Robert Cochran (TV producer)

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Robert Cochran (also credited as Bob Cochran) is the co-creator of the Emmy award-winning television series 24. Before that, he and his writing partner Joel Surnow wrote and produced for the television series The Commish . Cochran had also written for shows such as L.A. Law , Falcon Crest and JAG . Cochran and Surnow later created and produced the television series La Femme Nikita and also served as the series consultants. His production company is Real Time Productions. [1] In 2006, the duo made partnership with Howard Gordon, another 24 producer to develop projects at Fox under his Real Time Productions company. [2] [3]

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In 2007, he created the TV show pilots Company Man with David Ehrman and also The Call with David Hemingson, both of which went unsold. In 2014 he returned to write for 24: Live Another Day . In 2016, he wrote for the spin-off series 24: Legacy. [4] [5]

Road to 24

Cochran graduated from Stanford Law School in 1974. Prior to a television writing career, he was a lawyer and management consultant. A screenwriter friend once showed him a script, the first time he'd ever seen one. Having written mostly in prose fiction in his spare time, Cochran instinctively gravitated towards a career in screenwriting, and eventually left consulting to work in Hollywood. [6]

The concept for 24 initially came from Joel Surnow, a TV show where each episode played out in real time and the entirety of the first season was a 24-hour period. Cochran was skeptical that could be pulled off, until they met the next day and discussed the idea of an action-espionage series with a race against the clock. They spent most of 2000 developing it and writing the pilot, and pitched it to Fox in early 2001. The network immediately bought the show, confident it would "move the form of television forward." [7] [8]

In 2019, Macmillan Publishers released Cochran's first book, the young adult fantasy novel The Sword and the Dagger. [9]

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References

  1. ↑ Adalian, Josef (2003-02-28). "'24' creator extends his 20th TV deal". Variety. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
  2. ↑ Adalian, Josef (2006-02-15). "'24' runner on Fox clock". Variety. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
  3. ↑ Schneider, Michael (2008-02-13). "Time's up for '24's' Joel Surnow". Variety. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
  4. ↑ Heritage, Stuart (2017-01-17). "The risk paid off! 24 is back without Jack Bauer – and it's incredible". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2024-09-13.
  5. ↑ Poniewozik, James (2014-07-15). "REVIEW: In the 24: Live Another Day Finale, Jack Bauer Feels Our Pain Again". TIME. Retrieved 2024-09-13.
  6. ↑ "Cochran's Road to Hollywood". From the Mixed up Files. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  7. ↑ Heard, Christopher (2009). Timothy Niedermann (ed.). Kiefer Sutherland—Living Dangerously. Transit Publishing Inc.
  8. ↑ Andreeva, Nellie. "24's Impact 20 Years Later". Deadline. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  9. ↑ Cochran, Robert. "The Sword and the Dagger". Macmillan Publishers. Retrieved 28 March 2019.


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