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Jon Croker is a British screenwriter. He entered the film industry working in production and script development roles, including serving as a production assistant on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) and as an assistant to director Mike Newell on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005). He subsequently worked in script editing and development, contributing to the shaping of several British films, including Attack the Block (2011), The Iron Lady (2011), and The Deep Blue Sea (2011). Croker's transition into credited screenwriting came in the early 2010s. He wrote the screenplay for the psychological thriller In Fear (2013) and the dance drama Desert Dancer (2014), followed by the gothic horror sequel The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death (2015). His work during this period also includes contributions to other feature films, including Fast Girls (2012) and American Animals (2018). He provided additional material for the family films Paddington (2014) and Paddington 2 (2017). In the 2020s, Croker continued working across genre cinema and prestige projects. He wrote the screenplay for the horror film No One Gets Out Alive (2021). He also wrote the screenplay for the animated short The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse (2022), which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. Continuing to work with Paddington director Paul King, he was one of the writers on Wonka (2023). Croker is represented in the United Kingdom by Independent Talent Group.
Skandar Smith has always yearned to leave the Mainland and escape to the secretive Island, where wild unicorns roam free. He’s spent years studying for his Hatchery Exam, the annual test that selects a handful of Mainlander thirteen-year-olds to train to become unicorn riders. But on the day of Skandar’s exam, things go horribly wrong, and his hopes are shattered…until a mysterious figure knocks on his door at midnight, bearing a message: the Island is in peril and Skandar must answer its call.
