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| S.S. Wilson | Brent Maddock | Nancy Roberts |
SS WILSON (Writer/Director) has always been a storyteller with a director's eye. His high school science project was an animated dinosaur that demonstrated the concept of persistence of vision, the "flaw" in human optics, which makes movie watching possible.
The project joined three loves of Wilson's youth: science fiction, animation and moviemaking, and all three have converged in his adult career.
Born in Oklahoma, Wilson spent much of his childhood traveling with his family. He started making films, especially animated projects, as a teenager in Hawaii, creating bigger and bigger "epics" through high school. His parents encouraged his work and he studied film and television at Pennsylvania State University, State College.
This experience served him well when he was drafted into the Army and assigned to West Point, where he worked on educational cartoons and television programs for the cadets. After his military service, Wilson attended the USC graduate film program where he met writing partner Brent Maddock. Following graduation, he worked as a writer and puppet animator for educational videos and films. Later, he and Maddock wrote gags for Looney Tune Cartoons at Chuck Jones Enterprises. Wilson also wrote a book on special effects stop-motion animation, "Puppets and People," and articles for American Cinematographer, Cinefex and Cinefantastique.
For one particular educational film called "Library Report," Wilson created a puppet animation robot which proved so popular that he and Maddock built the concept into a spec script that became their first produced feature screenplay, Short Circuit. This was the writing team's entry into mainstream Hollywood. After the release of Short Circuit, Maddock and Wilson wrote Short Circuit II, Batteries Not Included and Ghost Dad, and served as writing consultants on Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment production, The Land Before Time.
NEW! - Information on the Father of Short Circuit.
Wilson then came up with the idea for Tremors, the story of two modern-day cowboys and the denizens of a desert town battling giant underground creatures. Their then agent (now partner) Nancy Roberts, packaged the picture. Tremors marked the feature producing debuts for co-writers Wilson and Brent Maddock, as well as the directing debut of fellow USC alumnus and longtime friend Ron Underwood. Wilson also worked as second unit director on Tremors. The film received widespread critical acclaim, both as a clever send-up of the horror genre and a superb monster movie.
In 1991, Wilson joined Nancy Roberts, director Ron Underwood and Brent Maddock in a production partnership. Stampede Entertainment. The arrangement formalized working relationships and friendships, which go back to their college years. The first Stampede project was Heart and Souls, co-written by Maddock and Wilson, produced by Roberts and directed by Ron Underwood for Universal Pictures. It was the fantasy/comedy about four departed souls who get one chance to resolve their earthly lives - and the reluctant mortal who is fated to help them.
Stampede next branched into the home video market, creating Tremors 2 for Universal Family Home Entertainment. This time Wilson debuted as director. Next came the team's Tremors 3 , this time with Maddock directing and then Tremors 4 with SS Wilson Directing, Roberts produced all three films. Next came Wild, Wild West, and branching into television, Lost in Space for NBC.
Recently Maddock, Wilson and Roberts completed Tremors 4: The Legend Begins , and are the Creators/Executive-Producers of the Tremors, the television series, which debuted on Sci-Fi Network in 2003.
As befits someone with a scientific bent, Wilson brings his intuitive
sense of logic to the team's storytelling process. "I tend to
be structure oriented," he explains, "I look at a script
almost exclusively with an eye toward whether I believe the flow of
events. It all has to make sense to me."
On a personal note, Wilson is a connoisseur of fine beer. You can view Wilson's beer list here.
Complete filmography for SS Wilson
BRENT MADDOCK (Writer/Director) is no stranger to dealing with different personalities and fast flying dialogue. With five brothers, it came as part of the territory.
So it comes as no surprise that Maddock's strengths as a writer include understanding people's attitudes and how they talk. He approaches screenwriting through character, and it shows up in the slick repartee and interesting, offbeat people who inhabit the worlds of his creations.
Born and raised in upper Westchester County in New York, Maddock was the classic English major while attending Colgate University. Bitten by the theater bug, he also directed and acted in college stage productions.
Although Colgate had no film courses at the time, Maddock still managed to make Super 8 films with his classmates. Pursuing his dream of making movies professionally, Maddock applied to the graduate film school at USC where he met writing partner SS Wilson and director Ron Underwood.
