Mark E Reilly is a writer, movie fanatic, and beast master to a Lab named Kal-El. Yup, that one. He is a graduate of The University of Southern California with a degree in Theatre and a minor in Cinema and credits his life-long obsession with movies as the reason he writes every single day.
Reilly has worked with some of the leading producers and filmmakers in the industry today including the producers of How to Train Your Dragon and The Strangers as well as Joel Silver Pictures (The Matrix) and GK Films (Hugo and The Departed).
Reilly currently spends his days as a writer and producer at Collider Video. He is the head writer and producer of their flagship show Movie Talk, in which Reilly creates the show notes and talking points for a panel of industry professionals who break down and discuss the latest movie news breaking daily. Reilly is also a panelist on their genre show Collider Nightmares, in which he joins the panel of horror lovers to discuss the latest genre news from movies, TV, video games and comic books.
Past work includes working with the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), directing their anti-piracy campaign currently running in theatres before each feature. He was also contracted to cover Cinema-Con 2013 and 2014 where he took part in the celebration of the movie going experience producing small vignettes of the conference with celebrity interviews and footage from the con itself.
Reilly’s professional writing career took off in 2007 when he was contracted to create the big-screen version of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe at Joel Silver Pictures under the development team of Kristian Harloff (Schmoes Know) and Ethan Erwin (Vice President, Silver Pictures). In 2008, Mark sold his feature script entitled Grey Skies which was greenlit into production late 2009. The sci-fi/horror premiered in 2010 and went on to find great success on the festival circuit finally receiving distribution for a small theatrical run in the US with a four country tour in Europe in 2011. Currently, you can purchase Grey Skies at Amazon or catch it on Netflix.
Other notable writing achievements include placing in the 2007, 2008 and 2010 semi-finals of the prestigious NICHOLL FELLOWSHIP IN SCREENWRITING for his scripts Archangel and A Dog And His Boy respectively. Reilly also has a script in development at a prestigious production company with his writing partner AJ Towne that is based on their original comic book series entitled The People From Anywhere.
Most recent, Reilly won the prestigious Second City Screenwriting competition for his comedy spec The List, co-written with comedienne Lisa Gopman.
Reilly’s experience in production has also shaped his skills in writing by allowing him to experience both sides of the filming process. His production experience includes work on all seven episodes of the highly acclaimed SHOWTIME series Fat Actress starring Kirstie Alley. Mark has maintained a long working relationship with the producers, PRODUCTION PARTNERS (Curb Your Enthusiasm) teaming with them on four stand-up specials for KATHY GRIFFIN and an ABC FAMILY pilot entitled Mud Show.
Along with production duties on Fat Actress, Reilly has produced a number of short films and web-series including his own short film SW 2.5 The Pitch Wars, a Star Wars animated spoof that went on to win various awards at festivals around the country including the Bronze Remi at the Houston Worldfest Film Festival and the “Audience Choice Award” at the Friday Night Shortsfest in Los Angeles. The film went on to screen at the Mill Valley Film Festival in California, New York’s New Filmmakers Series in New York City and finally on PBS.
And for the Star Wars geek (which should be all of you) Reilly is widely known for his acting performances in the The Star Wars Trilogy In 30 Minutes, playing the roles of Obi-Wan Kenobi and the Emperor. He has traveled the world with the production performing for many Star Wars Conventions (and future Star Wars director J.J. Abrams ) along with a personal and private performance for George Lucas himself at Skywalker Ranch.
Currently, Reilly is hard at work at Collider Video while juggling sleepless nights writing his feature length film entitled A Far Off Land, an original story very personal to him… A Far Off Land is coming soon just as soon as Reilly takes Kal for a walk.