Alan Ball (screenwriter)
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Alan Erwin Ball (born May 13, 1957)[1] is an American writer and director for film and television. Ball is best known for writing the screenplay for the dramedy film American Beauty (1999), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay at the 72nd Academy Awards ceremony. He also created the HBO drama series Six Feet Under (2001–2005) and True Blood (2008–2014), and served as an executive producer on the Cinemax action drama series Banshee (2013–2016). He wrote and directed the films Towelhead (2007) and Uncle Frank (2020).
Early life
Ball was born in Marietta, Georgia to Frank and Mary Ball, both of whom were aircraft inspectors. His older sister, Mary Ann, was killed in a car accident when Ball was 13; he was in the passenger seat at the time.[2] He attended Marietta High School in Marietta, Georgia and went to college at the University of Georgia and Florida State University. Ball graduated from Florida State in 1980 with a degree in theater arts.[3][4]
After college, Ball began work as a playwright at the General Nonsense Theater Company in Sarasota, Florida.[5]
Career
Ball broke into television as a writer and story editor on the sitcoms Grace Under Fire and Cybill.[6]
Ball wrote two film scripts that ended up in development hell prior to American Beauty (1999).[7] He won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for American Beauty. He has written two further films: Towelhead (2007) and Uncle Frank (2020), the latter of which he also produced and directed. He is also the creator, writer and executive producer of the HBO drama series Six Feet Under and True Blood.[8] Ball was the showrunner for True Blood for its first five seasons.[9]
In 2010, Ball began work on a television adaptation of the crime noir novel The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston, to be titled All Signs of Death.[10][11] In December 2010, after several months of pre-production, HBO cancelled production.[12]
Ball was one of the executive producers of the Cinemax series Banshee.[13]
In July 2016, it was announced that Ball's family drama Here and Now had been ordered to series by HBO.[14] Starring Tim Robbins and Holly Hunter,[15][16] the show was cancelled in April 2018 after one ten-episode season.
Personal life
Ball has discussed his Buddhist faith in numerous interviews, noting how it has influenced his filmmaking. In an interview with Amazon.com, Ball commented on the plastic bag scene in American Beauty, stating: "I had an encounter with a plastic bag! And I didn't have a video camera, like Ricky does... There's a Buddhist notion of the miraculous within the mundane, and I think we certainly live in a culture that encourages us not to look for that."[17] Ball also discussed how his Buddhism shaped themes in Six Feet Under and True Blood.[18][19]
Ball is gay and has been called "a strong voice for [the] LGBT community".[20][21] In 2008, he made Out magazine's annual list of the 100 most impressive gay men and women.[22]
Accolades
For his work in television and film, Ball has received critical acclaim and numerous awards and nominations, including an Academy Award, an Emmy a Golden Globe, and awards from the Writers, Directors, and Producers Guilds.[23]
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Works
Television
| Title | Year | Credit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| "The Road to Paris, Texas" | 1994 | Template:Plainlist | |
| "Grace vs. Wade" | 1994 | Writer | |
| "A Night at the Opera" | 1995 | Writer | |
| "Memphis Bound" | 1995 | Writer, with Marc Flanagan |
| Title | Year | Credit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Zing!" | 1995 | Teleplay, with Lee Aronsohn | |
| "To Sir, with Lust" | 1996 | Writer | |
| "Three Women and a Dummy" | 1996 | Writer | |
| "Venice or Bust" | 1996 | Writer | |
| "Buffalo Gals" | 1996 | Writer | |
| "Name That Tune" | 1997 | Teleplay, with Michael Langworthy | |
| "Mother's Day" | 1997 | Story | |
| "Regarding Henry" | 1997 | Story | Season 4 premiere |
| "Halloween" | 1997 | Teleplay, with Mark Hudis | |
| "Where's a Harpoon When You Need One?" | 1997 | Teleplay, with Kim Friese | |
| "Bakersfield" | 1998 | Story | |
| "Oh Brother!" | 1998 | Teleplay, with Mark Hudis | |
| "Dream Date" | 1998 | Story |
| Title | Year | Credit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Pilot" | 1999 | Writer | Series premiere |
| "Good Pop, Bad Pop" | 1999 | Writer |
