Veteran television animation writer Len Uhley (Ben 10, Static Shock, Duck Tales) is set receive the Writers Guild of America, West Animation Writers Caucus’ 2014 Animation Writing Award, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to animation writing. The AWC’s lifetime achievement award will be presented Wednesday, November 19, at the annual meeting and awards ceremony in Los Angeles. Fellow AWC honorees Stan Berkowitz and Alan Burnett are set to co-present the AWC award to Uhley, and WGAW Vice President Howard A. Rodman will introduce the evening’s ceremony.
“Len Uhley is one of the finest choices the Animation Writers Caucus and the Guild could make for this award. A talented writer with credits in both episodic and feature animation, he’s always been one of the most respected, nicest people in the industry, always willing to share his time and his advice, and a good friend to all – a truly deserving recipient of this award,” said AWC Chair Craig Miller.
Uhley made his first professional sale while in his junior year at UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television. An introduction to a Disney TV Animation story editor in 1986 kicked off a nearly 30-year career which saw him pen episodes of Disney’s DuckTales, Adventures of the Gummi Bears, TailSpin, Winnie the Pooh, Chip ‘n Dale’s Rescue Rangers, Darkwing Duck, and Bonkers. Uhley has been a story editor on series produced by Warner Bros., Disney and MGM, having written over 200 television episodes and home videos for DreamWorks Classics, Cartoon Network Studios, Hasbro, Warner Bros., Disney, Marvel, NickToons, Sony, DIC, BKN International, BBC, Endemol, CBN, Film Roman, MGM, Saban, Viacom, and Renaissance Pictures.
His freelance work includes multiple assignments for the Ben 10: Alien Force, Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, and Ben 10: Omniverse series; Static Shock; Superbook; and the UK-based series Friends & Heroes and The 99. He has written for action shows (Batman, Justice League, The Avengers, Iron Man, He-Man, Kaijudo, The Fantastic Four, Robocop, Skeleton Warriors, Zorro, Young Hercules and three versions of X-Men) and classic comedy properties (Scooby-Doo, 1001 Nights, Ozzy & Drix, and a pilot for Archie), as well as series designed for younger viewers (Rescue Bots, Octonauts, Krypto the Superdog and Strawberry Shortcake). He most recently worked with DreamWorks Classics and Big Idea Entertainment on two VeggieTales home video releases.
In 2012, Uhley received a Writers Guild Award nomination for Animation for penning the Ben 10: Ultimate Alien episode, “Moonstruck.” Over the course of his career, Uhley has shared five Emmy nominations for his work on Static Shock (2003 and 2004, Special Class Animated Program), Ozzy & Drix (2003, Special Class Animated Program), TaleSpin (1991, Outstanding Animated Program for Programming More than One Hour), and Duck Tales (1989, Outstanding Animation Program). In addition, he received the Entertainment Industries Council’s Prism Award for the “Where There’s Smoke” episode of WB animated series Ozzy & Drix.
He has also written three animated features for Universal Studios Home Entertainment (The Land Before Time VII, An American Tail III, and An American Tail IV) and has developed long-form projects for Disney Feature Animation, DreamWorks Animation, and DIC Entertainment.