After graduation, Maddock found work editing educational films. From there, he segued into scriptwriting and then directing educational and industrial films. He worked as a writer (teamed with SS Wilson) for Chuck Jones on Roadrunner and Bugs Bunny cartoons. Then, at DePatie-Freleng, they co-wrote Looney Tunes cartoons for prime-time animated television specials, starring Daffy Duck.
"Short Circuit," CO-written with SS Wilson, marked Maddock's feature film screenwriting breakthrough. Directed by John Badham, Short Circuit was a hit comedy about a robot that develops human qualities after being struck by lightning.
Maddock's gift for writing sharply etched character portraits and good old boy comedy dialogue helped make the writing team's next feature, Tremors, a winner. The story of two desert rat cowboys who try to defend a town from the onslaught of underground monsters, Tremors became a cult favorite and was widely acclaimed for its balance of horror and humor. The success of Tremors paved the way for the sequel, TREMORS 2: AFTERSHOCKS, also CO-written by the team.
Maddock and Wilson's credits include Wild Wild West, and recently branching into television, Lost in Space for NBC. Perpetuating the Tremors franchise, they CO-wrote the Story for Tremors 3- Back to Perfection and Tremors 4: The Legend Begins with Roberts. It marked Maddock's successful directorial debut and was the springboard for launching Tremors, the series which debuted on Sci-fi Network in 2003.
Brent makes use of his uniquely humorous perspective. "I tend
to push things towards comedy," says Maddock. "It's a way
of looking at things, a point of view. It's sort of cynical, sarcastic
and maybe a little frustrated. But it helps you get through life."
Complete filmography for Brent Maddock
Writer-Producer/Partner Stampede Entertainment.
In 1980, Roberts entered the entertainment business via freelance writing and management of an independent production company specializing in family entertainment such as Hallmark Hall of Fame television specials and animated theatrical motion pictures. In 1982, she started The Roberts Company as a boutique talent agency. The company soon carved a niche in the industry by building the careers of a select client list of writers and directors, such as Ron Underwood, Lewis Colick, Brent Maddock, Steve Wilson, Paul Guay, Steve Mazur, Jules Feiffer and Wiley (Non-Sequitur) Miller.
It was in the mid-eighties that Roberts met screenwriters Brent Maddock and SS Wilson and director Ron Underwood. Recognizing their potential and talent, she launched Maddock and Wilson's feature film writing careers with the sale of their spec script, SHORT CIRCUIT. Subsequently, she leveraged the Maddock/Wilson spec script TREMORS into the feature directing debut of Underwood and the producing debut of Maddock and Wilson. The success of TREMORS led directly to Underwood being chosen as the director of CITY SLICKERS, one of the biggest hits of 1991.
Early in 1992, Roberts converted her talent agency, The Roberts Company, to a prestigious management company of which she is president. Among her clients recent films are WILD WILD WEST; MIGHTY JOE YOUNG; LIAR, LIAR and HEARTBREAKERS.
In that same year, Roberts co-founded Stampede Entertainment, a production partnership with Ron Underwood, Brent Maddock and SS Wilson. Besides her strong management skills, Roberts has proven her mettle as a producer. A driving force behind the TREMORS franchise; Roberts fulfilled a personal ten-year commitment by launching her partners' directing careers with each installment of the TREMORS series. Roberts returned to her own writing roots in co-scripting the story for TREMORS III with Maddock & Wilson. Roberts is also shepherding SUPERNATURAL LAW, the classic comic book franchise written by Batton Lash.
Recently Maddock, Wilson and Roberts completed Tremors 4: The Legend Begins, and are the Creators/Executive-Producers of the Tremors, the television series, which debuted on Sci-fi Network in 2003.
Stampede
Entertainment prides itself upon being a company of artist/executives.
The Stampede brand has a unique American "everyman" point
of view that is articulated by storytellers with a distinctly imaginative
style. Says Roberts, "Our goal as a company is to realize to
the fullest extent the partners' talents in a commercially strong
but artist-friendly environment."