THE ART OF STORY, THE CRAFT OF SCREENWRITING AND MORE

As a 25-year veteran of the Hollywood film and television business, Brian Bird’s mission as a writer, producer and creative media professional is to     illuminate the power of great ideas through the medium of Story – whether the message is destined for the really big screen at the multiplex or the big screen at home.

Most recently, Brian wrote and co-produced Not Easily Broken (2009), adapted from the novel by Bishop T.D. Jakes, for Sony/TriStar; and two films for 20th Century Fox, Saving Sarah Cain (2008), an adaptation of the book by Beverly Lewis, and The Last Sin Eater (2007), based on the novel by Francine Rivers. He also served as a consulting producer on two award-winning documentaries, Frisbee: Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher (2006) and Glue Boys (2007).

Brian is a founding partner with Michael Landon, Jr., of Believe Pictures, a film and television production company.  Brian is currently writing and/or producing six films through Believe Pictures: The Preacher’s Daughter and The Shunning, based on novels by New York Times best-selling author Beverly Lewis, When Calls the Heart and Gown of Spanish Lace, adaptations of novels by top-selling Christian author Janette Oke, and two true stories, Jake’s Run and Deep in the Heart.

Separately, he is writing and producing Unlikely Angel, the true story of Ashley Smith and the Atlanta hostage ordeal, along with producing partner Ken Wales (Amazing Grace).

Brian’s previous other film credits include the Morgan Freeman-directed Bopha! for Paramount Pictures, and the Hallmark Hall of Fame drama Captive Heart. His script, Call Me Claus, produced by Garth Brooks, was the highest rated cable TV film  of 2002. He has also written screen adaptations of In Silence for Paramount, Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the   Cherokee Nation for TNT, Before Time Runs Out for Fox Broadcasting Company, The Deaths of Sybil Bolton for CBS and A Dirty Business for HBO.

Between 1998 and 2003, Brian served as Co-Executive Producer and writer for five seasons on the series Touched By An Angel.  In all, his TV series producing and writing credits include more than 2o0 episodes of Touched By an Angel, as well as the comedy series, Evening Shade, Step by Step and The Family Man.  He also penned two television pilots, the comedy Peter, Paul and Lena, for NBC, and the drama Simple City for Showtime.

Prior to his work in Hollywood, Brian was a staff reporter for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, and then served as Director of Public Relations for World Vision. During that time, he also wrote widely in the Christian press, including news and cover stories for Christianity Today magazine. He graduated with a degree in journalism from California State University at Fullerton in 1980.

His recent media consulting client list includes: The Readers Digest Association, Saddleback Church, PurposeDriven.com, Outreach.com, Motive Marketing and Entertainment, Act One: Writing for Hollywood, the Media Task Force of Biola University, the Visual Storytelling Network.

He has been a panelist for The City of Angels Film Festival, a judge for The 168-Hour Film Festival, and has spoken widely on the subject of Christian involvement in the arts, including events at Saddleback Church, Willow Creek Church, and at Pepperdine, Palm Beach Atlantic, Chapman and Biola Universities.

His most important productions to date, however, are his five children with his wife, Patty, of 29 years.