Steven S. DeKnight. Photo by Dennys Ilic, courtesy of SSD

The first and only time I met filmmaker Steven S. DeKnight in person, he grabbed me and wrapped his arms around me just before he plunged into a packed screening of a documentary he was featured in. The reason for this embrace was he’d just heard the name of a person I was working with — a person he had…er…strong feelings about. Basically, he knew I needed a hug. The man wasn’t wrong.

Steven and I reconnected earlier this year when I wrote a story about my horrific experiences on a television series called “DRACULA”. Ostensibly, our Zoom was to swap war stories about life in the film/TV business, but, personally, I was more excited to better get to know a screenwriter whose work I had admired for years. More than two decades, in fact, since the guy wrote on “BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER” and “ANGEL” — two of my favorite TV series of the early aughts and all time.

Steven went on to rack up numerous other impressive credits over the years, both as a writer and director, but maybe none more so than creating and showrunning the wildly successful and popular “SPARTACUS” series. But hey, if we’re keeping track, he also wrote and directed on “SMALLVILLE” and “DOLLHOUSE”, showran Season 1 of “DAREDEVIL”, created and showran “JUPITER’S LEGACY”, and wrote and directed the feature film PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING (2018). In terms of genre, he really has done it all.

During this — my latest artist-on-artist interview — Steven and I discuss the childhood that forged his creative heart, the origins of “SPARTACUS” (and the sequel to come), and what many screenwriters get wrong when they take on genre storytelling — as well as, brace yourselves, a deep dive into everything that’s wrong with Hollywood’s dysfunctional, self-destructive love affair with intellectual property (IP). This was one hell of a fun conversation.

COLE HADDON: Thanks for doing this, my friend. I know you’ve been slammed lately. How…