Roderick Taylor, also known as Rod Taylor or Roderick Falconer, is an American poet, recording artist, screenwriter, television producer and television director. Taylor is the father of screenwriter and television/film producer Bruce A. Taylor with whom he often collaborates.

Career

Taylor holds an MA from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

where he was a Stegner Fellowship winner in poetry and where he later taught creative writing. Taylor is also a

Woodrow Wilson fellowship The Institute for Citizens & Scholars (formerly known as the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation) is a nonpartisan, non-profit based in Princeton, New Jersey that aims to strengthen American democracy by “cultivating the talent, ideas, ...

winner and winner of the ( American Academy of Poets Prize) for his first collection, ''Florida East Coast Champion'' (1972). While still at Stanford, Taylor moonlighted as a singer in a rock band and started writing songs. He signed with

Geffen Records Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint. Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...

and began a musical career that produced seven albums, principally under the name Roderick Falconer. Later, he wrote music for film and television, including the TV series ''

Witchblade ''Witchblade'' is a comic book series published by Top Cow Productions, an imprint of Image Comics, which ran from November 1995 to October 2015. The series was created by Top Cow founder and owner Marc Silvestri, editor David Wohl, writers B ...

''. Taylor then began write story ideas and screenplays for television and film, often with his son Bruce, leading to the scripts for theatrical movies such as ''

The Star Chamber ''The Star Chamber'' is a 1983 American crime thriller film starring Michael Douglas, Hal Holbrook, Yaphet Kotto, Sharon Gless, James B. Sikking, and Joe Regalbuto. The film was written by Roderick Taylor and Peter Hyams and directed by Hyams ...

'' and scripts for

pilots An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

like '' Annihilator'' and the

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

-themed movies '' Kenny Rogers as The Gambler, Part III: The Legend Continues'' and ''Wild Horses''. In 1985 he developed the science fiction series ''

Otherworld The concept of an otherworld in historical Indo-European religion is reconstructed in comparative mythology. Its name is a calque of ''orbis alius'' (Latin for "other Earth/world"), a term used by Lucan in his description of the Celtic Otherworld ...

'', for which he served as narrator and also

executive produced Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

; the series failed to even run a full season. In 1998, he produced and directed his own scripted project, the 1998 television movie ''

Inferno Inferno may refer to: * Hell, an afterlife place of suffering * Conflagration, a large uncontrolled fire Film * ''L'Inferno'', a 1911 Italian film * Inferno (1953 film), ''Inferno'' (1953 film), a film noir by Roy Ward Baker * Inferno (1973 fi ...

''. He wrote the scripts for ''

American Outlaws ''American Outlaws'' is a 2001 American Western alternate history film directed by Les Mayfield and starring Colin Farrell, Scott Caan, and Ali Larter. Plot Confederate guerillas attempt to raid the Union Army late in the American Civil War. ...

'' (2001) '' The Brave One'' (2007). In 2009, Taylor and son Bruce completed work on ''

Open Graves ''Open Graves'' is a 2009 horror film directed by Álvaro de Armiñán and written by Bruce A. Taylor and Roderick Taylor. The film stars Eliza Dushku, Mike Vogel, Naike Rivelli and Lindsay Robba. Plot In the medieval era, a witch named Mamba is ...

'', a contemporary horror film. He won a

Golden Spur Spur Awards are literary prizes awarded annually by the Western Writers of America (WWA). The purpose of the Spur Awards is to honor writers for distinguished writing about the American West. The Spur awards began in 1953, the same year the WWA wa ...

Award from the WWA for ''Wild Horses'', and two Crystal Reel "Best Director" Awards for the Viacom series '' Super Force''. In 1995 he was awarded the

Genesis Award The Genesis Awards are awarded annually by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to individuals in the major news and entertainment media for producing outstanding works which raise public awareness of animal issues. Presented by the HSUS ...

from the Ark Trust Foundation for his work as executive producer and writer of the MTV ''

Dead at 21 ''Dead at 21'' is an American drama series broadcast by MTV in 1994. The series ran for eleven thirty-minute episodes with a two-part final episode. The series was created by Jon Sherman, and written by Sherman, P.K. Simonds and Manny Coto. Prem ...

''. In 2001 Rod and Bruce received a

Prism Award The Entertainment Industries Council is a United States non-profit organization founded in 1983 that promotes the depiction of accurate health and social issues in film, television, music, and comic books. The Council provides guidelines on the depi ...

Commendation for their work as writers / executive producers on the VH 1 ''

At Any Cost AT or at may refer to: Geography Austria * Austria (ISO 2-letter country code) * .at, Internet country code top-level domain United States * Atchison County, Kansas (county code) * The Appalachian Trail (A.T.), a 2,180+ mile long mountain ...

'', for which he also wrote and produced the songs. When not writing for television and film Roderick teaches creative writing at

Selected filmography

Discography

Albums

* ''Rod Taylor'' (Asylum, 1973) * ''New Nation'' (United Artists, 1976) * ''Victory in Rock City'' (United Artists, 1977) * ''Straight'' (Metronome Musik ermany 1980) * ''Rules of Attraction'' (MCA, 1984)

Poetry

* ''Florida East Coast Champion'' Photo by

Annie Leibovitz Anna-Lou Leibovitz ( ; born October 2, 1949) is an American portrait photographer best known for her engaging portraits, particularly of celebrities, which often feature subjects in intimate settings and poses. Leibovitz's Polaroid photo of Jo ...

* ''the sex life of fire''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Roderick American film producers American male singer-songwriters American male poets Stanford University alumni American television directors American television producers American film directors Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people)