Williamson was born in New Bern, North Carolina, the younger son of Lillie Faye (née Pittman), a storyteller, and Ottis Wade Williamson, a fisherman. He lived in the neighboring coastal community of Oriental, but before he started school his family moved to Aransas Pass, Texas, later relocating to Fulton, Texas, both near Corpus Christi. Williamson's family returned to Oriental before Kevin's high school years. Obsessed from a young age with movies—especially those of Steven Spielberg – he applied to New York University's film school and was accepted but because he could not afford the tuition, he attended a school closer to home, East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, where he took a B.A. in theater arts.
Inspired by the March 9, 1994 episode of the newsmagazine Turning Point on Danny Rolling, a serial killer in Gainesville, Florida who preyed on college students, Williamson wrote a horror movie script, originally titled "Scary Movie". Its characters had seen many classic horror movies (e.g. A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween) and knew all the clichés. Miramax bought it for their new Dimension Films label in the spring of 1995. Directed by Wes Craven, the film was renamed Scream, and released in The United States on December 20, 1996. It became a commercial blockbuster and critical success—ultimately drawing $173 million in ticket sales worldwide.
Miramax later released Scream 2, also written by Williamson, It, too, was a hit and paved the way for Scream 3, the third installment of the Scream trilogy.
Williamson was the writer and producer for Scream 4, which began shooting in June 2010 and was released in theaters on April 15, 2011.
Paul Stupin, an executive at Columbia Tri-Star Television, read Scream after the bidding war for the script and was convinced Williamson was just the man to create a television series for his company. The result was Dawson's Creek, a semi-autobiographical tale set in a small coastal community not unlike Oriental. Williamson was the model for the title character, Dawson Leery, a hopeless romantic who is obsessed with movies—especially those of Steven Spielberg. Joey Potter, the platonic girl-next-door, was based on a real life friend of Williamson's when he was young.
In December 1995, the show was pitched to the Fox Network, where Stupin had been an executive, but it was rejected. Then in 1996, Stupin and Williamson went to, and struck a deal with, The WB. Williamson said, "I pitched it as Some Kind of Wonderful, meets Pump Up the Volume, meets James at 15, meets My So-Called Life, meets Little House on the Prairie." Dawson's Creek premiered on The WB on January 20, 1998, and was an immediate hit with its intended audience.
Despite the show's success (and telling Entertainment Weekly that "[I] ain't never leaving 'Dawson's Creek'."), Williamson left the show at the end of its second season to create a show for Miramax to air on ABC. The result, Wasteland, about twentysomethings in New York City, was savaged by critics. The Hollywood Reporter said it was about "the most attractively vacuous, self-indulgent, and pretentious group ever assembled in prime-time." It aired only three episodes in October 1999 before being canceled by ABC. Williamson's next film, I Know What You Did Last Summer, was also about young adults in peril. Based on a 1973 novel by Lois Duncan, it centered around four friends accidentally running over a man, dumping the body, and going on with their lives, only to be punished one year later. Columbia Studios advertised the film as "from the makers of Scream" against Miramax's wishes, who later sued the company.
Inspired by the March 9, 1994 episode of the newsmagazine Turning Point on Danny Rolling, a serial killer in Gainesville, Florida who preyed on college students, Williamson wrote a horror movie script, originally titled "Scary Movie". Its characters had seen many classic horror movies (e.g. A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween) and knew all the clichés. Miramax bought it for their new Dimension Films label in the spring of 1995. Directed by Wes Craven, the film was renamed Scream, and released in The United States on December 20, 1996. It became a commercial blockbuster and critical success—ultimately drawing $173 million in ticket sales worldwide.
Miramax later released Scream 2, also written by Williamson, It, too, was a hit and paved the way for Scream 3, the third installment of the Scream trilogy.
Season 3 spoilers | The Vampire Diaries season 3 | Vampire Diaries Season 3 | the vampire diaries | Season One. V diaries this |
The Vampire Diaries Season 1 | Vampire-diaries-season-2-promo | Vampire Diaries Fashion | \x26#39;The Vampire Diaries\x26#39; for | The Vampire Diaries - Season 2 |
In December 1995, the show was pitched to the Fox Network, where Stupin had been an executive, but it was rejected. Then in 1996, Stupin and Williamson went to, and struck a deal with, The WB. Williamson said, "I pitched it as Some Kind of Wonderful, meets Pump Up the Volume, meets James at 15, meets My So-Called Life, meets Little House on the Prairie." Dawson's Creek premiered on The WB on January 20, 1998, and was an immediate hit with its intended audience.
The Vampire Diaries Season 3 | The Vampire Diaries – Season 3 | The Vampire Diaries, Vampire | \x26#39;The Vampire Diaries\x26#39; Season 3 | Vampire Diaries – Revised |
vampirediaries | Vampire Diaries Season 2 | Filming for Season 3 will | Vampire Diaries Season 3 | The Vampire Diaries season 1 |