This article needs to be updated.(November 2025) |
Brian Wayne Peterson | |
|---|---|
| Peterson at 2010 Smallville Comic-Con panel | |
| Born | 1971or1972(age 53–54) [1] United States |
| Occupation(s) | Screenwriter, television producer |
Brian Wayne Peterson (born c. 1971/1972) [1] is an American screenwriter, television producer, 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, Salem, Genius , and The Hot Zone .
Peterson received a Master of Fine Arts in writing for screen and television from the USC School of Cinematic Arts in 1997. [2] It was here that he met Souders, where the two decided to form their writing partnership.
Shortly after his graduation, Jamie Babbit, 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. [3] Peterson used his experience for the story, which is about a group of teenagers who attend conversion therapy camp. He is gay himself [4] and had experience with conversion therapy while working at a prison clinic for sex offenders. [5] In 1999, Variety named him one of 10 Screenwriters to Watch. [1]
Peterson and Souders renewed their deal with Fox 21 Television Studios in August 2018. [6] Their next project, The Hot Zone, [7] tells the true story of the Reston virus in the US in 1989. It will be released on National Geographic on Memorial Day 2019. [8] 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).