David Friedman (; born September 25, 1970), known professionally as David Benioff (),
is an American writer, director and producer. Along with his collaborator
D. B. Weiss
Daniel Brett Weiss (; born April 23, 1971) is an American television writer, director, and producer. Along with his collaborator David Benioff, he is best-known as co-creator of ''Game of Thrones'' (2011–2019), the HBO adaptation of George R. ...
, he is best known as co-creator and
showrunner
A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also th ...
of ''
Game of Thrones
''Game of Thrones'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the first ...
'' (2011–2019), the
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
adaptation of
George R. R. Martin
George Raymond Richard Martin (born George Raymond Martin; September 20, 1948), also known as GRRM, is an American novelist, screenwriter, television producer and short story writer. He is the author of the series of epic fantasy novels ''A Song ...
's series of books ''
A Song of Ice and Fire
''A Song of Ice and Fire'' is a series of epic fantasy novels by the American novelist and screenwriter George R. R. Martin. He began the first volume of the series, ''A Game of Thrones'', in 1991, and it was published in 1996. Martin, who init ...
''. He also wrote ''
25th Hour
''25th Hour'' is a 2002 American drama film directed by Spike Lee and starring Edward Norton. Adapted by David Benioff from his own 2001 debut novel ''The 25th Hour'', it tells the story of a man's last 24 hours of freedom as he prepares to go t ...
'' (2002), ''
Troy
Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in prese ...
'' (2004), ''
City of Thieves'' (2008) and co-wrote ''
X-Men Origins: Wolverine'' (2009).
Early life
Benioff was born David Friedman in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, the youngest of three children in a
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
family with ancestral roots in Austria, Romania, Germany, Poland and Russia.
He is the son of Barbara (née Benioff) and
Stephen Friedman, a former head of
Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...
. He has two older sisters, Suzy and Caroline, and grew up in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, first in
Peter Cooper Village
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a su ...
, then on
86th Street where he spent most of his childhood, before eventually moving near the
U.N. headquarters when he was 16.
Benioff is an alumnus of
Collegiate School and
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...
. At Dartmouth he was a member of
Phi Delta Alpha Fraternity and the
Sphinx Senior Society. After graduating in 1992, he had a number of jobs: for a time as a
club bouncer in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
, and as a high school
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
teacher at
Poly Prep
Poly Prep Country Day School (commonly known as Poly Prep) is an independent, co-educational day school
A day school — as opposed to a boarding school — is an educational institution where children and adolescents are given instructions du ...
in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
for two years, where he served as the school's wrestling coach.
Benioff became interested in an academic career and went to
Trinity College Dublin
, name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin
, motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin)
, motto_lang = la
, motto_English = It will last i ...
in 1995, for a one-year program to study Irish literature. In Dublin he met
D. B. Weiss
Daniel Brett Weiss (; born April 23, 1971) is an American television writer, director, and producer. Along with his collaborator David Benioff, he is best-known as co-creator of ''Game of Thrones'' (2011–2019), the HBO adaptation of George R. ...
, who later became his collaborator.
Benioff wrote a thesis on
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...
at Trinity College, but decided against a career in academia.
He worked as a radio DJ in
Moose, Wyoming, for a year—mostly as a side job that he accepted mainly to spend a year in the countryside at a writer's retreat. He then applied to join the
University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and pr ...
's creative writing program after reading ''
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh
''The Mysteries of Pittsburgh'' is a 1988 novel by American author Michael Chabon. It is a coming-of-age tale set during the early 1980s in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
It was Chabon's first novel, which he began writing as a 21-year-old undergrad ...
'' by
Michael Chabon
Michael Chabon ( ;
born May 24, 1963) is an American novelist, screenwriter, columnist, and short story writer. Born in Washington, DC, he spent a year studying at Carnegie Mellon University before transferring to the University of Pittsburgh, gr ...
(an alumnus there), and received a
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.)
is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...
degree in creative writing there in 1999.
In 2001, ''People'' magazine included Benioff on its list of America's Top 50 Most Eligible Bachelors.
As an adult, he began using the
pen name
A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.
A pen na ...
Jacqueline Benioff when his first novel was published in 2001. Benioff is his mother's
maiden name
When a person (traditionally the wife in many cultures) assumes the family name of their spouse, in some countries that name replaces the person's previous surname, which in the case of the wife is called the maiden name ("birth name" is also used ...
. He explained that he did this to avoid confusion with other writers named David.
