Jeffrey Stepakoff is an American television writer, producer, and author.
After graduating from Woodward Academy in College Park, Georgia in 1981, Stepakoff earned a degree in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After graduation, he began working at an advertising agency. He graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a Master of Fine Arts in playwriting in 1988. He teaches at Kennesaw State University as Associate Professor of Screenwriting since 2006.
Stepakoff's ticket to television writing came through a Carnegie Mellon contact who was involved with ER. The contact helped introduce him to an agent and David Milch, creator of "Deadwood" and NYPD Blue. The 1988 Writers Guild of America strike prevented Stepakoff from working right away. Although he was offered a job as a scab writer for CBS's Charles in Charge , produced by Universal Television, he turned it down. When the strike ended, he was offered another job by Universal to write for Simon & Simon . [1] [2] [3] In 2015 Jeffrey Stepakoff was appointed the Executive Director of the Georgia Film Academy. [4]
His credits include Zoe Busiek: Wild Card (hired by Lynn Marie Latham), Major Dad, Dawson's Creek, Tarzan, Hyperion Bay, "C-16: FBI", "Flipper", "Sisters (Creative Consultant), "The Wonder Years", "Major Dad", and "Simon & Simon". [5] Stepakoff also created pilots for 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, MTM, Fox and ABC. He developed and wrote major motion pictures, including Disney's Tarzan and Brother Bear.
His book BILLION-DOLLAR KISS: The Kiss That Saved Dawson’s Creek and Other Adventures in TV Writing, a revealing account of his experiences in the television industry, is a critically acclaimed one. [3] [6] [7]
Stepakoff is a member of the Writers Guild of America, the Writers Guild of Canada, the Screen Actors Guild, and IATSE, and is a voting member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. He currently resides with his wife and children in Dunwoody, Georgia. [8] [9]
Alan Wolf Arkin was an American actor, filmmaker and musician. In a career spanning seven decades, he received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Tony Award as well as nominations for six Emmy Awards.
Edward BridgeDanson III is an American actor. He achieved stardom playing the lead character Sam Malone on the NBC sitcom Cheers, for which he received two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. He was further Emmy-nominated for the legal drama Damages (2007–2010) and the NBC dramedy The Good Place (2016–2020). He was awarded a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame in 1999.
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is the generic term of two different American labor unions, representing writers in film, television, radio, and online media:
A showrunner is the top-level executive producer of a television series. The position outranks other creative and management personnel, including episode directors, in contrast to feature films, in which the director has creative control over the production, and the executive producer's role is limited to investing. In scripted comedy and drama TV shows, the showrunner also usually serves as the head writer. The role of a showrunner is not present on all television series, especially outside the US; this article describes the nature of the role where it is present.
Anthony Russell Hale is an American actor and comedian. He is most known for his comedic leading roles in the Fox series Arrested Development as Buster Bluth, and as Gary Walsh on the HBO series Veep. For the latter, Hale won the 2013 and 2015 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.
Jason Katims 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).
Mark Frost is an American novelist, screenwriter, film and television producer and director. He is the co-creator of the mystery television series Twin Peaks and was a writer and executive story editor of Hill Street Blues (1982–1985).
Patricia Deutsch Ross, known as Patti Deutsch, was an American actress who was well known as a recurring panelist on the 1970s game shows Match Game and Tattletales.
Javier "Javi" Grillo-Marxuach, is a television screenwriter and producer, and podcaster, known for his work as writer and producer on the first two seasons of the ABC television series Lost, as well as other series including Charmed and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Melissa Anne Rosenberg is an American television writer, television producer, and screenwriter. She has worked in both film and television and has won a Peabody Award. She has also been nominated for two Emmy Awards, and two Writers Guild of America Awards. Since joining the Writers Guild of America, she has been involved in its board of directors and was a strike captain during the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. She supports female screenwriters through the WGA Diversity Committee and co-founded the League of Hollywood Women Writers.
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Noel Maxam is an American television director, writer, and producer.
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"Dinner Party" is the thirteenth episode of the fourth season of the American comedy television series The Office and the show's sixty-sixth episode overall. Written by the writing team of Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky and directed by Paul Feig, the episode originally aired on NBC on April 10, 2008. Guest stars in the episode include Beth Grant, Steve Seagren, and Gary Weeks.
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