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

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of video production on a 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 ...

, 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'', ''

Beauty and the Beast ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' (''The Young American and Marine ...

, 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 future works, establishes better methods of operation, or remains outside the capabili ...

'', 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 in writing for screen and television from the

USC School of Cinematic Arts The University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) houses seven academic divisions: Film & Television Production; Cinema & Media Studies; John C. Hench Division of Animation + Digital Arts; John Wells Division of Writing for Sc ...

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'', '' The Quiet'' and ''Itty Bitty Titty Committee''. She has also directed episodes of television pr ...

, 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 ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

cowboy. 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, gender identity, or gender expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms. In contrast to evidence-based medicine and cl ...

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 crime. What constitutes a sex crime differs by culture and legal jurisdiction. The majority of convicted sex offenders have convictions for crim ...

s. In 1999, ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' named him one of 10 Screenwriters to Watch. Peterson and Souders renewed their deal with

Fox 21 Television Studios The second incarnation of Touchstone Television (formerly known as Fox 21 Television Studios) was an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Disney Media Networks' Walt Disney Television owned by The Walt Disney Company. It ...

in August 2018. Their next project, ''The Hot Zone'', tells the true story of the

Reston virus Reston virus (RESTV) is one of six known viruses within the genus '' Ebolavirus''. Reston virus causes Ebola virus disease in non-human primates; unlike the other five ebolaviruses, it is not known to cause disease in humans, but has caused asymp ...

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 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

)

Television

* ''

'' (2012–2013) * ''

'' (2017–2018) * ''

'' (2019) * '' Political Animals'' (2012) * '' Salem'' (2015–2017) * '' Smallville'' (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 LGBT screenwriters Living people American male television writers USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni 21st-century LGBT people {{US-screen-writer-stub