For legal purposes, his copyright filings from the 2010s onward list him as "David Benioff Friedman".
Career
Writing career
Benioff spent two years writing his first published novel, ''
The 25th Hour
''The 25th Hour'' is the 2001 debut novel by David Benioff. A film adaptation, for which Benioff wrote the screenplay, was directed by Spike Lee and released in 2002.
Background
The idea for the book came when Benioff returned home to New York ...
'', originally titled ''Fireman Down'', and completed the book as his thesis for his master's degree at Irvine.
He was asked to adapt the book into a screenplay after
Tobey Maguire
Tobias Vincent Maguire (born June 27, 1975) is an American actor and film producer. He is best known for playing Peter Parker (Sam Raimi film series), the title character from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man in film#Sam Raimi films, ''Spider-Man'' tril ...
read a preliminary trade copy and became interested in making a film of the book.
The film adaptation, ''
25th Hour
''25th Hour'' is a 2002 American drama film directed by Spike Lee and starring Edward Norton. Adapted by David Benioff from his own 2001 debut novel ''The 25th Hour'', it tells the story of a man's last 24 hours of freedom as he prepares to go t ...
'', starring
Edward Norton
Edward Harrison Norton (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has received numerous awards and nominations, including a Golden Globe Award and three Academy Award nominations.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised ...
, was directed by
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...
.
In 2004 Benioff published a collection of short stories, ''When the Nines Roll Over (And Other Stories)''.
He drafted a screenplay of the
mythological
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...
epic ''
Troy
Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in prese ...
'' (2004), for which Warner Bros. pictures paid him $2.5 million. He also wrote the script for the psychological thriller ''
Stay
Stay may refer to:
Places
* Stay, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the US
Law
* Stay of execution, a ruling to temporarily suspend the enforcement of a court judgment
* Stay of proceedings, a ruling halting further legal process in a tri ...
'' (2005), directed by
Marc Forster
Marc Forster (born 30 November 1969) is a Swiss filmmaker. He is best known for directing the feature films '' Monster's Ball'', '' Finding Neverland'', '' Stranger than Fiction'', ''The Kite Runner'', ''Quantum of Solace'', ''World War Z'', and ...
and starring
Ewan McGregor
Ewan Gordon McGregor ( ; born 31 March 1971) is a Scottish actor. His accolades include a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and the BAFTA Britannia Humanitarian Award. In 2013, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British ...
and
Naomi Watts
Naomi Ellen Watts (born 28 September 1968) is a British actress. After her family moved to Australia, she made her film debut there in the drama '' For Love Alone'' (1986) and then appeared in three television series, '' Hey Dad..!'' (1990), '' ...
. His screenplay for ''
The Kite Runner
''The Kite Runner'' is the first novel by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini. Published in 2003 by Riverhead Books, it tells the story of Amir, a young boy from the Wazir Akbar Khan, Kabul, Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul. The story is se ...
'' (2007), adapted from the novel of the same name, marked his second collaboration with Forster.
Benioff was hired in 2004 to write the screenplay for the ''X-Men'' spin-off ''
X-Men Origins: Wolverine'' (2009). He based his script on
Barry Windsor-Smith
Barry Windsor-Smith (born Barry Smith, 25 May 1949) is a British comic book illustrator and painter whose best known work has been produced in the United States. He attained note working on Marvel Comics' ''Conan the Barbarian (comics), Conan th ...
's "
Weapon X
Weapon X is a fictional clandestine government genetic research facility project appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They are conducted by Department K, which turns willing and unwilling beings into living weapons, ca ...
" story,
Chris Claremont
Christopher S. Claremont (; born November 25, 1950) is a British-born American comic book writer and novelist, known for his 17-year stint on ''Uncanny X-Men'' from 1975 to 1991, far longer than that of any other writer,Claremont, Chris. ''Marvel ...
and
Frank Miller
Frank Miller (born January 27, 1957) is an American comic book writer, penciller and inker, novelist, screenwriter, film director, and producer known for his comic book stories and graphic novels such as his run on ''Daredevil'' and subsequen ...
's
1982 limited series on the character,
as well as the 2001 limited series ''
Origin
Origin(s) or The Origin may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Comics and manga
* Origin (comics), ''Origin'' (comics), a Wolverine comic book mini-series published by Marvel Comics in 2002
* The Origin (Buffy comic), ''The Origin'' (Bu ...
''.
