Jason Katims
Jason Katims (born November 30, 1960) is an American television writer, producer, and playwright. He is best known as the creator of several television series, including Relativity (1996), Roswell (1999-2002), Friday Night Lights (2006-2011), Parenthood (2010-2015), About a Boy (2014-2015) and Rise (2018).
Jason Katims | |
|---|---|
 Katims at the August 2014 Voice Awards | |
| Born | November 30, 1960 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Producer, screenwriter, playwright |
| Alma mater | Queens College |
| Notable works | Roswell Friday Night Lights Parenthood About a Boy Almost Family |
| Spouse | Kathy Katims |
| Children | 2 |
Early life and family
Jason Katims was born to a Jewish family[1] in Brooklyn, New York City, New York,[2] and raised first in Crown Heights and later in Midwood.[3] His father was an actor and a salesman; his mother, an English and philosophy major, "did some teachings".[4] His parents were "very politically active, very left-leaning."[3] He has an older brother and sister.[5]
Before studying theater at Queens College[6] in Queens, New York City,[7] he graduated from Edward R. Murrow High School.[8]
He married his high school sweetheart;[3] they have two children, Phoebe and Sawyer Katims.
Career
Katims was a playwright in New York until director and producer Ed Zwick asked him if he wanted to write for television and films.[9]
In 1994, he wrote three episodes for the ABC teen drama My So-Called Life. He created Relativity in 1996 but the TV series was cancelled after 17 episodes. He subsequently created Roswell, which gained cult following.
Katims worked on the NBC series Friday Night Lights as head writer and executive producer. He was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for Best New Series at the February 2007 ceremony for his work on the first season of Friday Night Lights. He was nominated for the WGA Award for Best Dramatic Series the following year at the February 2008 ceremony for his work on the second season of Friday Night Lights.[10][11][12] Katims was nominated for Best Dramatic Series a second time at the February 2009 ceremony for his work on the third season of Friday Night Lights.[13] He was nominated for the WGA Award for Best Drama Series for the third consecutive year at the February 2010 ceremony for his work on the fourth season.[14] In 2011, he was honored by an award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series in Friday Night Lights.[15]
Katims is also the creator of and executive producer for another NBC series, Parenthood, based on the feature film of the same name and a short-lived TV series that followed;[6] Katims' series debuted in 2010 and ended in 2015. Katims based that series' Max Braverman character on his life with his own son, who has Asperger syndrome.[6]
Katims developed About a Boy, a 2014 TV series based on the novel of the same name, for NBC.
He has written a play, The Man Who Couldn't Dance and is a former member of Stagewrights, a playwriting collective in New York City.
Katims also developed Almost Family, is a 2019 TV series based on the Australian series Sisters, for Fox.
On June 15, 2020, Katims is the writer of the new untitled autism comedy-drama series based on Israeli's series On the Spectrum for Amazon Prime.[16]
Filmography
Film
- The Pallbearer (1996)
- The Vow (2012)
Television
The numbers in directing and writing credits refer to the number of episodes.
| Title | Year | Credited as | Network | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creator | Director | Writer | Executive producer | ||||
| My So-Called Life | 1994 | No | No | Yes (3) | No | ABC | Story editor |
| Relativity | 1996 | No | No | Yes (7) | co-executive | Pilot writer | |
| Roswell | 1999–2002 | Developer | No | Yes (17) | Yes | The WB | |
| DeMarco Affairs | 2004 | Yes | No | No | Yes | ABC | |
| Fertile Ground | 2005 | No | No | No | Yes | N/A | |
| Pepper Dennis | 2006 | No | No | Yes (2) | Yes | The WB | |
| The Wedding Bells | 2007 | Yes | No | Yes (1) | Yes | Fox | |
| Friday Night Lights | 2006–2011 | No | Yes (2) | Yes (10) | Yes | NBC The 101 Network |
|
| Parenthood | 2010–2015 | No | Yes (3) | Yes (21) | Yes | NBC | |
| About a Boy | 2014–2015 | Developer | No | Yes (6) | Yes | ||
| The Path | 2016 | No | No | Yes (1) | Yes | ||
| Pure Genius | 2016–2017 | No | No | Yes (3) | Yes | CBS | |
| Rise | 2018 | Developer | No | Yes (5) | Yes | NBC | |
| Almost Family | 2019–2020 | No | No | No | Yes (2) | Fox | |
| Untitled Autism comedy-drama project | TBA | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Amazon Prime | |
References
- Tablet Magazine: "Dream Team To Produce Pilot of Michael Sokolove’s ‘Drama High’ - Two Jewish producers—Jeffrey Seller of ‘Hamilton’ and Jason Katims of NBC’s ‘Friday Night Lights’—will help create a pilot for Sokolove’s critically-acclaimed book about high school theater in Levittown, PA" by By Zoë Miller retrieved October 22, 2017
- "Jason Katims - Biography". Yahoo! TV. Retrieved September 26, 2011.
- Esquire: "The Cult of Jason Katims. The man behind Friday Night Lights and Parenthood has a gift for making men a little verklempt. It's made him a power in traditional TV. Now he's betting on something entirely different" By Mike Sager March 30, 2016
- Meyers, Lawrence (June 2, 2010). Inside the TV Writers' Room: Practical Advice for Succeeding in Television. Syracuse University Press. p. 82. ISBN 978-0-8156-3241-2.
- Paskin, Willa (May 20, 2011). "The Showrunner Transcript: Parenthood and Friday Night Lights' Jason Katims on Portraying Families Realistically". NY Mag. Retrieved September 26, 2011.
- Rubino, Lindsay (May 5, 2011). "Katims' 'Call' to Success". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
- TheWBAndrew (March 11, 2001). "The WB Sessions With Jason Katims". Retrieved September 26, 2011.
- Blake, Meredith (March 12, 2018). "With 'Rise,' Jason Katims brings Broadway drama to a small-town high school". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 12, 2019.
- "Roswell interview with Jason Katims - Starting Out". BBC. Retrieved September 26, 2011.
- "2008 Writers Guild Awards Television & Radio Nominees Announced". WGA. 2007. Archived from the original on December 19, 2007. Retrieved December 13, 2007.
- Perry, Byron (December 12, 2007). "WGA announce TV, radio nominees". Variety. Retrieved December 13, 2007.
- D'Orio, Carl (December 13, 2007). "HBO tops WGA awards list". The Hollywood Reporter. Associated Press. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
- "2009 Writers Guild Awards Television, Radio, News, Promotional Writing, and Graphic Animation Nominees Announced". WGA.org. 2008. Archived from the original on December 12, 2008. Retrieved December 12, 2008.
- Mitchell, Gregg; Goldman, Sherry (2009). "2010 Writers Guild Awards Television, Radio, News, Promotional Writing, and Graphic Animation Nominees Announced". Writers Guild of America. Archived from the original on May 25, 2012. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
- Coyle, Jake (September 19, 2011). "At Emmy Awards, 'Friday Night Lights' finally punches through to the end zone". Winnipeg Free Press. Associated Press. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
- White, Peter (June 15, 2020). "Jason Katim's Autism Comedy Drama, Based On Israel's 'On The Spectrum', Goes To Series At Amazon". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved June 17, 2020.
