Kirk Thatcher


Kirk R. Thatcher is an American writer, producer, television and film director, an internet video director, and a production designer.

Personal life

Thatcher was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. In high school, he met Joe Johnston, a production designer for Star Wars. Johnston would later work with Thatcher on his first job in the industry, as a technical assistant on the ILM creature crew of Return of the Jedi.

Film

Kirk Thatcher began his career at eighteen, leaving UCLA Film School to work at George Lucas' special effects facility, Industrial Light and Magic. Thatcher was the production designer on David Fincher's first music videos and spent over a year creating the look for a number of Rick Springfield and The Motels videos. Subsequently, Thatcher was hired by Leonard Nimoy to associate produce '. He also portrayed "Punk on the Bus", the character who was seen rocking out to the song "I Hate You" in the film, which Thatcher wrote and performed for the film, recording it with sound designer Mark Mangini.
Thatcher's first directorial effort was in 2002, with It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie for NBC, which drew more than 11 million viewers. Thatcher has co-written several Muppet films including Muppet Treasure Island and directed three television movies, including ' and The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, which premiered at Robert De Niro's Tribeca Film Festival.
In 2015, Thatcher directed Turkey Hollow, a Thanksgiving-themed TV movie for The Jim Henson Company which aired on Lifetime. Thatcher is also credited as one of the three writers of the film, alongside Jim Henson and Jerry Juhl. Kirk Thatcher makes a cameo appearance as "Punk Rock Guy" in the 2017 film , as a homage to his role as "Punk on Bus" in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

Television

Kirk Thatcher was a supervising producer on the Emmy Award-winning ABC series, Muppets Tonight.
Thatcher has also written episodes for the Cartoon Network series Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and directed episodes of Nickelodeon's series LazyTown, PBS' Sid the Science Kid, and Comedy Central's Crank Yankers.
In 2014, Thatcher was seen on the SyFy Network’s series Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge where he appeared in each episode, filling the role of a judge for the competition.

Internet and commercials

Kirk Thatcher has also directed The Muppets' "Bohemian Rhapsody", which was nominated for and won the "Viral Video" category in the 14th Annual Webby Awards. He has also directed 2015 Muppet Music videos "Jungle Boogie" and "Kodachrome."