Hugh Jackman
Hugh Michael Jackman (born 12 October 1968) is an Australian actor. Beginning in theatre and television, he landed his breakthrough role as James "Logan" Howlett / Wolverine in the 20th Century Fox ''X-Men'' film series (2000–2017), a role ...
collaborated on the script, which he wanted to be more of a character piece than the previous ''X-Men'' films. Fox later hired
Skip Woods
Skip Woods (born December 4, 1969) is an American filmmaker. He has primarily worked in the action genre as the writer of the films ''Swordfish'' (2001), ''Hitman'' (2007), and ''A Good Day to Die Hard'' (2013), in addition to co-writing '' X-M ...
to revise and rewrite Benioff's script. Benioff had aimed for a "darker and a bit more brutal" story, writing it with an
R rating in mind, but acknowledged the film's final tone would rest with the producers and director.
[
In 2006, Benioff became interested in adapting ]George R.R. Martin
George Raymond Richard Martin (born George Raymond Martin; September 20, 1948), also known as GRRM, is an American novelist, screenwriter, television producer and short story writer. He is the author of the series of epic fantasy novels '' A So ...
's novel series ''A Song of Ice and Fire
''A Song of Ice and Fire'' is a series of epic fantasy novels by the American novelist and screenwriter George R. R. Martin. He began the first volume of the series, ''A Game of Thrones'', in 1991, and it was published in 1996. Martin, who init ...
'', and began working with Weiss on a proposed television series, ''Game of Thrones
''Game of Thrones'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the first ...
''. The pilot, "Winter Is Coming
"Winter Is Coming" is the series premiere of the HBO medieval fantasy television series ''Game of Thrones''. The first episode of the first season, it was written by series creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, in an adaptation of the first ...
", was put into development by HBO in 2007 and the series greenlit in 2010. Benioff and Weiss acted as the show's executive producers, showrunners
A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also th ...
, and writers. It began airing on HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
in 2011. Benioff and Weiss had previously worked together on a script for a horror film titled ''The Headmaster'', but it was never made.
In October 2007, Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
hired Benioff to write an adapted screenplay of the Charles R. Cross
Charles R. Cross is a Seattle-based music journalist, author and editor. He is primarily known for his coverage of Bruce Springsteen, Kurt Cobain and Jimi Hendrix.
Career
He was the Editor of '' The Rocket'' in Seattle for fifteen years (1 ...
biography of Kurt Cobain
Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – April 5, 1994) was an American musician who served as the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter of the rock band Nirvana. Through his angst-fueled songwriting and anti-establishment persona ...
, but the screenplay was not used.
In 2008, Benioff's second novel, '' City of Thieves'', was published.
On April 10, 2014, Benioff announced he and Weiss had taken on their first feature film project to write, produce, and direct ''Dirty White Boys
''Dirty White Boys'' is a 1994 crime thriller novel by American author Stephen Hunter. It covers the escape of convict Lamar Pye and two accomplices from a penitentiary in Oklahoma, and highway patrol officer Bud Pewtie's attempts to track them ...
'', based on a novel by Stephen Hunter
Stephen Hunter (born March 25, 1946, Kansas City, Missouri) is an American novelist, essayist, and film critic.
Life and career
Hunter was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and grew up in Evanston, Illinois. His father was Charles Francis Hunter, ...
. 21st Century Fox
Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., doing business as 21st Century Fox (21CF), was an American multinational mass media corporation that was based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was one of the two companies formed on June 28, 2013, f ...
greenlit pre-production on the movie even though at the time, both producers had significant contractual obligations for other projects. Though it was assumed development on ''Dirty White Boys'' would proceed slowly, promotion for the film not only began slow but stopped altogether. According to Kasey Moore, it has been years since anyone once known to be involved with ''Dirty White Boys'', has given an update on the project's status.
On July 19, 2017, Benioff announced that he and Weiss would produce another HBO series, ''Confederate
Confederacy or confederate may refer to:
States or communities
* Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities
* Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
'', after the final season of ''Game of Thrones''. Benioff and Weiss said, "We have discussed ''Confederate'' for years, originally as a concept for a feature film, but our experience on ''Thrones'' has convinced us that no one provides a bigger, better storytelling canvas than HBO." The announcement of ''Confederate'' met with public animosity and as of August 2019 (when Benioff's and Weiss's deal with Netflix was announced) is not moving forward.
On February 6, 2018, Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
announced that Benioff and Weiss would write and produce a new series of ''Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'' films after the final season of ''Game of Thrones'' ended in 2019.
