Kemp Powers

After writing the 2012 short film This Day Today, he scripted the 2013 play One Night in Miami,^[3][4][5] which was adapted into a feature film directed by Regina King.^[6] In 2017, Powers was brought onboard to write several scripts for Star Trek: Discovery season one episodes.^[7] In 2018, he drafted his second play Little Black Shadows.^[8][9]

In the same year, he co-wrote the script for Pixar's Soul, with Pete Docter and Mike Jones, as well as co-directing the film with Docter, making his directorial debut.^[10][11] An alumnus of Howard University, Powers is the first African-American co-director in Disney and Pixar history.^[12] On December 16, 2020, Powers hosted the first three episodes of the podcast Soul Stories, which was released as a Spotify exclusive. In the episodes, Powers interviewed several people who worked on the film mainly about their mentors and careers, as well as some behind-the-scenes stories behind the making of the film.^[13]

In 2021, he appeared in the podcast Spark & Fire,^[14][15] prior to writing his third play Christa McAuliffe's Eyes Were Blue.^[16] In the same year, he signed on to direct Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and its sequel Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse with Joaquim Dos Santos and Justin K. Thompson.^[17] In March 2023, Powers premiered his fourth play The XIXth (The Nineteenth), which chronicles the lives of two Black American sprinters who raised their fists in protest during the 1968 Summer Olympics games.^[18] In November 2024, he set his live action filmmaking debut when he signed on to write and direct the crime film Lunik Heist for Searchlight Pictures.^[19] In December 2024, it was reported that he would not be returning to direct Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.^[20][21][22]

• One Night in Miami (2013)^[26][27][28]
• Little Black Shadows (2018)^[8][9]
• Christa McAuliffe's Eyes Were Blue (2021)^[16]
• The XIXth (The Nineteenth) (2023)^[18]