Stephen Wise

Stephen Wise was born in Michigan. At age eight, friends of his invited him to participate in a “home movie” they were making. This set him on a course of filmmaking where he wrote and directed his own films on Super 8 through his teen years. His family moved to Texas and then to Oklahoma, where he earned an Associate’s Degree in Broadcasting. He then relocated to Orlando, where he was one of the first 30 students inducted into the inaugural class of the University of Central Florida’s film program and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree cum laude.

With a love of writing, Stephen focused on screenwriting. He received accolades from Creative Screenwriting Magazine, Writer’s Digest, and the Screenwriting Expo. He co-wrote a script for a proposed Batman film that was in consideration at Warner Bros., but was eventually passed over in favor of the reboot “Batman Begins.” IFC listed his effort as one of the seven best unproduced Batman screenplays.

He has had a varied career in film production and in the private sector. Among the dozen short films he wrote, directed, and/or produced, several played in film festivals around the world. He has worked on video projects for Walt Disney World and Lockheed Martin, as well as winning three Addy Awards for commercials he produced and directed. He has worked in theater, both onstage and behind the scenes as director and technical director, and lent his screenwriting skills to the Blue Cat Screenwriting Competition as a contest judge. Most recently, he appeared as a background performer in the feature films Jurassic World and The Fantastic Four. If you don’t blink, you might see him. Since 2013, he has also served as the programming director for Pensacon: Pensacola Comic Con, where he also coordinates the Pensacon Short Film Festival.

Short stories have always been a creative outlet for him, so he finally decided to publish an anthology of stories he wrote entitled “Portals of the Mind.” He has plans for another collection and possibly some novels. His favorite genres are adventure, science fiction, horror, fantasy, and suspense–basically anything that sparks his imagination. His favorite authors are Stephen King, Piers Anthony, Orson Scott Card, Alan Dean Foster, Tad Williams, Caleb Carr, Ray Bradbury, and Agatha Christie.