Aziz Ghazal's beginnings as a filmmaker was when he attended USC Film School and ran the stock room for just over ten years. It was during this period that he made short films and had free use of the school's equipment to attempt to make his own films. During this period, Ghazal wrote and produced schlock horror film Zombie High (1987) and _Natural History Of Parking Lots (1990)_. For the latter he used students at USC to his advantage to help with the making of the film and demanded that their involvement earn degree credits. In 1992, Ghazil was introduced to The Brave, a novel by Gregory McDonald by his friend Paul McCudden who liked the book. Ghazil was to direct, from a script by McCudden and author McDonald offered a one year option on his book.In late 1993, Ghazil broke into his ex-wife Becky's house and upon arrival of his daughter Khadijah from school at 5pm, Ghazal beat her to death. Ghazal disappeared, and was discovered dead in January of 1994 by hikers. He had shot himself with a .380 calibre pistol. A note was found inside his abandoned car that read "You can never know the pain you caused me" as well as a copy of The Brave. Johnny Depp later wrote, directed and starred in his own version of the book _The Brave (1997)_.