section_path: Career/1999–2012: Early career
section_name: 1999–2012: Early career
paragraph_text: 1999–2012: Early career
  
  Baena was a production assistant for filmmaker Robert Zemeckis on What Lies Beneath and Cast Away (both 2000). The films were shot back-to-back and Zemeckis then took a production break, causing Baena to seek other employment. He became an assistant editor and, later, personal assistant for writer-director David O. Russell. Baena was originally hired to help edit an online documentary, Benny Hernandez, before Russell asked him to contribute some writing ideas for it; the project was ultimately left unfinished. After a year and a half of working together, a minor car accident injured one of Baena's eyes. Partially to keep his spirits up and pass the time during his recovery, Russell began discussing story ideas with Baena. The two ended up collaborating on four scripts together, including I Heart Huckabees, which Russell directed in 2004, and Jay Roach 's Meet the Fockers (also 2004), for which they made uncredited revisions.: 146–147 The philosophical I Heart Huckabees was noted for the ambition in its storytelling; it was not a commercial success, and polarized critics. By 2005 it had become a cult hit, and soon found a place in the pop culture zeitgeist. In 2023, Robbie Collin and Tim Robey wrote in The Telegraph that it was one of the best box-office bombs, citing its rewatchability two decades later.
  
  Before he began directing, Baena continued working as a screenwriter, mostly for studio assignments and rewrites. Warner Bros. Pictures appointed him the screenwriter for the comedy The Awakening of Jean-Luc Barbara in 2006, which was still in development in 2010. He performed rewrites on Rami and Etan Cohen 's Revenge of the Jocks, a reverse take on Revenge of the Nerds, in 2011. At the same time he was writing an indie adaptation of the Ernest Hemingway memoir A Moveable Feast. Having always wanted to be a director, Baena considered screenwriting "a means to an end" and was critical of his own writing ability. In 2012, he co-judged a short film script competition curated by Roman Coppola, and played a fictionalized version of himself in the film The End of Love; a dramatization of actor Mark Webber 's life, Baena appeared in The End of Love alongside Aubrey Plaza, his partner and Webber's Scott Pilgrim vs. the World co-star.
  
  Baena was a production assistant for filmmaker Robert Zemeckis on What Lies Beneath and Cast Away (both 2000). The films were shot back-to-back and Zemeckis then took a production break, causing Baena to seek other employment. He became an assistant editor and, later, personal assistant for writer-director David O. Russell. Baena was originally hired to help edit an online documentary, Benny Hernandez, before Russell asked him to contribute some writing ideas for it; the project was ultimately left unfinished. After a year and a half of working together, a minor car accident injured one of Baena's eyes. Partially to keep his spirits up and pass the time during his recovery, Russell began discussing story ideas with Baena. The two ended up collaborating on four scripts together, including I Heart Huckabees, which Russell directed in 2004, and Jay Roach 's Meet the Fockers (also 2004), for which they made uncredited revisions.: 146–147 The philosophical I Heart Huckabees was noted for the ambition in its storytelling; it was not a commercial success, and polarized critics. By 2005 it had become a cult hit, and soon found a place in the pop culture zeitgeist. In 2023, Robbie Collin and Tim Robey wrote in The Telegraph that it was one of the best box-office bombs, citing its rewatchability two decades later.
  
  Before he began directing, Baena continued working as a screenwriter, mostly for studio assignments and rewrites. Warner Bros. Pictures appointed him the screenwriter for the comedy The Awakening of Jean-Luc Barbara in 2006, which was still in development in 2010. He performed rewrites on Rami and Etan Cohen 's Revenge of the Jocks, a reverse take on Revenge of the Nerds, in 2011. At the same time he was writing an indie adaptation of the Ernest Hemingway memoir A Moveable Feast. Having always wanted to be a director, Baena considered screenwriting "a means to an end" and was critical of his own writing ability. In 2012, he co-judged a short film script competition curated by Roman Coppola, and played a fictionalized version of himself in the film The End of Love; a dramatization of actor Mark Webber 's life, Baena appeared in The End of Love alongside Aubrey Plaza, his partner and Webber's Scott Pilgrim vs. the World co-star.