A life-long Halloween junkie, David Markland combined years of event and marketing experience with his love of all things spooky to co-found ScareLA, the world's first Halloween convention, in 2013, and then Midsummer Scream in 2016. His entertainment career began as a production assistant on TV and film projects including "The Usual Suspects" and a variety of MTV specials and awards shows, eventually producing and production managing events including the Special Olympics World Games, the Arab Games, the X-Games, and more.  As a side pursuit, he also became involved in citizen journalism, helping run the Los Angeles chapter of the international Metblogs network, as an early writer for AOL's Patch, and covering California politics for NBC Los Angeles. In 2006 he created CreepyLA: the Los Angeles Halloween blog. In addition to Midsummer Scream, David is a co-producer on Spooky Swap Meet, and the creator of the trick-or-treating event Cemetery Lane, which is currently on hiatus so he can actually enjoy the Halloween season.