Where are you, Kevin Williamson?

Out writer/director/producer Kevin Williamson turns 43 today. One of the most influential creative talents of the 90's, he's been largely M.I.A. the last few years.

He made a huge splash in 1996 with Scream, the groundbreaking horror film that dared to kill off its biggest star in the opening minutes, and made its characters smart and self aware.

He followed up the enormous success of Scream with a lesser sequel, and three other horror films, to mixed results. I Know What You Did Last Summer was the biggest hit of the three, thanks to Jennifer Love Hewitt's cleavage, and the fact that audiences had an instinctive fear of the Gorton's Fisherman. The Faculty had an interesting "body snatchers" premise, but was marred by a homophobic subtext.

Teaching Mrs. Tingle had another great premise, and a typically majestic performance from the divine Helen Mirren, but degenerated into silliness by the end.

Kevin turned his attention to tv, and hit the bullseye again in 1998 with another groundbreaker, Dawson's Creek.

Love it or hate it (and there are plenty of opinions), you can't deny the influence it had on pop culture. In between the teen angst and soap opera storylines, he introduced Jack, played by Kerr Smith. Jack was that rarity on tv, an appealing, complicated gay character who was accepted and loved by fans (including our readers, who voted him among the 25 best gay TV characters ever).

The final episode of the series was very affecting, as Jack and his partner Doug decided to honor the last wish of their dying friend Jen and raise her daughter. You can mock Dawson's Creek all you want, but how many times have we seen this kind of storyline?

Unfortunately, lightning didn't strike twice for Kevin. His next series, Wasteland only lasted three episodes on ABC. It had a lot of potential, especially the character of Russell, played by Dan Montgomery Jr., who was a closeted soap opera actor. It was torn apart by critics, though and low rating doomed it. After the needless Scream 3, and the even more needless, and appropriately named werewolf movie Cursed (which did at least feature a gay supporting character - who survives - played by Heroes' Milo Ventimiglia), Kevin returned to tv with the ill-fated CW soap opera Hidden Palms, which lasted two months last year.

Hopefully, Kevin can make a creative comeback someday, but in the meantime, we'll always have his iconic 90's output, plus the sweet relationship of Jack and Doug.