John Platt

Biography

Award-winning Writer/Producer/Director, John Platt began his showbiz career right out of college as a Video Game Writer/Designer at the San Diego company RDI, which created the hit laser disc games Dragon's Lair and Space Ace. At the same time, he was continuing to write screenplays. Platt and co-writer Roy Langsdon were hired to write their first paid film script on Halloween, 1985...a talking dog movie for producer Chris Whittaker, called Police Dog. That film was never produced, but is believed to have inspired the later Jim Belushi hit K-9. The Police Dog assignment earned Platt & Langsdon their first agent, and the pair went on to write a number of low-budget feature films, including the cult-classic Lambada movie "The Forbidden Dance". Between screenplays, Platt also went into television, writing and producing shows for E! Entertainment Television and the Sci-Fi Channel. It was on a Sci-Fi project called "Masters of Fantasy" that Platt met later collaborator, producer Jon Kroll, and the two became fast friends. Kroll pulled Platt into reality TV in 2001. Platt then went on to help produce the second season of The Amazing Race, where he was the only story producer to circumnavigate the globe that season. Platt was also highly influential in the 'celeb-reality' phenomenon, as a producer on the first season of The Surreal Life, a series that spawned more spin-offs than almost any other show in history. He became the Co-Executive Producer of "Big Brother" on season 7's All Stars edition, and continued to oversee story on that series through Season 11. During his years on "Big Brother", Platt was also Co-Executive Producer of ABC's highly controversial and critically acclaimed docu-series Brat Camp, which was nominated for the Director's Guild of America's first-ever reality TV award. Platt also produced ABC's critically acclaimed reality comedy The Family, which The New York Times television critic Virginia Heffernan named as one of her Top 10 Programs of the Year. Platt was also instrumental in developing CBS' ground-breaking, yet controversial series Kid Nation, considered by many to be one of the best, most ambitious reality TV shows ever produced. Also a pioneer in online entertainment, Platt executive produced Hulu's first ever original series If I Can Dream with "American Idol" creator Simon Fuller, as well as Showrunning Bravo's Emmy Award® winning, multi-media dating series The Singles Project. Platt was also the Showrunner of A&E's long-running house flipping hit Flipping Vegas, and the internationally franchised FYI Series Bride & Prejudice, among many others. Platt's teenage love of playing Dungeons & Dragons became an asset in 2023, when he was asked to produce over 60 hours of original content to launch the new "Dungeons & Dragons Adventures" FAST Channel for eOne and Hasbro. The D&D series include Matthew Lillard's improv comedy show Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill!, the video version of the podcast hit Encounter Party, and the Dungeons & Dragons-themed cooking show Heroes' Feast, bringing Platt's body of work to well over 500 hours of produced television. Platt lives in Sherman Oaks, CA, with his wife, schoolteacher Carrie Wong.