Towards the end of the final season of ''Game of Thrones'', a petition to HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
was started on Change.org
Change.org is a worldwide nonprofit petition website, based in California, US, operated by the San Francisco-based company of the same name, which has over 400 million users and offers the public the ability to promote the petitions they care abo ...
. It called Benioff and Weiss "woefully incompetent writers" and demanded "competent writers" to remake the eighth season of ''Game of Thrones'' in a manner "that makes sense". The petition eventually amassed over 1.5 million signatures. In the ''Chicago Sun Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
'', Richard Roeper
Richard E. Roeper (born October 17, 1959) is an American columnist and film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times''. He co-hosted the television series '' At the Movies'' with Roger Ebert from 2000 to 2008, serving as the late Gene Siskel's success ...
, wrote that the backlash to the eighth season was so great that he doubted he had "ever seen the level of fan (and to a lesser degree, critical) vitriol leveled at" ''Game of Thrones''.
In early August 2019, Benioff and Weiss negotiated an exclusive multi-year film and television deal with Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
worth $200 million. Due to their commitments to Netflix, Benioff and Weiss exited their contract to produce Star Wars films for Disney and Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is a business segment of The Walt Disney Company. The studio is best known for creating and producing the ''Star Wars'' and ' ...
.
In September 2020, it was announced that Benioff, Weiss and Alexander Woo
Alexander Woo is an American writer and producer for television.
Biography
Screenwriting
Alexander Woo is best known for writing several episodes of the HBO drama series ''True Blood''. In an interview, Woo describes the "True Blood" writing ro ...
will write and executive produce a Netflix series based on '' The Three-Body Problem'' trilogy.
Directing career
Benioff and Weiss together directed two episodes of ''Game of Thrones'', flipping a coin to decide who would get the credit on the show. Benioff was given the credit for season 3
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pola ...
episode 3, "Walk of Punishment
"Walk of Punishment" is the third episode of the third season of HBO's medieval fantasy television series ''Game of Thrones.'' The 23rd episode of the series overall, it was written by series co-creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, and direc ...
", while Weiss was credited with season 4 Season 4 may refer to:
* "Season 4" (''30 Rock'' episode), an episode of ''30 Rock''
See also
*
* Season One (disambiguation)
* Season 2 (disambiguation) Season 2 may refer to:
* ''Season 2'' (Infinite album)
* '' 2econd Season''
See also
*
...
episode 1, " Two Swords". Benioff and Weiss co-directed the series finale.
Benioff's and Weiss's first project on Netflix was to direct the stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy is a comedy, comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up.
Stand-up comedy consists of One-line joke ...
special '' Leslie Jones: Time Machine''.
Personal life
On September 30, 2006, Benioff married actress Amanda Peet
Amanda Peet (born January 11, 1972) is an American actress. She began her career with small parts on television, and made her feature film debut in '' Animal Room'' (1995). Her portrayal of Jill St. Claire in '' The Whole Nine Yards'' (2000) bro ...
in a traditional Jewish ceremony in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. They have three children. The family divides their time between homes in Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
and Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Bev ...
. He is the cousin of software entrepreneur Marc Benioff
Marc Russell Benioff (born September 25, 1964) is an American internet entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is the co-founder, chairman and CEO of Salesforce, an enterprise cloud computing company. In September 2018, Benioff acquired ''Time (mag ...
.
Bibliography
Filmography
Film
Television
Awards and nominations
Primetime Emmy Award
The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...
Writers Guild of America Awards
The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949.
Eligibility
The ...
Other awards
See also
* List of awards and nominations received by ''Game of Thrones''
References
External links
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benioff, David
1970 births
21st-century American Jews
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American novelists
21st-century American screenwriters
Alumni of Trinity College Dublin
American dramatists and playwrights
American fantasy writers
American male dramatists and playwrights
American male novelists
American male screenwriters
American male television writers
American people of Austrian-Jewish descent
American people of Polish-Jewish descent
American people of Romanian-Jewish descent
American people of Russian-Jewish descent
American television writers
American television directors
Collegiate School (New York) alumni
Dartmouth College alumni
Hugo Award-winning writers
Jewish American dramatists and playwrights
Jewish American screenwriters
Living people
Novelists from New York (state)
Primetime Emmy Award winners
Screenwriters from New York (state)
Screenwriters from California
Showrunners
Television producers from California
Television producers from New York City
University of California, Irvine alumni
Writers from Manhattan