| Title | Year | Credit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Pilot" | 2001 | Template:Plainlist | Series premiere |
| "An Open Book" | 2001 | Writer | |
| "Knock Knock" | 2001 | Template:Plainlist | Season 1 finale |
| "In The Game" | 2002 | Writer | Season 2 premiere |
| "Someone Else's Eyes" | 2002 | Writer | |
| "The Last Time" | 2002 | Director | Season 2 finale |
| "Perfect Circles" | 2003 | Writer | Season 3 premiere |
| "Nobody Sleeps" | 2003 | Writer, with Rick Cleveland |
|
| "I'm Sorry, I'm Lost" | 2003 | Director | Season 3 finale |
| "Can I Come Up Now?" | 2004 | Writer | |
| "Untitled" | 2004 | Director | Season 4 finale |
| "Everyone's Waiting" | 2005 | Template:Plainlist | Series finale |
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| Title | Year | Credit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Strange Love" | 2008 | Template:Plainlist | Series premiere |
| "The First Taste" | 2008 | Writer | |
| "Mine" | 2008 | Writer | |
| "You'll Be the Death of Me" | 2008 | Director | Season 1 finale |
| "Shake and Fingerpop" | 2009 | Writer | |
| "Frenzy" | 2009 | Writer | |
| "I Got a Right to Sing the Blues" | 2010 | Writer | |
| "Evil is Going On" | 2010 | Writer | Season 3 finale |
| "If You Love Me, Why Am I Dyin'?" | 2011 | Writer | |
| "Spellbound" | 2011 | Writer | |
| "Hopeless" | 2012 | Writer | |
| "Save Yourself" | 2012 | Writer | Season 5 finale |
| Title | Year | Credit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Eleven Eleven" | 2018 | Template:Plainlist | Series premiere |
| "It's Coming" | 2018 | Writer | |
| "It's Here" | 2018 | Writer |
Film
| Title | Year | Credit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| American Beauty | 1999 | Template:Plainlist | |
| Towelhead | 2007 | Template:Plainlist | |
| The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks | 2017 | Template:Plainlist | Television film |
| Uncle Frank | 2020 | Template:Plainlist |
Theatre
| Title | Year | Credit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Five Women Wearing the Same Dress | 1993 | Template:Plainlist | [24] |
| All That I Will Ever Be | 2007 | Template:Plainlist | [24] |
References
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- ↑ Waxman, Sharon. "Alan Ball's Life After Death" The Washington Post. May 26, 2002.
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- ↑ Template:Trim/ Alan Ball at IMDbTemplate:EditAtWikidataScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".. Retrieved May 6, 2013.
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Further reading
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External links
- Template:Trim/ Alan Ball at IMDbTemplate:EditAtWikidataScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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Template:Alan Ball Script error: No such module "navboxes". Template:AcademyAwardBestOriginalScreenplay 1981-2000 Template:Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay Template:Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay Template:DirectorsGuildofAmericaOutstandingDirectingDramaSeries 1990–2009 Template:EmmyAward DirectingDrama 2001-2025 Template:GoldenGlobeBestScreenplayMotionPicture 1981-2000 Template:Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original ScreenplayScript error: No such module "navboxes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Template:Authority control
- Pages with script errors
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- 1957 births
- Living people
- 21st-century American Buddhists
- 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
- Film directors from Georgia (U.S. state)
- American male screenwriters
- American television directors
- Best Original Screenplay Academy Award winners
- Florida State University alumni
- American gay writers
- Gay Buddhists
- Gay dramatists and playwrights
- Gay screenwriters
- GLAAD Media Awards winners
- Primetime Emmy Award winners
- American showrunners
- American LGBTQ screenwriters
- American LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights
- Writers from Atlanta
- Writers Guild of America Award winners
- Best Screenplay Golden Globe winners
- Directors Guild of America Award winners
- LGBTQ people from Georgia (U.S. state)
- American male television writers
- American television writers
- American male dramatists and playwrights
- 20th-century American male writers
- Screenwriters from Georgia (U.S. state)
- American LGBTQ film directors
- LGBTQ television directors
- 21st-century American LGBTQ people