Screenwriter · Producer · Director
The genre changes.The story comes first.
From horror to comedy to animation — three decades of produced work across film, television, animation and books.
A rare range, backed by receipts.
Robert Zappia is a screenwriter, showrunner, and story producer whose work spans horror, comedy, animation, reality television, children's education, and publishing.
A USC film graduate, he became one of the youngest writers in network history to land the #1 show in the country — with his Mother's Day episode of Home Improvement, “To Build or Not to Build” (1993).
He went on to write Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, which stood as the highest-grossing film in the franchise for twenty years. Since then he's been Head Writer on Warner Bros. Animation's The Tom and Jerry Show, a senior story producer for OWN and reality series like Big Rich Texas, and the author of the children's novel series The Legend of Ice Cream Island and the sci-fi graphic novel Expiration Date.
Today he's Head Writer in the Studio Division at Age of Learning (ABCmouse.com), where he created the CG-animated series Backpack Adventures and wrote every episode — 50 million views to date on YouTube. Age of Learning's programs have reached 55M+ learners, who've completed more than 13 billion learning activities.
The reel.
Feature films, network television, animation and books. Select a title for details.
The full story doesn't fit on one page.All credits on IMDb
It ends with an audience.
The magic is everything in between.Across every kind of story.
Feature films, network TV, animation, reality, children's education, and publishing — three decades of range.
- 01
Head Writer, Studio Division
Age of Learning · ABCmouse.com · 2013–Present
Created and wrote every episode of the CG-animated ABCmouse series Backpack Adventures (YouTube Kids & ABCmouse) — 50 million views to date on YouTube. Story for a platform that has reached 55M+ learners and 13B+ completed learning activities.
- 02
Writer
Lionsgate
Story & screenplay, Prey for the Devil (2022).
- 03
Head Writer
Warner Bros. Animation / Cartoon Network
The Tom and Jerry Show.
- 04
Senior Story Producer
OWN & Fly on the Wall Entertainment
Unscripted series including Big Rich Texas.
- 05
Screenwriter
Dimension Films
Story and co-screenplay (with Matt Greenberg), Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) — directed by Steve Miner and starring Jamie Lee Curtis, the seventh film in the franchise and its top grosser until 2018.
- 06
Writer & Executive Producer
Sci Fi Channel · Lions Gate Television / Hallmark Entertainment
5ive Days to Midnight (2004), a five-part miniseries starring Timothy Hutton and Randy Quaid.
- 07
Writer
ABC
Home Improvement, Season 2, Ep. 23 “To Build or Not to Build” (May 5, 1993) — the Mother's Day episode, seen by 34.1 million viewers.
- 08
Segment Producer
Paramount Pictures
Jackass 3D (2010).
- 09
Writer
Renegade Animation
Directed & wrote Christmas Is Here Again (2007); co-developed animated projects.
Clips.
Trailers, scenes, talks, and interviews. Select any card to play.
Podcast · New episodes every Monday
Can We Be Frank?
A weekly podcast where Mike Axe, Robert Zappia, Derek Kedell, and Ruby Dorkings get honest about entertainment, creativity, culture, relationships, and life.
With years of experience behind the scenes in entertainment, the four friends bring real stories, opinions, plenty of humor, and conversations that rarely go where expected. No scripts. No pretending.
The scripts.
Every script starts as a first draft. Here are mine, from early pages to production drafts, most before the notes and the rewrites.
01 Produced Scripts
02 Unproduced Scripts
Get in touch.
For representation, press, and project inquiries, reach me on LinkedIn or book a time on Intro.