Eric Ellis Overmyer (born September 25, 1951) is an American writer and producer. He has written and/or produced numerous TV shows, including ''

St. Elsewhere ''St. Elsewhere'' was an American medical drama television series created by Joshua Brand and John Falsey, that originally ran on NBC from October 26, 1982, to May 25, 1988. The series stars Ed Flanders, Norman Lloyd, and William Daniels ...

'', '' Homicide: Life on the Street'', ''

Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering ...

'', ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American crime drama television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The Wire'' premiered on June 2 ...

'', ''

New Amsterdam New Amsterdam ( nl, Nieuw Amsterdam, or ) was a 17th-century Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading ''factory'' gave rise ...

'', '' Bosch'', '' Treme'', and ''

The Man in the High Castle ''The Man in the High Castle'' (1962), by Philip K. Dick, is an alternative history novel wherein the Axis Powers won World War II. The story occurs in 1962, fifteen years after the end of the war in 1947, and depicts the political intrigues b ...

''.

Biography

He graduated as a theater major from

Reed College Reed College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland neighborhood, with Tudor-Gothic style architecture, and a forested canyon nature preserve at ...

in 1973. He credits his time at the college for helping him find and claim his identity as a writer. Overmyer wrote for the NBC crime drama ''Homicide: Life on the Street'' from 1996 to 1999. He joined the crew as a writer for the fourth season. He became a consulting producer for the sixth season in fall 1997. He returned as a supervising producer for the seventh and final season in fall 1998. The series was based on the book ''Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets'' by

David Simon David Judah Simon (born February 9, 1960) is an American author, journalist, screenwriter, and producer best known for his work on '' The Wire'' (2002–08). He worked for '' The Baltimore Sun'' City Desk for twelve years (1982–95), wrote '' H ...

. Simon also worked as a writer and producer on the later seasons on the show and the two became friends. Overmyer joined the crew of ''Law & Order'' as a consulting producer and writer for the twelfth season in 2001. He became a co-executive producer for the later part of the season. He remained in this role until he was promoted to executive producer for the fifteenth season in fall 2004. He left the show after the conclusion of the fifteenth season. On-the-verge-poster-2015

Overmyer joined the crew of ''

'' as a consulting producer and writer for the fourth season in 2006. Overmyer wrote the teleplays for the episodes "

Margin of Error The margin of error is a statistic expressing the amount of random sampling error in the results of a survey. The larger the margin of error, the less confidence one should have that a poll result would reflect the result of a census of the e ...

" and " Misgivings". from stories he co-wrote with producer Ed Burns. Overmyer was hired to replace

George Pelecanos George P. Pelecanos (born February 18, 1957) is an American author. Many of his 20 books are in the genre of detective fiction and set primarily in his hometown of Washington, D.C. He is also a film and television producer and a television wri ...

as a full-time writer and producer. Simon has said that he was impressed with Overmyer's writing, particularly in synthesising the story for "Margin of Error" as the episode is the height of the show's political storyline but must also progress other plot threads. As a member of the fourth season writing staff, Overmyer has been credited as overseeing the domestic storyline of Jimmy McNulty and "smartly fleshing out" some of his key scenes. Overmyer left the crew at the end of the fourth season. Overmyer and the writing staff won the

Writers Guild of America Award 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 ...

for Best Dramatic Series at the February 2008 ceremony and the 2007

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...

for Best Television Feature/Mini-Series Teleplay for their work on the fourth season. Overmyer collaborated with Simon again on the HBO drama ''Treme''. They co-created the series which is about post- Katrina

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

. Overmyer lives part-time in New Orleans and used his experience in navigating the "ornate oral tradition" of the city's stories. The show focuses on a working-class neighborhood and is smaller in scope than ''The Wire''. Production for the first season began in November 2009 and Overmyer worked on the show until it concluded with a fourth season in 2013. In the hiatus between the third and fourth seasons of ''Treme'' Overmyer joined the crew of the HBO drama series ''Boardwalk Empire''. He served as a co-executive producer for the fourth season until production recommenced on ''Treme''. On ''Boardwalk Empire'' Overmyer reunited with his colleague from ''The Wire''

Dennis Lehane Dennis Lehane (born August 4, 1965) is an American author. He has published more than a dozen novels; the first several were a series of mysteries featuring recurring characters, including ''A Drink Before the War''. Of these, four were adapted a ...

. He also worked with the writers Steve Turner and

Jennifer Ames Jennifer or Jenifer may refer to: People *Jennifer (given name) * Jenifer (singer), French pop singer * Jennifer Warnes, American singer who formerly used the stage name Jennifer * Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer * Daniel Jenifer Film and telev ...

. Overmyer developed the Amazon original series '' Bosch'' based on the series of novels by

Michael Connelly Michael Joseph Connelly (born July 21, 1956) is an American author of detective novels and other crime fiction, notably those featuring LAPD Detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch and criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller. Connelly is the bestse ...

. The project reunited him with actors Jamie Hector and

Lance Reddick Lance Reddick (born December 31, 1962) is an American actor and musician. He is best known for playing Cedric Daniels in '' The Wire'' (2002–2008), Phillip Broyles in ''Fringe'' (2008–2013), and Chief Irvin Irving in '' Bosch'' (2014–2020 ...

. A pilot was produced in 2013. The show was ordered to series after being released through the Amazon streaming service in February 2014. For his writing staff Overmyer assembled several writers he had worked with before - Pelecanos from ''The Wire'' and ''Treme'', Turner and Ames from ''Boardwalk Empire'' and William N. Fordes &

Tom Smuts Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

from ''Law & Order''. The first season was shot throughout 2014 and released on February 13, 2015.

Published plays

His plays have been published by

Broadway Play Publishing Inc. Broadway Play Publishing Inc (BPPI) was established in New York City in 1982 to publish and license the stage performance rights of contemporary American plays. The Broadway Play Publishing Inc catalog consists of over 1,000 plays and nearly 400 ...

and include: *''Alki'' (adaption of ''

Peer Gynt ''Peer Gynt'' (, ) is a five- act play in verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen published in 1876. Written in Norwegian, it is one of the most widely performed Norwegian plays. Ibsen believed '' Per Gynt'', the Norwegian fairy tale on ...

'' by

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential pla ...

) *''

Amphitryon Amphitryon (; Ancient Greek: Ἀμφιτρύων, ''gen''.: Ἀμφιτρύωνος; usually interpreted as "harassing either side", Latin: Amphitruo), in Greek mythology, was a son of Alcaeus, king of Tiryns in Argolis. His mother was named ...

'' (adaption of the plays by

Giraudoux Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux (; 29 October 1882 – 31 January 1944) was a French novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright. He is considered among the most important French dramatists of the period between World War I and World War II. His ...

and von Kleist respectively) *''Dark Rapture'' *''

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of West ...

de La Jolla'' *''Figaro/ Figaro'' *''The Heliotrope Bouquet by

Scott Joplin Scott Joplin ( 1868 – April 1, 1917) was an American composer and pianist. Because of the fame achieved for his ragtime compositions, he was dubbed the "King of Ragtime." During his career, he wrote over 40 original ragtime pieces, one ra ...

and Louis Chauvin'' *''In a Pig's Valise'' *''In Perpetuity Throughout the Universe'' *''Mi Vida Loca'' *''Native Speech'' *'' On the Verge''

Awards

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Overmyer, Eric Living people Reed College alumni American television producers American television writers American male television writers Writers from Boulder, Colorado Writers from New Orleans Writers Guild of America Award winners 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 1951 births American male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American male writers Screenwriters from Colorado Screenwriters from Louisiana Highline High School alumni