Lon McQuillin

Lon McQuillin was born in Chicago in, well, let’s just say the mid-20th century.   When he was not yet four years old, he looked out the window in wintertime and noticed that it was snowing and colder than cold; so, he suggested to his parents that they all pack up and move to sunny California.  So they did.

At around age nine he fell in love with the art of photography, mainly because, unlike his mother and sister, he couldn't draw a lick. 

Photography led him to making movies - mainly animation and special effects - at around age 11.  By his late teens he was working in video, and by the time he was all grown up, he was producing, directing, and/or editing virtually every genre, from commercials, documentaries, and educational/corporate training programs to music videos and a comedy series.  He's edited two feature films, one of which floundered around on the festival circuit (not very good, but brilliantly edited), and the other of which will air on Cinemax in 2004.

In 1980 he began writing his first book - a text on video production - and decided to write it on a computer instead of his trusty old IBM Selectric.  This led him to start tinkering with programming, which led to a major career sidetrack into software development.  This was also a period when he was teaching television production at the local college/PBS station, and logging huge amounts of frequent flyer miles presenting video production seminars all across the U.S. and as far away as New Zealand.  In the mid-Eighties, the idea for Sapiosaurus was born.

But there was software to debug, trade shows to attend, and lectures to give, not to mention that the second edition of The Video Production Guide was drawing near; so, the years crept by.  And then, on a trip to New Jersey, where his software publisher was based, he met a beautiful (and tall, too!) woman, fell in love, and got married.  And there was always more work, and then their daughter was born, and then--boom!--the tall, beautiful woman decided she wanted to be single again.  Game over, man.

Over the next few months, with newfound time on his hands, McQuillin found the idea of Sapiosaurus bouncing around his head more and more.  Checking his calendar, he found that he wasn't getting any younger, and he decided it was time to tackle the novel.  Writing at a surprisingly disciplined four to five hours a day over a three month period, he gave birth to his second-best creation (his first won't be old enough to read it for another few years).

McQuillin is currently Senior Producer for a startup cable network scheduled to launch nationally in the latter half of 2004 (but already on the air in a limited area).  He's working with an old friend and colleague on the screenplay adaptation of his novel, and he’s goading his subconscious into coming up with a sequel.  His daughter (of course) is the smartest, funniest, and most beautiful creature on the planet--and a four-sport wonder, to boot.  His black and white cat, who has never gotten over her "mommy" moving out, still refuses to sit in his lap.  He feeds her anyway.