After Syracuse University, Borten moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in filmmaking.
In 1996, he sold the script for Dallas Buyers Club to a production company that was later dissolved.
[4] In 2001, he rewrote the script with Melisa Wallack, and they sold it to Universal Studios, with Marc Forster to direct the film and Brad Pitt to star in it.
[4] In 2009, however, Borten and Wallack were able to reclaim their rights to the script, and producer Robbie Brenner cast Matthew McConaughey to star in it, and secured funding for the film's production.
[2] Dallas Buyers Club received numerous accolades, including Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.