Thomas J. McLean

Thomas J. McLean is a veteran writer, editor and author with more than 30 years of experience as a professional journalist, writer and editor.

A graduate of the University of Arizona School of Journalism, McLean has worked nonstop in journalism since 1992, focusing primarily on arts and business.

His experience includes starting out as the entertainment editor and then weekend news editor of the Arizona Daily Sun, carrying complete responsibility for reporting, writing, editing and overseeing production on entire sections of the newspaper on a daily basis.

He also has worked as a multitasking editor and designer for the Idaho Statesman in Boise and for the Daily Breeze in Torrance, Calif.

He transitioned into entertainment journalism in 1999 as an associate editor at Variety.

During six years at the entertainment business trade, he covered and wrote about such diverse and technical areas of movie making as visual effects, animation, the Academy Awards and business-oriented events such as MIP-TV, the Cannes film festival and SXSW.

He also started an early blog for Variety about the impact of the comic-book business on Hollywood, which earned him invitations to appear on and host panels and discussions at events such as Book Expo America, Creative Screenwriting Expo, the film market at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival and New York Comic-Con.

He served as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Book Industry Awards and Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival.

As a freelancer, he wrote the book Mutant Cinema: The X-Men Trilogy from Page to Screen (Sequart, 2008), and had articles frequently published in Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Animation Magazine, Newsarama.com, Publisher’s Weekly and DGA Quarterly.

He currently works as an editor for Core Digital Media in Los Angeles.

Want to Know More?

Tom is happy to answer questions and help you and your next writing project. Reach him at thomasjmclean@gmail.com.