Guzikowski was raised in Brockton, Massachusetts. He was interested in visual arts as a child and completed a Master of Fine Arts with a major in film. He was unable to find any work in New York City after graduation but began writing spec scripts in his spare time while working other jobs with the help of a manager in Los Angeles.
He conceived Prisoners in 2007 and completed a final draft in 2009. The script won several competitions and featured in The Black List, a survey of the most popular unproduced screenplays in circulation in Hollywood. After it was sold to Alcon Entertainment, the project languished in development hell for a number of years with interest from Bryan Singer, Christian Bale, and Leonardo DiCaprio at various stages. The film was ultimately realized in 2013, directed by Denis Villeneuve and starring Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal.
His next project was an adaptation of the 2008 Icelandic film Reykjavík-Rotterdam, entitled Contraband. He was hired by actor Mark Wahlberg, who had once been attached to star in Prisoners. Although the script was written after Prisoners, it was released a year earlier in 2012.

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