J. Michael Straczynski's is a Horatio Alger-esque story, going from inner city kid in a lower class working family to one of television's most sought after writer-producers. Growing up on the tough streets of urban New Jersey, Straczynski began writing and selling fiction and non-fiction while still in high school. Armed with a lengthy list of print credits in leading magazines and newspapers, he quickly worked his way through the television ranks from freelancer to staff writer, story editor, co-producer, producer, supervising producer and finally, executive producer and creator of two series of his own: Babylon 5 (a two-time winner of the pretigious Hugo award), which ran successfully for five years in syndication then on the TNT Network, and a follow-up series, Crusade, which ran on the TNT Network in 1999. Straczynski has worked in nearly every conceivable genre, from historical dramas and adaptations of famous works of literature (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) to mystery series (Murder, She Wrote), cop shows (Jake and the Fatman), anthology series (Twilight Zone), and science fiction (Babylon 5), among other genres. He writes 10 hours a day, 7 days a week, except for his birthday, New Year's, and Christmas. Straczynski lives near Los Angeles, California. Brian Smith is the Executive Producer and lead director for SCIFI.COM's Seeing Ear Theatre. He co-created SET in the Spring of 1996 as a home for new (and old) forms of audio storytelling on the internet (and soon to be heard on the SCIFI channel of Sirius Satellite Radio). In addition to being an executive producer and the director of the City of Dreams Series, Smith's recent directing and producing credits include "The Jaguar Hunter," starring Lou Diamond Phillips and Chita Rivera and "The Lucky Strike," starring Timothy Hutton. Smith has written, produced or directed audio dramas working with such talented actors and writers as Stanley Tucci, Clive Barker, Terry Bisson, Brian Dennehy, Harlan Ellison, Kim Stanley Robinson, Lucius Shepard, Neil Gaiman, Mark Hamill, James Morrow, Tony Daniel, John Heard, Annabella Sciorra and Lili Taylor. Smith grew up listening to audio dramas on tape on long, hot nights in his native Florida. He later moved to New York City, where he taught high school in the Bronx before founding SET. Smith lives in Brooklyn, New York.