Kirk Thatcher

Kirk R. Thatcher (born February 14, 1962) is an American writer, producer, television and film director, an Internet video director, and a production designer. Personal life Thatcher was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. In high school, he met Joe Johnston, a production designer for Star Wars. Johnston would later work with Thatcher on his first job in the industry, as a technical assistant on the ILM creature crew of Return of the Jedi. Film Thatcher began his career at eighteen, leaving UCLA Film School to work at George Lucas' special effects facility, Industrial Light and Magic (ILM). Thatcher was the production designer on David Fincher's first music videos and spent over a year creating the look for a number of Rick Springfield and The Motels videos. Subsequently, Thatcher was hired by Leonard Nimoy to associate produce Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. He also portrayed "Punk on the Bus", a discourteous commuter loudly playing the song "I Hate You" on a boombox in the film. Thatcher wrote and performed the song, recording it with sound designer Mark Mangini. Thatcher earns no additional money for the non-speaking role of "Punk" but does receive "like 8-cent residuals" for the song. Thatcher's first directorial effort was in 2002, with It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie for NBC, which drew more than 11 million viewers. Thatcher has co-written several Muppet films including Muppet Treasure Island (1996) and directed three television movies, including A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa (2008) and The Muppets' Wizard of Oz (2005), which premiered at Robert De Niro's Tribeca Film Festival.