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Biography

A 1992 graduate of Sylvania Southview High School, Eric often created home movies with friends to show to other students. After graduating from the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts in 1996 as a member of the Gamma Eta Chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha, Kripke wrote and directed two 1997 films: Battle of the Sexes and Truly Committed. He later developed and wrote for the The WB's 2003 television series Tarzan, which was cancelled after eight episodes, and followed this by writing the 2005 film Boogeyman. The movie was followed by a sequel, Boogeyman 2.

Kripke is married and has a son, who ironically was born on the same day as Sam Winchester.

In 2005, Kripke created the series Supernatural and currently serves as a hands-on executive producer on the series after serving as the show's primary showrunner for the first five seasons of which he was noted for creating a uniquely detailed five-year plan. Supernatural first aired on The WB. It now airs on The CW, which was created by The WB's 2006 merger with UPN. He is known in the fandom of Supernatural as Lord Kripke and his theme song is "Fire of Unknown Origin" by Blue Oyster Cult.

He is currently writing and directing his first theatre film Haunted ready for a 2012 release. In August 2011, it was announced that Kripke is developing a series for The CW, based on the DC Comics character Deadman.

Boogeyman

Prior to his success with Supernatural, Kripke wrote a screenplay for the film Boogeyman, which was released in early 2005 . The film focuses on the life of Tim, played by Barry Watson. Tim, whose currently suffering the loss of his mother, goes home to confront the supernatural creature who he believes killed his father and is also the reason for his mother's demise.

The film, which was looked down upon by critics, gives fans a glimpse of how Kripke's writing style has changed over the years. Although he has remained in the supernatural vein, the subject of Kripke's writing has gone from being psychologically driven to being more centered around the character's actions and interactions with each other.

Kripke's writing has also gotten stronger in regards to research. It seems that while handling the Boogeyman legend Kripke used more facts from his head than he used facts from more reliable sources. As fans of Supernatural know Kripke carefully researches every creature featured on the show. (In most cases the research Kripke and his team have done end up getting repeated by the show's main character Sam Winchester.)

Supernatural

Supernatural, which debuted on the CW in 2005 (Currently in its seventh season) tells the story of two brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester two "hunters" whose job it is to protect the world from ghosts, demons, and other supernatural beings. The brothers also fine themselves causing and ending the apocalypse. Despite the interest that the characters themselves have generated the show is also highly regarded for correctly citing supernatural lore.

The first three seasons primarily focus on the Winchester brothers hunting down supernatural creatures. Interspersed with this concept include the subplots such as the Winchesters searching for their father, Sam meeting Azazel, and Dean trading his soul for Sam's life. Following Dean's return from Hell in season four the brother's spend the fourth season trying to stop the apocalypse and the fifth season trying to end the apocalypse. The sixth season starts off with a battle for Sam's soul followed by a battle being fought over the control of Purgatory. This battle is won by Castiel , who in the seventh season attempts to take over as God but fails by the end of the season premiere. Castiel now holds host to the Liviathens, creatures from Purgatory who used to roam the Earth before humans. This combined with Sam's mental breakdown will more than likely be the main plotlines of Season seven.

Although Kripke has taken some liberties to ensure that Supernatural has remained entertaining the basic facts regarding the creatures presented have remained true to legend. Take season one for example. The show's debut season featured creatures such as a wendigo, a woman in white, Bloody Mary, and various ghosts and demons including Azazel, the demon responsible for killing Sam and Dean's mother, Mary Winchester. The woman in white featured in the show's first episode was based off of a legend heavily embraced by the Mexican and Mexican-American communities. As in the show, this woman drowns her children in response to her husband being unfaithful. After feeling remorse, the woman searches for her children and either dies or disappears. The woman's spirit then lurks around rivers and kills passerbys. Variations of this legend also exist. From what was showcased in the episode Kripke and his team stayed true to the original legend (aside from destroying the spirit).

In addition to Kripke's use of lore he has also played around with religious text. Specifically, that of the Christian bible or New Testament. At the end of season three Dean is dragged to Hell by hell hounds after trading his soul to bring his brother back from the dead. However, in the beginning of season four Dean is brought out of Hell by the angel Castiel. While in Hell Dean aided in the daily torturing process. According to scripture, an innocent man shedding blood in Hell is the first seal of the apocalypse. The fourth season follows the brothers as they try, and fail, to prevent the other 65 seals from breaking. The final seal, the murder of Lucifer's first demon Lilith, is broken by Sam in the fourth season finale. This officially begins the apocalypse.

The apocalypse has been analyzed by other shows and movies in Hollywood before. The fact that's remarkable is how easy it is for those like Kripke to exploit religion. Is our society so apathetic to religion that seeing the devil being portrayed by an actor on tv no longer gets us riled up? Are we like Dean Winchester, who when told by Castiel that the angel plans on searching for God, denies the diety's very existence? Furthermore, do the views presented by Dean Winchester reflect Kripke's own personal views? This and other questions are ones for Kripke's fans to ponder as his career continues.

Haunted

After Kripke left Supernatural following the show's fifth season he began developing other projects. One of these projects, entitled Haunted has been picked by Warner Bros. The screenplay, which chronicles a haunted house from the perspective of the ghost, marks a new chapter in Kripke's career. Although he is no stranger to writing for film, he has learned a thing or two since his days as head writer of Supernatural. Since his last screenplay Kripke's writing style has changed, although not drastically, and the characters he has created have become easier to relate to.

The film will also showcase Kripke as a director. Fans know Kripke has the talent to pull off an intriguing story but time will tell if he can help that story come to life on screen.