Pokemon Detective Pikachu (2019) and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019).