KELLY YOUNGER is a screenwriter, tv writer, award winning producer and off-Broadway playwright.
Younger’s latest project is the feature film Candy Cane Lane starring Eddie Murphy, directed by Reginald Hudlin. Murphy is producing alongside Imagine’s Brian Grazer and president of features Karen Lunder, and Charisse Hewitt-Webster. He spent three years developing and writing a Disney Animation Feature film and served as a member of the Disney Animation Story Trust, working on such films as Moana, Ralph Breaks the Internet, Frozen 2, Raya and the Last Dragon, and others in development including the Short Circuit short film series. Additionally he consulted on the live-action Tinkerbell (prod. Reese Witherspoon) and the live-action Aladdin (dir. Guy Ritchie), and participated in the Pixar Animation Brain Trust on Cars 3, Incredibles 2, Toy Story 4, Onward, and other forthcoming Pixar films.
Younger is writing and developing several projects for The Muppets, having already co-created and co-executive produced Muppets Now as well as written and co-executive produced Muppets Haunted Mansion, winner of the 2022 Producer’s Guild of America award for Children’s Television. Both are streaming on Disney+. He is also developing an animated television series with Shadowmachine, Brian Calhoun, and Dave Matthews of the Dave Matthews Band for YouTube. Younger has also recently developed features with Paramount Animation and DreamWorks Animation.
Younger is also adapting a YA book for a new animated feature with producer Jared Ian Goldman (Ingrid Goes West) and Oscar nominated directors Ru Kuwahata and Max Porter; and story consulting for Illumination Animation and Skydance Animation Studios.
Younger co-wrote the hit comedy Kalamazoo with Michelle Kholos Brooks (Dramatists Play Service, 2016; Riva Shriver Comedy Award.) Other theater projects include Banished Children of Eve (commissioned and produced by New York’s Irish Repertory Theatre); and Find the Fold (finalist for the Joanne Woodward/Paul Newman Drama Award.) His play Tender was nominated for Best New Play IRNE award, was a finalist for the prestigious Laurents/Hatcher Award, and was part of Manhattan Theatre Club’s “7@7” series, directed by Lynne Meadow, starring David Harbour (Stranger Things).
Younger’s short play, Mandate (Samuel French, 2015) won the 39th Samuel French Off-Off-Broadway Short Play Festival and has received productions as far away as Edinburgh and Dubai. Other short plays include Let’s Get Physical (Hollywood; Miami; Edinburgh Fringe Festival), and Best Lei’d Plans (Hollywood, starring Markie Post and Mindy Sterling; Barrington MA; Miami).
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Younger earned an MA in Classics (Mythology, Folktales, and Fairy Tales) at Loyola University Chicago and PhD in Literature and Drama Studies from University College Dublin in Ireland. He is currently a tenured professor and resident writer in the Departments of English and Theater at Loyola Marymount University where he leads writing workshops and a seminar in fairy tales. He is a proud member of The Writer’s Guild of America, The Dramatists Guild of America, and The International Animated Film Society (where he serves as a judge for the Annie Awards).
He resides in Los Angeles with his wife, two children, and dogs named Mildred and Sean Solo.
