Craig Miller To Receive WGA West’s Animation Writers Caucus Award

Craig Miller will receive the WGA West’s 2020 Animation Writers Caucus Animation Writing Award in recognition of his distinguished career and contributions to the animation field. The award will be presented by his longtime collaborator, comic book writer Marv Wolman, at the Caucus’ virtual awards ceremony on Tuesday.

Miller, who chairs the Caucus, has more than 300 credits to his name, including The Smurfs, Curious George, and Pocket Dragon Adventures.

“In his long distinguished career, Craig has been a tireless advocate for the writers of animation, working diligently to get writers like himself covered under a WGA contract,” said WGA West president David A. Goodman. “The WGA West board of directors is proud and honored to give him this well-deserved award.”

Miller started his career in Hollywood as a publicity executive, working as a consultant to Lucasfilm, Warner Bros., Disney and Universal. He worked alongside George Lucas, Jim Henson and numerous others on a long list of projects including The Empire Strikes Back, The Dark Crystal and The Muppets Take Manhattan.

Over the past 30 years, he’s written, developed and produced such shows as Showtime’s anthology series The Hunger, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero and Beast Wars: Transformer (which won a Daytime Emmy in 1997). Having contributed to classic animated series such as The Real Ghostbusters, The Smurfs and Curious George, his impact has influenced the work of generations of artists and creators who grew up watching his shows.

In 1998, along with Wolfman, he co-created, produced, and was a story editor on Pocket Dragon Adventures, which was the first animated series to go into production under the guild’s contract. The syndicated show aired from the late 1990s into the early 2000s in over 50 countries and was nominated for the Humanitas Prize in 2000.

The Animation Writing Award is given to members of the Animation Writers Caucus or Writers Guild who have advanced the literature of animation in film and television throughout the years and made outstanding contributions to the profession of the animation writer. Previous honorees include David N. Weiss, Nicole Dubuc, Len Wein, Mike Judge, Seth MacFarlane, Sam Simon, Linda Woolverton, Len Uhley, Brad Bird, Matt Groening, Al Jean & Mike Reiss, Dwayne McDuffie and Earl Kress, Mike Scully, Patric M. Verrone, and Stan Berkowitz.