Brian Wayne Peterson (born c. 1971/1972) is an American

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of a television show, television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon acce ...

, and showrunner. After finding success writing the script for 1999 film '' But I'm a Cheerleader'', he and his writing partner Kelly Souders wrote and produced the television series ''

Smallville ''Smallville'' is an American superhero fiction, superhero television series developed by writer-producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, based on the DC Comics character Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The series was produce ...

'', ''

Beauty and the Beast "Beauty and the Beast" is a fairy tale written by the French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in (''The Young American and Marine Tales''). Villeneuve's lengthy version was abridged, rewritten, and publish ...

, Salem,

Genius Genius is a characteristic of original and exceptional insight in the performance of some art or endeavor that surpasses expectations, sets new standards for the future, establishes better methods of operation, or remains outside the capabiliti ...

'', and ''

The Hot Zone ''The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story'' is a best-selling 1994 nonfiction thriller by Richard Preston about the origins and incidents involving viral hemorrhagic fevers, particularly ebolaviruses and marburgviruses. The basis of the book ...

''.

Biography

Peterson received a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

in writing for screen and television from the

USC School of Cinematic Arts The USC School of Cinematic Arts is an academic unit of the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles. With a history that dates to the first years of Sound film, talkies, the school descends from America's first ...

in 1997. It was here that he met Souders, where the two decided to form their writing partnership. Shortly after his graduation,

Jamie Babbit Jamie Merill Babbit (born November 16, 1970) is an American director, producer and screenwriter. She directed the films '' But I'm a Cheerleader'' (1999), '' The Quiet'' (2005), and '' Itty Bitty Titty Committee'' (2007). She has also directed ep ...

, the director for ''But I'm a Cheerleader'', asked Peterson to write a script for her film after reading a story he had written about a gay

cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the ''vaquero'' ...

. Peterson used his experience for the story, which is about a group of teenagers who attend

conversion therapy Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual's sexual orientation, romantic orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms. Methods that have ...

camp. He is gay himself and had experience with conversion therapy while working at a prison clinic for

sex offender A sex offender (sexual offender, sex abuser, or sexual abuser) is a person who has committed a Sex and the law, sex crime. What constitutes a sex crime differs by culture and legal jurisdiction. The majority of convicted sex offenders have convi ...

s. In 1999, '' Variety'' named him one of 10 Screenwriters to Watch. Peterson and Souders renewed their deal with Fox 21 Television Studios in August 2018. Their next project, ''The Hot Zone'', tells the true story of the Reston virus in the US in 1989. It will be released on National Geographic on Memorial Day 2019. In 2012 Peterson and Souders were nominated for an Online Film and Television Association (OFTA) Television Award for Best Writing of a Motion Picture of Miniseries for ''Political Animals'' (2012).

Filmography

Film

* '' But I'm a Cheerleader'' (

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

)

Television

* ''

'' (2012–2013) * ''

'' (2017–2018) * ''

'' (2019) * '' Political Animals'' (2012) * '' Salem'' (2015–2017) * ''

'' (2002–2011) * '' Under the Dome'' (2014)

References

External links

* 1970s births American television producers American television writers Date of birth missing (living people) American gay writers American LGBTQ screenwriters Living people American male television writers USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni 21st-century American LGBTQ people {{US-screen-writer-1970s-stub