Mr. Angel joined The Hatchery, a family entertainment production company, as a partner in June 2003, where he has produced and developed a number of television programs in both live action and animation. Newly appointed as the company’s Chief Creative Officer, Mr. Angel is responsible for managing all project development, sales and production.
Currently, Mr. Angel is Executive Producing two new shows for the new family network, The Hub. The first show is another scary series from the master of kid’s thrillers, R.L. Stine. Mr. Angel is producing and writing 22 episodes of this new anthology series, “R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour” with partner Billy Brown. “The Haunting Hour” launches January 2011. The second series Mr. Angel is Executive Producing for the Hub is an animated comedy, “Dan Vs.” The Hatchery has partnered with Film Roman, the studio behind “The Simpsons” and “King of the Hill” to deliver a high quality animated comedy series to The Hub’s primetime lineup. “Dan Vs.” is a 22 episode commitment and is set to launch January 2011.
In 2009, Mr. Angel Executive Produced “Christmas in Canaan” starring Billy Ray Cyrus. “Christmas in Canaan” was Hallmark Channel’s event Christmas movie for 2009 and it premiered with record breaking ratings, leading The Hallmark Channel to their highest rated week in network history. A sequel is currently in development for Christmas 2011.
In 2009, Mr. Angel was also responsible for the inspirational film “Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story.” He served as the Executive Producer on this event movie for TNT. It stars Cuba Gooding Jr. and Kimberly Elise and was directed by Thomas Carter. “Gifted Hands” had its worldwide premiere on TNT on February 7th 2009 and won the night, beating out all network and cable programming. “Gifted Hands” has been nominated for a number of honors including a Humanities Prize, A Critics Choice for Best Picture and has won a number of awards including Best Picture Made for Television at the Image Awards. It continues to sell well on DVD.
Currently Mr. Angel is developing a number of family projects including a scripted family show based on the popular Great Brain book series and “Spooksville,” based on the best selling Chris Pike books. “The Great Brain” and “Spooksville” are slated for launch in fall 2011.
In 2007, Mr. Angel wrote and produced the first in The Hatchery’s series of direct-to-DVD movies based on R.L. Stine’s Haunting Hour and Nightmare Hour books, in partnership with Universal Home Video. “R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour: Don’t Think About It” premiered on The Cartoon Network to record ratings in September of 2007 and earned him a WGA writing award nomination for Best Writing in Children’s Long Form. The Halloween DVD continues to sell well around the world.
In 2004, Mr. Angel did double duty producing 130 episodes of the game show “Balderdash” and 13 episodes of the swashbuckling adventure “Young Blades,” both for the PAX network under a deal with NBC. He also served as writer and creator of both shows. Over the last four years Mr. Angel has also been responsible for the development of a number of properties including “Scrooge the Musical,” a remake of the Albert Finney classic for CBS and a Mini Series for Lifetime, “Ruby,” based on the popular teen girl book series V.C. Andrews. In addition to “Ruby”, Mr. Angel is developing a movie remake of the popular V.C. Andrews best seller, “Flowers in the Attic” for MGM.
Mr. Angel has also worked closely with American Greetings to help develop a number of their brands into television series. Those properties include “Twisted Whiskers,” “Sushi Pack,” “Mariyoku Yummy,” and “The Care Bears Movie 2007.” “Twisted Whiskers” and “Maiyoku Yummy” launched on The Hub and are a major part of their family block.
Among his other noteworthy accomplishments, Mr. Angel secured the movie rights to the inspiring story of Bill Porter after seeing an interview on ABC’s “20/20”. The culmination of a four-year effort by Mr. Angel, during which he gathered a top-notch creative team of talent including actor William H. Macy, Kyra Sedgewick and Helen Mirren, was the production of a two-hour movie event based on Porter’s life entitled “Door to Door.”
Mr. Angel served as Executive Producer of the movie, which he had sold to TNT and Johnson and Johnson. In 2003 “Door to Door” was not only one of the most watched, but also one of the most honored movies of all time including AFI, Peabody, Emmy and Critics Choice honors. The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences nominated “Door to Door” with more nominations than any other program that year, twelve, and it won six prime time Emmy Awards, the most of any program for that year, including Outstanding Made for Television Movie; Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie; Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries Movie or Dramatic Special; and Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special. The six Emmy wins for “Door to Door” made it the most-ever garnered for a single program for TNT.
Previously, from 1995 through 1998, Mr. Angel won recognition when he produced, co-wrote and co-story edited the number one hit show, “Goosebumps” for FOX Kids Network, winning the WGA Award for Best Children’s Writing, and a Gemini nomination for Best Children’s Series. TV Guide picked “Goosebumps” two years in a row as one of the best kid’s shows on television. “Goosebumps” continues to be successful, being one of the highest rated series on Cartoon Network for their Halloween seasons.
From 1997 to 1998, Mr. Angel and his partner, Billy Brown, served as Story Editor/Writers on the FOX TV hit, “The X-Files.” 1998 was the only year the writing staff of this popular series took home a Golden Globe for Best Dramatic Writing.
Mr. Angel also served as Supervising Producer, in 1998, on “Animorphs”, a television series adaptation of the hit book series for Scholastic Productions and Nickelodeon.
From 1999 through 2001, Mr. Angel had an overall writing/producing deal with The Jim Henson Company where, with his writing partner, he developed and supervised a variety of projects including “Brats of the Lost Nebula,” which aired on the WB Network and was selected as one of the ten best new children’s programs by TV Guide for 1999.
In 2001, Mr. Angel created two primetime series, “The Fearing Mind” for the Jim Henson Company and the FOX Family cable channel and “Night Visions” for Warner Brothers and FOX TV Network. “Night Visions” was reprised in 2003 on the Sci-Fi Channel for a number of years and in 2008 was reprised again by Chiller TV.
In 2002, Mr. Angel served as Executive Producer and co-writer with Billy Brown for a two-hour original script for the revival of the “Battlestar Galactica” series as part of a development deal with Studio USA. Also in 2002, Mr. Angel created, wrote and Executive Produced a drama pilot for the WB television network called “Shadow Walkers”.
Among Mr. Angel’s other credits are: Creator, Writer, Executive Producer of the Ace-Award Nominated “John Carpenter Presents Body Bags” for Showtime, and Supervising Writer of Foxboro Entertainment’s “National Lampoon’s Ahead of Its Time”.
Previously Mr. Angel helmed production for several companies including the cable network FIT TV, Body by Jake, Tamilee Webb and Palmer/Cablevision of Southern California.
Mr. Angel is a graduate of the UCLA Film School, he lives with his wife and three children in the Los Angeles suburb of Toluca Lake.
