Episode 2: Donald F. Glut

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The first in our series of interviews with those who worked
on Shazam! and/or Isisstarts with author Donald F.
Glut.  Donald is the writer of the first season Shazam!
episode, "The Brain".  Donald talks with us about how the
episode came about, why he never wrote
for Shazam! after his highly rated episode aired, and
about his near opportunity to work with Jackson Bostwick on
another iconic character.


 


DONALD F. GLUT has been professionally active in both the
entertainment and publishing industries since 1966.


 


    Born in Pecos, Texas, Don grew up in Chicago,
IL.   At age nine, already bitten by the film-making
“bug,” he made Diplodocus at Large, the first of 41 amateur
movies featuring dinosaurs, human monsters (Frankenstein’s
Monster, Teenage Werewolf, etc.) and superheroes (Spider-Man,
Captain Marvel, etc.)  Some of these films made during the
late 1960s (e.g., Spy Smasher vs. the Purple Monster) were
eventually shown in theatres and on TV. 


 


   Moving to Los Angeles to attend the University of
Southern California, Don professionally entered show business as
an “extra” (a POW) in the movie Von Ryan’s Express (1965), the
first of several such “roles.”  He began his professional
writing career in 1966, writing articles for and finally editing
the magazine Modern Monsters. In 1967, after graduating from
the University of Southern California with a BA degree (for
Cinema) in Letters, Arts and Sciences, Don worked as a musician,
singer and songwriter in The Penny Arkade, a rock band produced
by “Monkee” Michael Nesmith.  Shortly after that he briefly
furthered his acting career, having a speaking role in a national
television commercial starring Dick Clark. 


 


   However, most of Don’s professional life has been as
a freelance writer.  To date he has authored numerous motion
picture and television scripts (Shazam!, Land of the Lost, and
animation, e.g., Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends,
Transformers, G.I.Joe, Duck Tales, Jonny Quest, X-Men, others),
comic-book scripts (Captain America, Tarzan, etc., including
creating for Gold Key Dagar the Invincible, The Occult Files
of Dr. Spektor and Tragg and the Sky Gods), more than 35 novels
and nonfiction books, also numerous short stories, articles,
songs, album-liner notes, etc.  The Dinosaur
Dictionary(1972) and Dinosaurs: The
Encyclopedia (1997), two of Don’s many non-fiction books
about dinosaurs, both were listed by the American Library
Association among the best reference books of their years of
publication. With The Dinosaur Dictionary Don created
the much-imitated book format based upon an alphabetical listing
of dinosaur names.  Perhaps Don is best known for his
novelization of the movie The Empire Strikes Back (1980), the
nation’s No. 1 bestseller for almost two months, which to date
(still in print) has sold over 3.5 million copies. In 1982 he
created characters and back story for Mattel’s “Masters of the
Universe” toy line.  Among his more recent books is Chomper,
an entry in the popular “Dinotopia” series.


 


   Don produced, wrote and directed various videos
(including the documentaries Dinosaur
Movies and Hollywood Goes Ape! and the music-video
compilation Dinosaur Tracks), theatre and movie projects.
 He has worked as a consultant on numerous other video,
 film and TV projects, and was “Dinosaur Consultant” on
Roger Corman’s movie Carnosaur (1993).


 


   In 1990, Don and Pete Von Sholly founded Fossil
Records, which has already produced a half dozen albums.
 These include Dinosaur Tracks, More Dinosaur Tracks
and Dinosaur Tracks Again, featuring paleontology-related
rock music written mostly by Don (Dinodon Music/BMI), performed
by Don and Pete (as the Iridium Band).


More recently, Don became president of Frontline Entertainment
(www.frontlinefilms.com), for which he wrote, directed and
co-produced the comedy/fantasy motion picture Dinosaur
Valley Girls, followed by a series of campy/sexy/horror movies,
which have already achieved “cult movie” status, and Before La
Brea, a documentary commissioned by the George C. Page Museum of
La Brea Discoveries in Los Angeles.  In 2000, he was
commissioned by Irena Belle Productions to direct the
movie The Vampire Hunters Club, featuring an all-star genre
cast. 


 


    In addition to his entertainment and publishing
fields work, Glut is known internationally for his work with
dinosaurs (see http://www.donglutsdinosaurs.com to see
Don's "prehistoria" collection), a subject he has been seriously
interested in since the age of seven.  He has lectured on
dinosaurs at museums, universities and other institutions in the
USA and Europe, and often appears on TV and radio talk shows, and
in videos, discussing dinosaurs, monster movies and other topics.
 Regularly he speaks at seminars for actors.  In 1999
and 2000, respectively, he became a volunteer at both The Field
Museum (Chicago) and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles
County. 


 


    Among Don’s many interests are paleontology
(obviously), movies (especially the older horror films, Westerns,
serials and film noir), science fiction and fantasy, music
(playing and listening), comic books, motorcycles, reptiles,
stage magic, electric trains, the Three Stooges, Jackie Gleason,
old-fashioned amusement parks and side shows, partying and “holy
relics."


 


Learn even more about Donald by visting his website
- http://www.donaldfglut.com/