Animation TV

Event Date: Saturday, December 8, 2012 || Speakers: Brandon M. Easton, Jonathan Callan, John Semper Jr., Geoff Thorne & Kevin Grevioux  || Check-in: 12:30 pm ||

**The deadline has passed and RSVPs are now CLOSED for this event. Please view our calendar for upcoming events.

Brandon M. Easton is a professional writer, screenwriter, and educator based in Los Angeles, CA. Born and raised in Baltimore, MD, Easton is a graduate of Ithaca College and Boston University’s prestigious Screenwriting program. With over fifteen years of experience, Brandon has penned articles for the Boston Herald, Crashpad Magazine, and a variety of other publications. After teaching in NYC public schools for six years, he decided to go for his screenwriting dreams in Hollywood and eventually scored a writing gig on Warner Bros. new ThunderCats TV series and Hasbro’s new show Transformers: Rescue Bots.

Brandon produces a popular podcast titled Writing for Rookies – the only show dedicated to comic book and Hollywood scriptwriters. His published work includes Arkanium and Transformers: Armada for Dreamwave Productions, a column for Blacksci-fi.com, and Shadowlaw, his newest major project that was released in January 2012 to much acclaim and an immediate sell-out from Arcana/Platinum Studios. Shadowlaw garnered coverage in publications/outlets like USA Today, Wired, Forbes and Ain’t It Cool News.

Jonathan Callan is a television and animation writer who has written for Disney XD, Cartoon Network and The Hub. His credits include such boys action series as GENERATOR REX, BEN 10: OMNIVERSE, and KAIJUDO: RISE OF THE DUELMASTERS.

In 2012, he served as one of the writers on the science-fiction animated series SLUGTERRA, which began airing on Disney XD this fall. Jonathan has a short story in the Image Comics anthology OUTLAW TERRITORY, VOL. 3, due to be published in 2013.

John Semper Jr. has been developing, writing and producing television and film for the last thirty years. His credits include classic animated shows like “Scooby-Doo,” “Smurfs,” “The Jetsons” (Hanna-Barbera Productions); “My Little Pony,” “The Moondreamers,” (Marvel Productions); “Duck Tales” (Disney); “Alvin and the Chipmunks” (NBC Productions); and many others. He became the first African-American show-runner for a Saturday morning network animated series when he did the “Fraggle Rock” animated series (Jim Henson Productions/ NBC). He also co-created the original, live-action “Dog City,” also for Jim Henson.

Best known for his work as both producer and head writer on “Spider-Man: The Animated Series,” Mr. Semper collaborated directly with Spider-Man’s creator, Stan Lee, in bringing upon Marvel’s pre-eminent super-hero character to the TV screen. Mr. Semper’s script for the “Day of the Chameleon” episode was nominated for an Annie Award, the animation industry’s highest honor. He subsequently received an Emmy nomination for his work at Warner Brothers Television Animation as story-editor and writer for the successful series “Static Shock” based on the D.C. Comics character. Mr. Semper’s feature film writing credits include the live-action comedy “Class Act,” released by Warner Brothers, featuring the rap duo Kid ‘N Play. Fans of Japanese anime director Hayao Miyazaki have appreciated

Mr. Semper’s English language scripts for the Disney-released feature films “Laputa: The Castle in the Sky” and “Kiki’s Delivery Service.” Mr. Semper’s pre-school children’s television show credits include the Kevin Clash-designed puppet series “Puzzle Place” (PBS), which he helped develop, and “Jay Jay the Jet Plane”(PBS) for which he served as developer, writer, executive story-editor and producer. Mr. Semper also worked personally with George Lucas developing projects for the George Lucas Educational Foundation. Mr. Semper lives in the Los Angeles area where he continues to develop and write numerous projects for television and feature films. He is a member of the Writers Guild of America, The Animation Guild, the Motion Picture Editors Guild and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Geoff Thorne is currently a writer-producer on the hit TV series, LEVERAGE, as well as having written for LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT, BEN 10: ULTIMATE ALIEN and BEN 10: OMNIVERSE.

His work has been nominated for GLYPH and GENESIS awards and he was a multiple silver medalist in the STRANGE NEW WORLDS short story contest as well as a finalist for the prestigious WRITERS OF THE FUTURE AWARD.

Thorne is the co-founder and writing partner of GENRE 19, a studio he formed with visual artist Todd Harris in 2008 and the founder and Editor-in-Chief of THE WINTERMAN PROJECT.

Kevin Grevioux is a screenwriter/creator in Los Angeles, CA who has several years of experience in the film industry as a writer, actor and producer. After graduating Howard University with a degree in microbiology and studying genetic engineering in grad school, Grevioux came to Hollywood where he acted in several films including The Mask, Congo, Batman Forever, Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes, The Hulk, Men In Black II, and Underworld. Kevin also wrote the original screenplay to and co-created the successful Underworld franchise, which was his first produced writing credit. He was also a co-producer on the series and played the character Raze. Grevioux also wrote the original screenplay I, Frankenstein produced by Lakeshore Entertainment, that was based on his original Darkstorm graphic novel of the same name.

As a comic book/graphic novel writer/creator, Grevioux has worked for both Marvel and DC Comics having written such characters as Spider-Man, Blade, Thor, Iron Man, Batman, Superman, the New Warriors and the critically acclaimed Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel which he created for Marvel.

Kevin has established an independent creator-owed comic book/graphic novel company called Darkstorm Studios. Under this imprint Kevin has created the titles I, Frankenstein, ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction, The Spook, Shurika, Skull & Guns, The Pale Horsemen, The Gray Men, Alius Rex and Battlesphere. In addition, Kevin has created an all-ages imprint within Darkstorm called Astounding Comics. Under this banner are such titles as Valkyries, Njuma, Cryptokids, Mark Metoer, Guardian Heroes, The Atoms Family, The Toy Box, Monstroids, Mighty Girls, The Vindicators and The Hammer Kid.

Additionally, he has worked as an animation writer having penned episodes of Ben 10: Ultimate Alien for the Cartoon Network, The Atoms Family pilot for Starz Animation, and Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes for Marvel/Film Roman.

Background:

Born in Chicago, IL, but raised all over in country in Minneapolis, Boston, New Jersey and Oakland, California, Kevin came to Los Angeles after a stint as an assistant lab researcher at the National Cancer Institute at NIH in Bethesda, MD. He has also written comics for companies such as Wildstorm, Moonstone, Arcana, Red 5 and Ape. And has done voiceovers on animated shows such as The Batman, Young Justice: Invasion, Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Hero