Eric Overmyer | |
|---|---|
 Eric Overmyer at the 71st Annual Peabody Awards | |
| Born | Eric Ellis Overmyer September 25, 1951 Boulder, Colorado, United States |
| Occupation | Writer, television producer. |
| Spouse(s) | Ellen McElduff |
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 , Homicide: Life on the Street , Law & Order , The Wire , New Amsterdam , Bosch , Treme , and The Man in the High Castle . [1]
He graduated as a theater major from Reed College in 1973. [2] He credits his time at the college for helping him find and claim his identity as a writer. [2]
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. Simon also worked as a writer and producer on the later seasons on the show and the two became friends. [3]
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.
Overmyer joined the crew of The Wire as a consulting producer and writer for the fourth season in 2006. [4] Overmyer wrote the teleplays for the episodes "Margin of Error" [5] [6] and "Misgivings". [7] [8] from stories he co-wrote with producer Ed Burns. Overmyer was hired to replace George Pelecanos as a full-time writer and producer. [3] 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. [3] 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. [3] Overmyer left the crew at the end of the fourth season. Overmyer and the writing staff won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Dramatic Series at the February 2008 ceremony and the 2007 Edgar Award for Best Television Feature/Mini-Series Teleplay for their work on the fourth season. [9] [10]
Overmyer collaborated with Simon again on the HBO drama Treme. They co-created the series which is about post-Katrina New Orleans. [11] Overmyer lives part-time in New Orleans and used his experience in navigating the "ornate oral tradition" of the city's stories. [11] The show focuses on a working-class neighborhood and is smaller in scope than The Wire. [3] [11] 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. He also worked with the writers Steve Turner and Jennifer Ames.
Overmyer developed the Amazon original series Bosch based on the series of novels by Michael Connelly. The project reunited him with actors Jamie Hector and Lance Reddick. 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 from Law & Order. The first season was shot throughout 2014 and released on 13 February 2015.
His plays have been published by Broadway Play Publishing Inc. and include:
| Year | Award | Category | Result | Work | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Writers Guild of America Award | Outstanding Dramatic Series | Won [10] | The Wire season 4 | Shared with Ed Burns, Chris Collins, Kia Corthron, Dennis Lehane, David Mills, George Pelecanos, Richard Price, David Simon and William F. Zorzi |
| 2007 | Edgar Award | Best Television Feature/Mini-Series Teleplay | Won [9] | Shared with Ed Burns, Kia Corthron, Dennis Lehane, David Mills, George Pelecanos, Richard Price, David Simon and William F. Zorzi | |
George P. Pelecanos 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 writer. On television, he frequently collaborates with David Simon, writing multiple episodes of Simon's HBO series The Wire and Treme, and is also the co-creator of the HBO series The Deuce.
Dennis Lehane is an American author. He has published more than a dozen novels; the first several were a series of mysteries featuring a couple of protagonists and other recurring characters, including A Drink Before the War. Of these, three were adapted as films of the same name: 2003's Mystic River, directed by Clint Eastwood, which won several awards; 2007's Gone Baby Gone; and 2010's Shutter Island directed by Martin Scorsese.
David Judah Simon is an American author, journalist, and television writer 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 Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets (1991), and co-wrote The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood (1997) with Ed Burns. The former book was the basis for the NBC series Homicide: Life on the Street (1993–99), on which Simon served as a writer and producer. Simon adapted the latter book into the HBO mini-series The Corner (2000).
Ernest Roscoe Dickerson, A. S. C. also known as Ernest R. Dickerson, Roscoe, and Ernest Dickerson, is an American director, cinematographer, and screenwriter of film, television, and music videos.
The following are politicians, family members, and assistants administrating the politics of Baltimore on The Wire.
David Eugene Mills was an American journalist, writer and producer of television programs. He was an executive producer and writer of the HBO miniseries The Corner, for which he won two Emmy Awards, and the creator, executive producer, and writer of the NBC miniseries Kingpin.
Gary D'Addario is a retired police commander, television technical advisor and actor from Baltimore, Maryland.
