Kevin Credo
Kevin Credo is a multi-award winning author, comics writer, and art director based out of New Orleans and Los Angeles.
About Kevin
A New Orleanian adjusting to writing in Hollywood, Kevin Credo is an award-winning screenwriter and published author with concentrations in animation and new media.I like--err--Credo likes--to approach each of his projects as a unique challenge. Every one of his stories is the result of an intense personal deliberation on the themes, issues, and underlying meanings of a specific genre, property, or setting. If assigned a project with a certain setting or property, you can bet that he'll spend hours of his personal time in preparation via research online and maybe checking out a library book or four. Whether taking inspiration from opera and mythology or video games and anime, Credo's works aim to be nothing less than intense, multivalent, and thought-provoking, with a concurrent levity and humor never trailing far behind. His writings commonly explore themes including technological advancement, modernity, the art and industry of creativity, and spirituality. He loves to write character dialogue in particular. He has the most experience in science fiction and fantasy, but doesn't want to be pigeonholed.Credo is a 2020 graduate of Tulane University, where he majored in Digital Media Production and Film Studies. He currently works in acquisitions for YouTube's film division in Los Angeles.
Contracted Fiction Projects
Confidential Dark Fantasy Webtoon Project (2022)
Lead staff writer and story consultant for unannounced manga-inspired, dark fantasy webtoon project. Reported to executive producers for worldbuilding, character arcs and long-term story progression. Writing delivered in a comic script format specially-tailored to the vertical-scrolling webtoon format.
Unnanounced Fantasy Narrative Podcast (2021-2022)
Script doctoring for unannounced fantasy podcast project based in Los Angeles, with themes of coming-of-age and wildlife conservation. Working in collaboration with executive producers to meet deadlines and brainstorm for future installments.
Contracted Nonfiction
Anime/Pop Culture Writer - GameRant (2022-23)
Columnist for the Anime and Film/TV sections at pop culture website GameRant. Articles typically include film reviews, creator interviews, and press coverage of media events including South by Southwest (SXSW) and Anime Expo.Exclusive news breaking includes coverage of WBD's plans for Toonami, as well as the announcement of one of Crunchyroll's original game projects. Articles have been cited/reposted by third-party platforms including Anime News Network, MSN, and Wikipedia.Articles available to read at: https://gamerant.com/author/kevin-credo/
Entertainment Columnist - Where Y'at Magazine (2022-23)
Live-events coverage and interviews for Where Y'at Magazine, a lifestyle and culture publication for the New Orleans metro area.Contributed cover-page story for April 2022 print edition, featuring an interview conducted with multi-Grammy nominated musician Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews.Staff contribution for Holiday 2022 print edition, focusing on the history of a large-scale New Orleans winter cultural festival.
Entertainment Columnist - The Crescent Magazine (2017-2020)
Film Reviews and live-events coverage for The Crescent, a collegiate lifestyle publication at Tulane University. Highlights include official press coverage of Anime Expo 2019 and the North American premiere of Studio Trigger's Promare, in addition to several local events around the New Orleans area.Press articles archived at: https://tulanemagazine.com/author/kevincredo/
Academic Writing
"Reluctant Saints: Roman Catholicism Through the Lens of Federico Fellini" (2020)
Perhaps the most exhaustive English-language treatise ever written on the relationship between the Catholic Church and the most famed Italian film auteur, "Reluctant Saints" lays out the complex sociohistorical backdrop of Federico Fellini's filmography while arguing for a reappraisal of the Maestro's films as indicative of the multifaceted. protean natures of Catholicism as a cultural, historical, and political institution within early and mid-20th-century Italy.80-page academic thesis, awarded the highest departmental honors given by the Honors Program of Tulane University in the department of Film Studies.
Original IP
Contracted Short Stories for Ahoy Comics (2023)
"A Brief Interview with a Robot Playwright" - Satirical short-story published in issue #1 of Ahoy Comics' THE GIMMICK, a faux interview with a robot writer in the 24th century. Illustrated by Inkpot Award-winning artist Rick Geary."You Ruined My Childhood" - Satirical short-story published in issue #5 of Ahoy Comics' BLACK'S MYTH, about a character designer attending a comic convention. Illustrated by Eric Mattice.
Ellery Moonbeam (2021)
Magical girls aren’t just real—they sing idol pop. In a world where a select few girls randomly go magical during adolescence, magical girl groups are organized into a massive music industry until finally aging out of their powers in their late teens. Except for Ellery, a twenty-three-year-old magical girl constantly embarrassed over her powers lingering long after leaving the idol scene and drifting away from her former idolmates. When a tragedy shakes the magical girl industry, Ellery unexpectedly returns to mentor the new generation of magical girls alongside Tiffany, her shrewd former idolmate with a lot of sway in the talent agency scene.The result is a whirlwind tour of the idol industry, from competitive training at an elite magical idol academy to the hype of social media fandom and performance at one of the biggest conventions in the world. Reimagining the classic tropes of magical girl anime in light of idol pop, Ellery Moonbeam is a satirical mahou shoujo for the modern age.
