Rockne O'Bannon

Rockne S. O'Bannon is an American television writer, screenwriter and producer, working primarily in the science fiction genre. O'Bannon has created five original television series (''Farscape'', ''seaQuest DSV'', ''Defiance'', ''Cult'', and ''Alien Nation'').

O'Bannon made his writing debut selling spec material to NBC's ''Amazing Stories'' (1985) and CBS's ''The Twilight Zone'' (1985), but first garnered critical attention for his film ''Alien Nation'' (1988) and its subsequent spinoff television show. His next notable achievement was his original series ''seaQuest DSV'' (1993) which ran for three seasons. O'Bannon's most critically acclaimed success was the space epic ''Farscape'' on the Sci-Fi Channel (1999–2003) which ran for four seasons and spun off into a mini-series as well as a comic book series. Since ''Farscape'', he's created the TV show ''Defiance'' (2013) and The CW's ''Cult'' (2013), the miniseries '' The Triangle'' (2005), as well as an uncredited rewrite on the pilot for ''Warehouse 13'' (2009). He has also served as Executive Producer and writer on ''Constantine'', ''Revolution'', '' V'', and ''Evil'' (on CBS) among others.

O'Bannon has been credited with creating original series "that push the boundaries of speculative television in ways that put him in the rare company of writers like Rod Serling." He's won multiple Saturn Awards (including best series for ''Farscape'') and been nominated for other awards such as a Hugo Award and a WGA Award.

Career

1980s

O'Bannon's career got its start with a couple of spec scripts he had written for submission to ABC's ''Darkroom''. However, the show was canceled before his material could be produced. He followed it up by submitting those scripts to both the CBS revival of ''The Twilight Zone'' and NBC's new anthology series ''Amazing Stories'', receiving positive reaction from both shows. Based on his pitches for some additional stories, ''The Twilight Zone'' producers hired him as Story Editor. During his time on ''The Twilight Zone'', he wrote and rewrote several episodes, including more original episodes than anyone else. Among his original episodes was "Wordplay", starring Robert Klein, his first, and " The Storyteller" which was nominated for that year's Writer's Guild Award.

After the cancellation of ''The Twilight Zone'', O'Bannon turned his efforts to a new project: ''Alien Nation'' (1988), his first feature film. The film and subsequent television series developed a strong fan following which has resulted in a television series, five television films, comic books, and novels.

He made his directorial debut on the suspense thriller ''Fear'', a Showtime original that premiered on July 15, 1990.

1990s

O'Bannon's biggest success was his cult classic and fan favorite ''Farscape''. Originally sold to the Sci-Fi Channel, the head of the network told O'Bannon "Just make it as weird as you can, because I just don't want a kids' show." In an interview with the Huffington Post, O'Bannon said: "The greatest words I've ever heard were, 'Just make it as weird as you can.' It took all the restraints off! And it was their decision to shoot in Australia that made Farscape a classic. Australians are just incredibly creative and they embraced the insanity of the show."

2000s

O'Bannon began the new millennium continuing work on ''Farscape''. After a four-season run, the show was caught in a business conflict when The Henson Company was sold to foreign investors, and ended without an already-ordered fifth season. Fans were wildly upset and began campaigning en masse to the Sci-Fi Channel. The Sci-Fi Channel then committed to making the three-hour mini-series '' Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars'' to wrap up the show. Brian Henson directed the mini-series with O'Bannon and his friend David Kemper writing and executive producing. The cancellation of ''Farscape'' has been lamented and noted as a blunder for the Sci-Fi Channel.

O'Bannon almost immediately then sold '' The Triangle'' to the Sci-Fi Channel which he wrote and executive produced with Bryan Singer and Dean Devlin. ''The Triangle'' aired to stellar ratings and was a critical success. He then sold his pilot ''Cult'' to The WB, but the series didn't proceed at that time when The WB was merged with UPN to become The CW. Around this time the Sci-Fi Channel asked O'Bannon to rewrite the pilot script for ''Warehouse 13'', ending up with a series order.

2010s

In 2010, O'Bannon was asked to help out on ABC's reboot of '' V'' which was struggling in its second season. Early in 2011, Syfy approached O'Bannon to create and showrun their project ''Defiance''. ''Defiance''s concept included combining a TV series with a massively multiplayer online game that was developed concurrently by Trion Worlds Online. With ''Defiance'' up and running, O'Bannon moved on to Warner Bros. Television when it was announced the CW had placed a pilot order to make ''Cult'' in January 2012 nearly seven years after the network's predecessor had bought it. With both of his projects slated to go on the air, O'Bannon chose to follow his longtime passion project.

O'Bannon originally wrote ''Cult'' in the aftermath of ''Farscape'' and watching the legions of fans mobilize to save the show. "I saw this phenomenon with fans rallying around the show. Okay, what if there wasn't this wonderfully warm sci-fi adventure show, but it was something a little bit darker and edgier? What kind of fans would that bring in? That's what started me down the path of creating Cult." When asked about leaving ''Defiance'' for ''Cult'', Rockne responded: "It was a difficult transition for me because I really did and do love 'Defiance', but 'Cult' is really my baby."

''Cult'' went into production shortly after in February 2012, and a season order was placed May 11, 2012. ''Cult'' was a unique viewer experience designed to break the fourth wall. Rockne explained the appeal of the show, "The show, itself, is kind of invading your space, because it's not letting you just passively watch it. I'm watching a show called Cult about people watching a show called Cult... Cult was really an attempt to break down the fourth wall, to break the glass between you and the TV show."

O'Bannon next began work as executive producer on the second season of ''Revolution''. Despite praise for the revamped and grittier season, NBC declined to add a third season and canceled the show after 42 episodes. After ''Revolution'', O'Bannon was asked by Warner Bros. Television and NBC to consult on their fledgling horror series ''Constantine''.

As of 2019, O'Bannon is an executive producer for ''Evil'' on CBS.

Filmography

Film

Television

The numbers in directing and writing credits refer to the number of episodes.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Obannon, Rockne S.
1964 births
Television producers from California
American male screenwriters
American television writers
Film producers from California
Living people
Farscape
Businesspeople from Los Angeles
American male television writers
Film directors from Los Angeles
Screenwriters from California
20th-century American screenwriters
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American screenwriters
21st-century American male writers
Writers from Los Angeles