Peter Nowalk is an American television writer and producer. He is best known as the creator of the legal thriller, ''

How to Get Away with Murder ''How to Get Away with Murder'' is an American legal thriller television series that premiered on ABC on September 25, 2014, and concluded on May 14, 2020. The series was created by Peter Nowalk, and produced by Shonda Rhimes and ABC Studios. Th ...

''.

Early life

Nowalk was raised in

Point Pleasant, New Jersey Point Pleasant is a borough in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was down from 19,306 in 2000 but still up from 18,177 in 1990. The Borough is a Jersey Shore community situa ...

and graduated from

Point Pleasant Borough High School Point Pleasant Borough High School is a four-year comprehensive community public high school located on Laura Herbert Drive in Point Pleasant in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. The school serves students in ninth through twelfth grad ...

in 1996. Speaking of his childhood, he has stated "I think my family’s really nice, where I grew up was really pretty and nice, and I wanted to go to the dark side because my life wasn’t dark. The TV shows I like are all twisted and dark." Nowalk attended

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

, where he graduated in 2000 with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in American Civilization. He is openly gay.

Career

Nowalk co-wrote ''The Hollywood Assistants Handbook: 86 Rules for Aspiring Power Players'', published by

Workman Publishing Company Workman Publishing Company, Inc., is an American publisher of trade books founded by Peter Workman. The company is comprised of either imprints: Workman, Workman Children’s, Workman Calendars, Artisan, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill and Algon ...

in 2008. In the same year, Nowalk was hired as a writer for the

Shonda Rhimes Shonda Lynn Rhimes (born January 13, 1970) is an American television screenwriter, producer, and author. She is best known as the showrunner—creator, head writer, and executive producer—of the television medical drama ''Grey's Anatomy'', it ...

medical drama series ''Private Practice''. After a few months, Nowalk began writing for Rhimes' ''

Grey's Anatomy ''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series that premiered on March 27, 2005, on ABC as a mid-season replacement. The series focuses on the lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings as they develop into se ...

'' as recurring writer and later executive story editor and supervising producer. He is also co-executive producer of ''

Scandal A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way. Th ...

''. Nowalk wrote " Everything's Coming Up Mellie", the seventh episode of the third season of ''Scandal'' in 2013.

How to Get Away with Murder

Nowalk was the creator and executive producer of the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

drama series, ''How to Get Away with Murder'' produced by

Shondaland Shondaland (stylized as ShondaLand from 2005 to 2016 and shondaland thereafter) is an American television production company founded by television writer/producer Shonda Rhimes. She founded it to be one of the production companies of her first s ...

. The series pilot on September 25, 2014 set a record for DVR playback viewers with 6 million, surpassing the January 27, 2014, record of 5.6 million set by the pilot of ''

The Blacklist ''The Blacklist'' is an American crime thriller television series that premiered on NBC on September 23, 2013. The show follows Raymond "Red" Reddington (James Spader), a former U.S. Navy officer turned high-profile criminal who voluntarily sur ...

''.

Credits

* ''

'' (2008–2013, writer - 11 episodes, story editor - 40 episodes, supervising producer/producer - 69 episodes) * ''

'' (2013–2018, co-executive producer, writer - Episode " Everything's Coming Up Mellie") * ''

'' (2014–2020, executive producer, creator,

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 ...

)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nowalk, Peter Living people American television writers American male television writers American television producers Brown University alumni Point Pleasant Borough High School alumni Showrunners American gay writers LGBT people from New Jersey People from Point Pleasant, New Jersey Screenwriters from New Jersey Year of birth missing (living people)