In Conversation With Adam Reed

Saturday, April 22
5:00PM – 6:25PM
John Bassett Theatre

Adam Reed, creator of the hit animated comedy ARCHER, sits down with showrunner Dennis Heaton for an in-depth interview about craft, process, visualizing an end for the series, working with the network, and of course, “phrasing”. The session will conclude with an audience Q&A.

Adam Reed

Adam Reed

Creator/Executive Producer/Showrunner, ARCHER

Adam Reed was born and raised in the beautiful mountain town of Asheville, North Carolina, where he spent his formative years being shooed away from the television.

He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he majored in English and (almost, were it not for one lousy F) minored in Drama. After graduation from U.N.C. in 1992, Reed began to pursue his lifelong dream of pestering his awesome older sister, Anna, to get him a job in her division at Turner Broadcasting.

Reed moved to Turner’s Cartoon Network in 1994, where he began working with Matt Thompson on the seminal HIGH-NOON TOONS. After leaving Cartoon Network in 1996 – rather abruptly, during production of A.M. MAYHEM with Carrot Top – Reed and Thompson moved to New York, where they spent a year in the sordid underbelly of daytime talk shows before founding 70-30 Productions.

From 2001 to 2008, Reed and Thompson helmed the somewhat-popular SEALAB 2021 and FRISKY DINGO on Adult Swim. Reed left 70-30 Productions in 2008 to stagger across the sun-blasted interior of Spain for some reason, and while doing so had the idea for ARCHER, which FX was cool enough to buy.

Reed founded Atlanta-based Floyd County Productions in 2008 and is the voice of gay-and-fabulous agent “Ray Gillette.” He also enjoys motorcycling and a cat.

MODERATOR

Dennis Heaton

Dennis Heaton

Showrunner, MOTIVE

Dennis Heaton is an award-winning writer and producer whose work spans multiple genres and formats, from animation to live action, web series to feature film, half hour comedy to hour drama. Heaton is currently executive producing GHOST WARS, a new horror series for SyFy.

Heaton recently completed showrunning the internationally renowned police procedural MOTIVE (CTV/NBCU/ABC (seasons 1 and 2)/USA (seasons 3 and 4)). His other live action credits include CALL ME FITZ (HBO Canada/Audience Network), THE LISTENER (CTV/NBC), JPOD (CBC), BLOOD TIES (LIFETIME/SPACE) and the feature film FIDO (LIONSGATE). When not working on live action projects, Heaton sneaks off to write episodes of animated shows, create web series and write and direct short film projects.

Both MOTIVE and CALL ME FITZ have both received multiple Canadian Screen Awards nominations, including best drama series and best comedy series, respectively. CALL ME FITZ won the category in 2014. Heaton has also been nominated for four Geminis (the precursor to the CSA’s), four WGC Canadian Screenwriting Awards (winning for his YVON OF THE YUKON animation script “The Trouble With Mammoths”) and nine Leo Award nominations (of which he won five). His 2009 web series, MY PAL SATAN, won best web series and theme song at the New York Television Festival. His 2006 short film, HEAD SHOT, premiered in competition at the Berlin International Film Festival, won best Canadian short film at the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal, and went on to play in film festivals around the world. Heaton has multiple projects in development, including DAMAGE CONTROL, a new police procedural with Lark, NBCU and Corus Entertainment, and the feature comedy LARRY’S AWESOME KEGGER, which he hopes will be his directorial debut.

Heaton lives in Vancouver, BC with a dog who loves him all of the time and a wife who loves him most of the time.

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