Joseph Chappelle is an American screenwriter, producer, and director of film and television. He is perhaps best known for his work on the critically acclaimed HBO series The Wire, where he directed six episodes and served as co-executive producer for three seasons. In 2018, his episode "Middle Ground" was named the 6th Best TV Episode of the Century by pop culture website The Ringer. He has also produced and directed several other popular cable television programs, including CSI: Miami, Fringe and Chicago Fire.
Rafael Alvarez is an American author based in Baltimore and Los Angeles. Alvarez went to work for the Sunpapers of Baltimore as a teenager—first in the circulation department and then the horse racing desk in sports—before landing on the City Desk as a utility man and neighborhood folklorist. He was with The Sun from 1977 through 2001. After leaving the paper, Alvarez worked on ships as a laborer before joining the staff of the HBO drama The Wire. He also worked on the NBC crime dramas Life and The Black Donnellys.
William "Bill" F. Zorzi Jr. is an American journalist and screenwriter. He worked at The Baltimore Sun for almost twenty years and covered politics for the majority of his career. He has also written for the HBO television series The Wire and is the co-writer of the HBO miniseries, Show Me a Hero.
Joy Lusco, also known as Joy Kecken and Joy Lusco Kecken, is an American film and television director and writer. She often works with her husband, Scott Kecken. They worked on the HBO drama series The Wire on four of the show's five seasons.
Alexander Zakrzewski is an American television director and cinematographer. He has directed episodes of Cold Case, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Numb3rs, and The Wire, as well as worked on several Tom Fontana produced shows including Homicide: Life on the Street, Oz, and The Jury. Prior to his episodic work, he shot documentaries for independent film makers and the US Networks including several for Harpo Productions, where he developed a reputation for fluid hand-held work.
The first season of the television series The Wire commenced airing on Sunday, June 2, 2002 at 9:00 pm ET in the United States and concluded on September 8, 2002. The 13 episodes tell the story from the points of view of both the drug-dealing Barksdale organization and the investigating police detail.
The fourth season of the television series The Wire commenced airing in the United States on September 10, 2006, concluded on December 10, 2006, and contained 13 episodes. It introduces Baltimore's school system and several middle school students while continuing to examine the remnants of the Barksdale Organization, the ascendant Stanfield Organization, the Baltimore Police Department and politicians.
Chris Collins is an American television writer and producer. He has worked on the HBO dramas The Sopranos and The Wire. He was an executive story editor for the Starz drama series Crash. He is a producer and writer for the FX series Sons of Anarchy.
Treme is an American drama television series created by David Simon and Eric Overmyer that aired on HBO. The series premiered on April 11, 2010, and concluded on December 29, 2013, comprising four seasons and 36 episodes. The series features an ensemble cast, including Khandi Alexander, Rob Brown, Chris Coy, Kim Dickens, India Ennenga, John Goodman, Michiel Huisman, Melissa Leo, Lucia Micarelli, David Morse, Clarke Peters, Wendell Pierce, Jon Seda, and Steve Zahn, and features musical performances by several New Orleans-based artists.
James Yoshimura is an American writer and producer, best known for his screenwriting work on the NBC series Homicide: Life on the Street and the short-lived Fox series The Jury, for which he served as a co-creator. He also co-wrote Homicide: The Movie, a made-for-television film that came out in 2000, after the series ended. Yoshimura has received two Emmy Award nominations: one for Homicide: The Movie and one for the Homicide episode "Subway", which also won a Peabody Award for excellence in television broadcasting.
Bonnie Mark is an American television writer and producer. She has worked on the ABC crime drama NYPD Blue and the NBC crime dramas Third Watch and Homicide: Life on the Street. She was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for her work on Homicide.
Julie Martin is an American television writer and producer. She has worked on the NBC crime dramas Homicide: Life on the Street, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. She won a Humanitas Prize and was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for her work on Homicide. She has also been nominated for an Edgar Award for her work on Criminal Intent.
Jorge Zamacona is an American television writer and producer. He worked extensively on the police drama Homicide: Life on the Street and wrote the series' crossover episodes with the crime drama Law & Order. Zamacona co-created the police dramas 10-8: Officers on Duty and Wanted.
