A Hollywood Screenwriter Asks $4.2 Million for His Coastal California Retreat

Nestled alongside rocky cypress-lined cliffs draped over the Pacific, homes in Central California’s affluent Carmel Highlands enclave have long drawn well-known characters ranging from Vertigo star Kim Novak to millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett. One particularly craggy thoroughfare, just off Highway 1, also holds the oceanfront beach house where Sharon Stone’s character Catherine Tramell resided in the film Basic Instinct . And nearby is the landmark D.L. James estate, which was purchased in 2022 by Brad Pitt for a whopping $40 million.

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Now another particularly eye-catching structure in the neighborhood long owned by Richard Outten has hit the market, asking $4.25 million. Records show the Hollywood screenwriter—probably best known for his work on the 2012 Warner Bros. adventure film Journey 2: The Mysterious Island , starring Michael Caine, Dwayne Johnson, Vanessa Hudgens, and Josh Hutcherson—originally paid $990,000 for the dark wood-sided abode a little over 14 years ago, back in spring 2010.

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Completed in the early 1950s and on the market for only the third time in the past 70 years, the midcentury modern house is tucked away on a little over a third of an acre of gated land sited near beaches and the charming downtown village of Carmel-by-the-Sea. Inside, a total of three bedrooms and two full baths can be found in almost 1,800 square feet of “preserved and stylishly updated” living space overlooking views of Bird Island, Point Lobos, and beyond.

Highlights include an open-concept great room displaying a living area resting beneath a high whitewashed wood-beam ceiling and sporting a wood-burning brick fireplace flanked by window seats, as well as built-in cabinetry and a wall of sliding glass doors opening to a rear patio. A dining spot connects to the tiled kitchen, which is outfitted with a breakfast bar and stainless Bosch, Frigidaire, and KitchenAid appliances.

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Next to the kitchen is a workspace with an integrated desk, while a hallway passes through a breezeway before emptying out at a primary bedroom with a shower-equipped bath and a laundry area. A separate wing on the opposite end of the house has a bath and two bedrooms, one of which has been converted into a wood-paneled office; and outdoors, the woodsy grounds host meandering pathways winding past sustainable succulent gardens and an attached one-car garage.

Per the listing , which is held by Tim Allen of the Tim Allen Properties Team with Coldwell Banker Realty in Northern California, there’s also private beach access.

Click here for more photos of Richard Outten’s house.

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