He’s the grateful recipient of residency grants/fellowships at the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, Monson Arts, the Chulitna Lodge Research Institute, and the Johnny Mercer Writers Grove at Goodspeed Musicals.

Theater

Erik’s musicals include an adaptation of the Warner Bros. holiday classic Christmas in Connecticut (Broadway Licensing Worldwide), Breaking Up Is Hard to Do (Theatrical Rights Worldwide), and Misty Makes It Better. His plays are Like a Billion Likes, Cheers Live on Stage, Tell-Tale, Doll, Charlie! and the comic adaptation of Stephen King’s Carrie. Currently, he is developing a new comedy with Drama Desk–winning director Mark Brokaw (Paula Vogel’s How I Learned to Drive, Kenneth Lonergan’s Lobby Hero).

Erik’s work has been produced at venues including P.S. 122 (NYC), HERE Arts Center (NYC), Goodspeed Musicals (Connecticut), Capital Stage (Albany), Pioneer Theatre (Utah), Boston’s Shubert Theatre, Actors Playhouse (Miami), Stage West (Texas), and worldwide, from London to Seoul.

Erik’s honors include winning the Robert Chesley/Victor Bumbalo Playwriting Award and the Southwest Playwriting Contest. He has been a GLAAD Best Play nominee and a top 10 finalist for the Woodward/Newman Drama Award. He’s a Tony voter and member of the American Theatre Wing’s Advisory Board, and also serves on the Clive Barnes Foundation awards selection committee. He’s developed work with the writers’ group at the Musical Theatre Factory and was the Playwright in Residence for the acclaimed troupe Theatre Couture.

Novels

He is the author of a critically acclaimed humor series for middle-grade readers and adults firmly in touch with their inner kids. Muppets Meet the Classics, published by Disney and Penguin Workshop, includes The Phantom of the Opera and Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm.

He is currently working on his first original novel, Peak Fear, a horror tale. He is a member of the Horror Writers Association and a voter for the Bram Stoker Awards.

Film & Television

Erik penned the screen adaptation of Theatre Couture’s Charlie! The movie premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival. He was a staff writer and story editor for season two of Here TV’s supernatural series Dante’s Cove. His screenplay Heartbreaker, a psychosexual thriller, was a finalist for the Outfest Screenwriting Lab and he was commissioned to write original poems for the Showtime film The Escape, starring Patrick Dempsey.

Publishing & Journalism

In the publishing world, Erik spent more than a decade as an executive editor at Entertainment Weekly and InStyle, one of the world’s largest fashion media brands.

Previously, Erik was the editor-in-chief of Show People magazine and an editor and critic at Us Weekly and Time Out New York. His articles have appeared in Glamour, W, Real Simple, Town & Country, People, LIFE and Out, among others. 

For People, Entertainment Weekly and LIFE, he edits and/or writes for single-issue standalone titles. The most recent include Taylor Swift, Wicked, and The Ultimate Guide to Joker. Past book subjects include Saturday Night Live at 50, Top Gun: Maverick, Harry Potter, Cher, Lord of the Rings, The Walking Dead, and M*A*S*H, among others, as well as tribute books to two late greats, Alex Trebek and Chadwick Boseman.

On-Air Reporting

He has been an on-air reporter for the TV program Talking Movies on BBC/BBC America; acted as host of ABC’s entertainment program The Us Weekly Report; and was a correspondent for ABC’s News One radio show.

As a correspondent, he has appeared on CNN, VH1, Entertainment Tonight, The View, Access Hollywood, and, in a moment of shining glory, on MTV’s How to Live Like a Celebrity Pet.