Todd Durham

Todd Durham
Occupations
  • Filmmaker
  • comedy writer
  • novelist
Notable workHotel Transylvania franchise (creator)
Hyperspace AKA Gremloids
Visions of Sugar-Plums
Mr. Smith Goes To Hell
WebsiteToddDurham.com

Todd Durham is an American filmmaker, comedy writer, and novelist, best known as the creator of the concept for the Hotel Transylvania film franchise. Durham's works, including over forty screenplays and books, frequently combine fantasy storylines with character comedy.

Education and career

Durham studied comedy writing at USC under brothers Danny Simon and Neil Simon.

In 1983, based on a half-hour 35mm film that he wrote and directed, Earl Owensby Studios, a North Carolina movie studio, signed Todd Durham to a three-picture feature deal. Durham then wrote and directed: Tales of the Third Dimension, Chain Gang, and a low-budget comedy film, Hyperspace, starring Chris Elliott and Paula Poundstone.

Lord Buckethead

The film Hyperspace was the first appearance of the "intergalactic spacelord" Lord Buckethead. To promote Hyperspace, in the UK, released as Gremloids, Mike Lee, the video distributor, stood as Lord Buckethead, as a novelty candidate, representing the Gremloids Party, against the Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher in her constituency in Finchley, London. in the 1987 general election, Lee stood as Lord Buckethead as a novelty candidate, representing the Gremloids Party. He stood against the Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher in her constituency in Finchley, London. Buckethead campaigned to demolish Birmingham to make way for a spaceport. He received 131 votes. In the 1992 general election, Lord Buckethead stood against the Conservative prime minister John Major in Huntingdon, winning 107 votes (0.1%).

In 2017, the former TV producer Jon Harvey stood as Lord Buckethead against Theresa May in Maidenhead in the 2017 general election. In 2017, Durham asserted his ownership of the character, and subsequent incarnations have been authorized by him.

Writer

Durham signed with Rick Jaffa, then agent at William Morris, and worked as an uncredited script doctor on comedy projects. He wrote screenplays for comedy actors, directors, and producers, the National Lampoon film franchise, and Saturday Night Live alumni. Durham ghostwrote celebrity autobiographies, and authored his first novel, Mr. Smith Goes to Hell, and its screenplay adaptation.

Hotel Transylvania

During his years as a studio script doctor, Durham came up with the concept of Hotel Transylvania and brought it to Sony Pictures Animation. The first film in the series, Hotel Transylvania, was released in 2012 with mixed reviews from critics.

References

  1. 1 2 "Columbia Pictures Press Kit - Hotel Transylvania" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 22, 2012. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  2. ↑ "Change Of Pace". The Foothills View. April 29, 1983.
  3. ↑ "Space Comedy Coming From Shelby". The Charlotte Observer. June 22, 1984.
  4. ↑ "The Dixie DeMille". Gentleman's Quarterly. August 1986.
  5. 1 2 reprobatemagazine (June 14, 2017). "Lord Buckethead – The Whole Story". The Reprobate. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  6. 1 2 3 Jefferson, Ed (May 12, 2017). "Lord Buckethead vs Theresa May – meet the UK's weirdest political parties". New Statesman. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
  7. ↑ Phipps, John (June 17, 2024). "No British election is complete without a man with a bin on his head". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved June 25, 2026.
  8. ↑ Waterson, Jim (May 13, 2017). "A Person Called 'Lord Buckethead' Is Standing Against Theresa May in the Election". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
  9. ↑ Matthew Engel (October 23, 2014). Engel's England: Thirty-nine counties, one capital and one man. Profile Books. p. 150. ISBN 978-1-84765-928-6.
  10. ↑ Saunders, Tristram Fane (June 9, 2017). "The real Lord Buckethead: the cult sci-fi film that inspired Theresa May's election rival". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  11. 1 2 Waterson, Jim (May 26, 2019). "Double trouble: the fight to be the real Lord Buckethead". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  12. ↑ "Todd Durham signs with WMA as writer, director". Variety. August 28, 1987.
  13. ↑ "Hyperspace". The Los Angeles Times. April 22, 1990.
  14. ↑ "(front page) Zadan's Storyline unfolds with slate of major projects". The Hollywood Reporter. November 7, 1988.
  15. ↑ Lyons, Charles (October 15, 1999). "Mouse, Keaton in talks for 'Strangers' project". Variety. Retrieved May 28, 2017.
  16. ↑ "(front page) O'Donnell kids around in Nick, Dis pic projects". The Hollywood Reporter. July 8, 1999.
  17. ↑ Rivenburg, Roy (January 9, 1994). "It's Hotter Than Ever . . .HELL, : After years of neglect, Hades is making a comeback. But it's been remodeled a bit". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 17, 2020.