Ann Biderman (born August 15, 1951) is an American film and television writer. She is the creator and executive producer of the NBC/TNT series ''
Southland Southland may refer to:
Places Canada
* Dunbar–Southlands, Vancouver, British Columbia
New Zealand
* Southland Region, a region of New Zealand
* Southland County, a former New Zealand county
* Southland District, part of the wider Southland Re ...
'' (2009–2013), and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Drama Series for an episode of ''
NYPD Blue
''NYPD Blue'' is an American police procedural television series set in New York City, exploring the struggles of the fictional 15th Precinct detective squad in Manhattan. Each episode typically intertwines several plots involving an ensemble c ...
''. She created, wrote, and produced the
Showtime
Showtime or Show Time may refer to:
Film
* ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film
* ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur
Television Networks and channels
* Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...
drama ''
Ray Donovan
''Ray Donovan'' is an American crime drama television series created by Ann Biderman for Showtime. The twelve-episode first season premiered on June 30, 2013.
The pilot episode broke viewership records, becoming the biggest premiere of all t ...
''.
Early years
Biderman grew up in Florida and New York. When she was sixteen, she attended boarding school at The Stockbridge School, in the
Berkshire Mountains
The Berkshires () are a highland geologic region located in the western parts of Massachusetts and northwest Connecticut. The term "Berkshires" is normally used by locals in reference to the portion of the Vermont-based Green Mountains that ex ...
in Massachusetts, where she was very interested in the arts.
Biderman and her sister spent much of their youth in the company of writers, artists and musicians when living at the
Chelsea Hotel in New York, where “
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...
was the boy next door” and her mother Peggy Biderman's home in Miami was a sort of halfway house for civil rights activists recently out of prison. Filmmaker
Harry Everett Smith
Harry Everett Smith (May 29, 1923 – November 27, 1991) was an American polymath, who was credited variously as an artist, experimental filmmaker, bohemian, mystic, record collector, hoarder, student of anthropology and a Neo-Gnostic bi ...
and poet
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...
were close family friends.
Biderman lived for most of the 1980s with French filmmaker
Roger Vadim
Roger Vadim Plemiannikov (; 26 January 1928 – 11 February 2000) was a French screenwriter, film director and producer, as well as an author, artist and occasional actor. His best-known works are visually lavish films with erotic qualities, su ...
.
Career
Biderman adapted the novel ''
Smilla's Sense of Snow
''Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow'' (published in America as ''Smilla's Sense of Snow'') (Danish language, Danish: ''Frøken Smillas fornemmelse for sne'') is a 1992 novel by Denmark, Danish author Peter Høeg tracing the investigation into the su ...
'' into the screenplay of the 1997
movie
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
.
In the 2008-09 television season, Biderman developed the police drama series ''
Southland Southland may refer to:
Places Canada
* Dunbar–Southlands, Vancouver, British Columbia
New Zealand
* Southland Region, a region of New Zealand
* Southland County, a former New Zealand county
* Southland District, part of the wider Southland Re ...
'', which aired as a midseason replacement for NBC. The series focuses on patrol officers and detectives in South Los Angeles.
Biderman wrote the pilot episode, and served as an executive producer for the first season alongside
John Wells and
Christopher Chulack
Christopher Chulack is an American television producer and director, best known for his work on the NBC drama series '' ER'' (1995–2008), along with Michael Crichton, also ''Third Watch'' (1999–2005), which he co-produced along with Edward A ...
. She wrote the episodes "Mozambique," "See the Woman," "Sally in the Alley" (with consulting producer
Angela Amato Velez
Angela Amato Velez is an American television writer and producer. She has also worked as a police officer, legal aid attorney and novelist. She has worked as a writer and producer on the police drama ''Southland'' and the legal drama ''The Good Wi ...
) and "Derailed."
''Southland'' was renewed for a second season and Biderman remained an executive producer and writer. NBC reversed the decision and cancelled ''Southland'' after six episodes had been produced. The series was then picked up by the TNT network, and the previously-produced episodes were aired as the show's second season. Biderman co-wrote the second-season premiere "Phase Three" with Wells and wrote the episode "U-Boat."
TNT renewed the series for a third season but dramatically reduced its production budget. Biderman stepped down as executive producer but remained an executive consultant. She co-wrote the third-season premiere "Let It Snow" with Wells.
Biderman created the
Showtime
Showtime or Show Time may refer to:
Film
* ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film
* ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur
Television Networks and channels
* Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...
series ''
Ray Donovan
''Ray Donovan'' is an American crime drama television series created by Ann Biderman for Showtime. The twelve-episode first season premiered on June 30, 2013.
The pilot episode broke viewership records, becoming the biggest premiere of all t ...
'' in 2013. She served as showrunner during the first season, and wrote several episodes, including the pilot. After the second season, Biderman stepped down as showrunner.
Filmography
Screenplays
Production staff
Writer
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Biderman, Ann
1951 births
American television writers
American women television writers
Place of birth missing (living people)
American women screenwriters
Living people
Primetime Emmy Award winners
Showrunners
Screenwriters from Florida
American women television producers
21st-century American women writers