Claim: American Pie was written by a man.

Adam Herz -LRB- born September 10 , 1972 -RRB- is an American screenwriter and producer . He founded the production company Terra Firma Films in 2003 with a first-look deal at Universal Studios .   Herz was born in New York City and raised in East Grand Rapids , Michigan . He is the older of two boys , and his father , David , is a brain surgeon in Grand Rapids , Michigan . It was with his mother 's -LRB- Myrna -RRB- Super 8 camera that he made his first movies while a teen . Herz graduated from East Grand Rapids High School -LRB- see also East Grand Rapids Public Schools -RRB- . He moved to Los Angeles after graduation from the University of Michigan in 1996 . He held a number of production assistant jobs while working on writing spec scripts .   His first screenplay , originally titled East Great Falls High , was written over a winter ski vacation in 1998 . It was based on his high school years in East Grand Rapids , Michigan . It sold for a reported $ 650,000 in 1999 and became the film American Pie .   Herz created and runs the Emerging Writers Program , a series of classes that help upcoming screenwriters break into the business .