Drew Taylor
Drew Taylor is a senior film writer and critic whose work centres on how contemporary movies and animated series are made, sold and remembered. He covers entertainment for TheWrap with a focus on animation, genre cinema and franchise storytelling, combining access to filmmakers with a historian’s interest in production detail and studio strategy. His reporting often moves between breaking news on new projects, deep reported features on troubled or celebrated films, and coverage that tracks how studios and streamers reshape well‑known characters and properties.
Animation, Streaming and Franchise Projects
Taylor’s beat leans heavily toward animation and franchise‑driven storytelling, particularly where traditional studios intersect with streaming platforms. His exclusive on Genndy Tartakovsky’s planned Conan the Barbarian animated series for Cartoon Network Studios and Prime Video reflects a recurring interest in how iconic genre material is reinterpreted for contemporary audiences and distribution models. He reports on internal decisions at major animation houses, including a piece on how Walt Disney Animation Studios halted the Tiana streaming series that was set to continue the story of Disney’s first Black princess on Disney+.
These stories emphasise development choices, leadership calls and the implications for fans and characters rather than just announcement headlines.
Beyond news, his own archive highlights repeated engagement with Disney and Pixar as creative and corporate entities. On his site, he collects work examining the long shadow of studio projects, including coverage tied to Pixar and other animation brands that shows familiarity with their history, pipelines and evolving business needs. His authorship of art and making‑of books tied to animated titles further underlines that this is not a casual interest but a sustained speciality that informs how he frames stories about new series or films.
Even when the subject is live‑action, his perspective often reflects the same attention to world‑building, character legacy and franchise maintenance that defines his animation coverage.
Reported Features on Film History and Craft
Taylor is known for long‑form features that reconstruct the life cycle of individual films, from development through release and reputation. His piece on Disney’s John Carter, marking the film’s tenth anniversary, goes inside what he describes as a $307 million bomb by tracing its birth, death and partial rebirth as a sci‑fi cult object. The article mixes archival research, interviews and box‑office context to explain not only what happened but how the project fits into a broader studio trajectory. In another feature, he follows architect‑turned‑director Joseph Kosinski from Top Gun: Maverick to the Netflix thriller Spiderhead, using the filmmaker’s path to explore how directors navigate blockbuster expectations and streaming opportunities.
His author page at TheWrap includes pieces that zoom in on specific sequences and craft choices, such as an interview with the Nobody filmmaker about staging a 12‑minute set‑piece involving John Cena and Idris Elba. These stories focus on practical questions - how scenes are designed, what constraints shaped them, which collaborators were crucial - rather than abstract commentary. Across these features, Taylor’s through‑line is clear: he documents the mechanics of filmmaking and the decision‑making behind them, drawing on direct conversations with directors and other creatives to build detailed narratives about how films come together and why they succeed or fail.
Industry News, Festivals and Recognition
Alongside features, Taylor files regular news and analysis pieces on the state of the film and television industry. His coverage of the cancelled Tiana series treats the move as part of a wider pattern in streaming‑era strategy, situating one project within a larger discussion of how platforms handle original series tied to legacy characters. Other recent work flagged in his professional clips includes reporting from Cannes and similar events, indicating a comfort with festival‑driven news cycles and the blend of commerce and prestige they represent.
Within TheWrap’s newsroom he is positioned as a senior writer, contributing news, reported pieces and historical long‑form articles for both professional and consumer audiences. His role has drawn peer recognition: TheWrap’s tally of National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award nominations includes him in the Online Journalist of the Year category, underscoring the volume and impact of his digital coverage. That combination of beat responsibility and awards‑level acknowledgement marks him as a core figure in the outlet’s film and entertainment reporting rather than a peripheral contributor.
Work Across Outlets and Film Platforms
Taylor’s portfolio extends well beyond TheWrap, and his professional profiles highlight broad experience across print, digital and studio‑adjacent platforms.
He is described as an entertainment journalist and film critic who has contributed to outlets including The New York Times, Polygon, Vulture, Vanity Fair, Collider, The Playlist, New York Daily News, SYFY, Disney.com, Moviefone, The DisInsider and Nerdist. His personal site aggregates this work, organising author archives by outlet and underscoring how often he moves between mainstream publications and more specialised genre or studio‑focused venues.
He also works as an author and podcaster, co‑hosting shows that delve into major film franchises and animation. His podcast work, combined with art‑of and making‑of books tied to contemporary titles, reinforces a profile built around sustained engagement with the craft and business of filmed entertainment rather than one‑off assignments.
Taken together, his cross‑outlet writing, long‑form features, news breaking and audio projects present a coherent picture: Drew Taylor covers entertainment by tracing how films and series are conceived, produced and positioned, with particular strength in animation, genre history and the ongoing management of big‑name properties.
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