* ** It’s showtime, magical girl.** *A full-length illustrated novel under premium publication with Tapas Media, Inc., spanning 50 chapters and over 107k words. Serialization beginning in July 2021.
"Louisiana Fairytale" (2020)
In the world of "Hollywood South" New Orleans, an old Cajun folklorist gets into a heated debate with his son regarding what he sees as the appropriations of his local culture. When this debate goes through the two's family, things eventually circle back to the topic of the folklorist's recently-deceased wife, who might return to meet their granddaughter in a surprising way.12-minute short film combining live-action and hybrid animation. SAG-AFTRA qualified.
Fantasy-Free: An Animated Space Opera (2020)
Moulin Rouge meets Star Trek in the third feature of award-winning animation writer Kevin Credo. Set in a futuristic Art-Nouveau Paris, Fantasy-Free weaves the story of an orphaned opera singer whose big break is torn aside when the city's robots go haywire in a surprise coup d'etat. Unwittingly finding herself at the center of a decades-old military scandal, the singer and her friends embark on a grand adventure spanning from the Paris Catacombs to the surface of the Moon. Blending Belle Époque-tinged style with the literary traditions of French Fantastique and young-adult sci-fi, "Fantasy-Free: An Animated Space Opera" is a life-affirming tale of scientific progress, military intrigue, and the essentiality of art to the human condition.119-page animated feature screenplay. Award-winner at the October 2020 Rome Prisma Awards. Accompanying 116-page graphic novel script.
Adaptations and Spec-Scripts
In addition to his original IPs, Credo has worked on several private spec scripts and adaptation projects for established properties. His internal projects include adaptations and/or spec scripts for several properties including:Spec script for a sci-fi sitcom owned by Warner Bros-Discovery.
Graphic novel script for a supernatural comedy owned by Warner Bros-Discovery.
Graphic novel/comic run script for a sci-fi comedy owned by Disney.
The following is a private section of Kevin Credo's website (credo.carrd.co) dedicated to showing relevant writing samples for industry portfolio reviews at Anime Expo. The following list includes projects not currently announced elsewhere on the website and is intended for extra confidentiality:
Anime/manga influenced fiction projects:Ellery Moonbeam: Light novel-inspired magical girl parody published under contract on the premium slate at Tapas Media. Set in an alternate-reality Los Angeles, Ellery Moonbeam is the first-person recolletions of Ellery, a 23-year-old magical girl who used to belong to the magical-girl idol industry. Features illustrations from the Japanese manga artist Megumi Hayasaka.(To read Ellery Moonbeam on Tapas, click here. To hear Credo's inspirations for Ellery Moonbeam, listen to a discussion of the novel with Japanese pop culture historian Ayumi Shinozaki on the Sparkleside Chats magical girl podcast, here.)Kage no Kami: Staff writing and story consultant position for a tie-in action-horror webtoon, set for release 2022 by the Cardano Metaverse platform Lovelace World. The comic was created by the Lovelace World owners as a seinen action-horror series in the vein of Attack on Titan and Berserk, and Credo's writing contract saw the ironing out of ideas into an official comic script draft.The Truck of Don Donki: An unannounced novel currently in production by Credo, The Truck of Don Donki is a parody of Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote focusing on a Japanese "NEET" who excessively reads isekai manga and light novels, before narrowly avoiding a collision with a truck and imagining himself the the hero in an alternate isekai reality. The Truck of Don Donki is set for completion in Q4 2022.Scooby-Doo and the Curse of the U.S.S. Manic: Film script and manga-inspired comic script for a Scooby-Doo graphic novel centered around a Japanese onryō yokai aboard a WWII-era Battleship.Anime/manga industry writings:"The Formal Cartoon and the Structural Anime": A critical examination of the interplay between Japanese animation (anime) and anime-inspired western animation. As anime and anime-influenced content rises in global popularity, examining the elements of what makes anime "authentic" for its fans both in Japan and North America/Europe is of utmost importance to media executives as well as creators. Essay set to be released in a confidential film journal in late summer 2022.GameRant Anime and Manga Articles: Pop culture reviews, features, and opinions for the website GameRant. Articles currently include film reviews, explainers for industry trends, and features on the history and production of anime. Articles available to read here.--
Credo can be contacted for samples on any of the above materials. His email is [email protected]. To go back to the public section of Credo's website with more images and info on Credo's other projects, click here.
Contact
PDFs of the complete Ellery Moonbeam manuscript are currently available for press coverage and/or industry review. Please reach out to [email protected] to inquire about arranging an NDA with Tapas for press access.Other works are in varying states of availability/NDA status. Credo is currently seeking writing work.