Kevin Williamson
Birthdate: Mar 14, 1965
Birthplace: New Bern, North Carolina
Kevin Williamson (birthname: Kevin Meade Williamson) is the highly successful screenwriter and director of slasher horror movies, best known as the creator of the Scream series, starting with his screenwriting debut, Scream (1996), co-starring David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard, Rose McGowan, Skeet Ulrich and Drew Barrymore under Wes Craven’s direction, grossing a spectacular $173 million (based on the estimated budget) for distributor Dimension Films.
Williamson continued his long commitment to the Scream franchise as screenwriter/executive producer of Scream 2 (1997) (with new cast members Courteney Cox, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jamie Kennedy, Laurie Metcalf, Jerry O’Connell, Jada Pinkett and Liev Schreiber); as producer of Scream 3 (2000) (with new cast members Patrick Dempsey, Scott Foley, Lance Henriksen, Jenny McCarthy, Emily Mortimer, Parker Posey, Deon Richmond and Patrick Warburton); as writer/producer of Scream 4 (2011) (with new cast members Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, Anthony Anderson, Alison Brie, Adam Brody, Rory Culkin and Mary McDonnell); executive producer on the fifth and sixth entries, Scream (2022) and Scream VI (2023) (with new cast members Melissa Barrera, Mason Gooding, Jenna Ortega, Jack Quaid, Jack Champion, under the direction of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett); and then making his franchise debut as director/co-writer (with Guy Busick) of Scream 7 (2026), marking the return of the original’s co-stars, Neve Campbell, David Arquette and Matthew Lillard, regular co-star Courteney Cox, with new cast members Isabel May, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Anna Camp, Michelle Randolph, Jimmy Tatro, Mckenna Grace and Joel McHale, produced by Spyglass Media Group/Project X Entertainment and released by Paramount Pictures, with a cumulative franchise gross of $932 million.
Williamson was screenwriter of the slasher movie, I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), based on Lois Duncan’s 1973 novel, co-starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, Freddie Prinze Jr., Johnny Galecki and Bridgette Wilson under Jim Gillespie’s direction, grossing $125.3 million for producer Mandalay Entertainment and distributor Columbia Pictures (while Williamson had no involvement in any of the ensuing sequels released in 1998, 2006, 2025 and a 2021 television series. Williamson shifted into sci-fi horror for his next screenplay resulting in his third consecutive hit, director/editor Robert Rodriguez’s The Faculty (1998), starring Jordana Brewster, Clea DuVall, Laura Harris, Josh Hartnett, Shawn Hatosy, Famke Janssen, Piper Laurie, Bebe Neuwirth, Robert Patrick, Jon Stewart and Elijah Wood, earning over $63 million for Miramax Films.
Kevin Williamson made his director/writer debut with the teen black comedy thriller, Teaching Mrs. Tingle (1999), starring Helen Mirren, Katie Holmes, Barry Watson, Jeffrey Tambor, Molly Ringwald, and Vivica A. Fox, but marking the first Williamson project to lose money by grossing only $8.9 million for Miramax (based on estimated costs). Williamson, as writer/producer, reunited with Scream director Wes Craven for another box office loser (based on estimated costs), Cursed (2005), with Christina Ricci, Joshua Jackson, Jesse Eisenberg, Judy Greer, Scott Baio, Milo Ventimiglia, Shannon Elizabeth, and Mya, anreturned $29.6.6 million for Miramax.
Williamson has been producer only on two genre titles—the first being his reunion with director Jim Gillespie, the little-seen zombie slasher movie, Venom (2005), with Agnes Bruckner, Jonathan Jackson and Laura Ramsey, grossing less than $1 million for Miramax/Dimension Films, and the second being The Exorcism (2024), starring Russell Crowe, Ryan Simpkins, Sam Worthington, Adam Goldberg, Adrian Pasdar and David Hyde Pierce under Joshua John Miller’s direction and grossing $12.6 million for distributor Vertical.
Personal life
Kevin Williamson was born in New Bern, North Carolina, and raised in New Bern and Aransas Pass, Texas, by his parents, Faye and Wade. Williamson attended and graduated from East Carolina University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theatre Arts. Williamson is gay, coming out in his late 20s in 1992. Williamson’s height is 6’ 0½”. Williamson’s estimated net worth is $75 million.
Facts About Kevin Williamson
Straight Talk: Kevin Williamson has said, “I’m not a real writer. I’m a screenwriter.”
Origin Story: Williamson’s original work for Scream was a one-act play about a teenage girl terrorized by a killer on the phone, which he later adapted as the original movie’s opening scene.
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