Jack Amiel is an American TV writer, producer and screenwriter. He is best known for co-creating

Cinemax Cinemax is an American pay television, cable, and satellite television network owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Developed as a companion "maxi-pay" service complementing the offerings shown on parent ...

's period medical drama ''

The Knick ''The Knick'' is an American medical period drama television series on Cinemax created by Jack Amiel and Michael Begler and directed by Steven Soderbergh. The series follows Dr. John W. Thackery ( Clive Owen) and the staff at a fictionalized ...

'', and for writing the films ''

Raising Helen ''Raising Helen'' is a 2004 American comedy-drama film directed by Garry Marshall and written by Jack Amiel and Michael Begler. It stars Kate Hudson, John Corbett, Joan Cusack, Hayden Panettiere, siblings Spencer and Abigail Breslin, and Helen M ...

'' (2004), '' The Shaggy Dog'' (2006) and '' Big Miracle'' (2012), all with writing partner Michael Begler.

Early life

Amiel was born and raised in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, New York. He attended

Fieldston School Ethical Culture Fieldston School (ECFS), also referred to as Fieldston, is a private independent school in New York City. The school is a member of the Ivy Preparatory School League. The school serves approximately 1,700 students with 480 facult ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, and the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

, where he majored in History. He met his future writing partner Michael Begler while they were in college together. Amiel is of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

background.

Career

After college, Amiel moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

and worked as a PA on a number of Fox sitcoms. He and Begler, who was working as a PA in New York, decided to write together shortly after, and Begler soon joined Amiel in Los Angeles. Their first writing job was on Fox's ''

Herman's Head ''Herman's Head'' is an American sitcom that aired on the Fox network from September 8, 1991, until April 21, 1994. The series was created by Andy Guerdat and Steve Kreinberg, and produced by Witt/Thomas Productions in association with Touchs ...

''. Amiel worked consistently from that point onwards, writing - with Begler - on a number of sitcoms, including ''

Empty Nest ''Empty Nest'' is an American television sitcom that aired for seven seasons on NBC from October 8, 1988, to April 29, 1995. The series, which was created as a spin-off of ''The Golden Girls'' by creator and producer Susan Harris, starred Ri ...

'', ''

Minor Adjustments ''Minor Adjustments'' is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from September 16, 1995 until November 26, 1995, and on UPN from January 23, 1996 until June 4, 1996. The series starred stand-up comedian Rondell Sheridan in his first head ...

'', ''

The Jeff Foxworthy Show ''The Jeff Foxworthy Show'' is an American sitcom television series created by Tom Anderson, starring comedian Jeff Foxworthy and based on Foxworthy's stand-up comedy routine. It originally aired from September 12, 1995 to May 5, 1997 on ABC (s ...

'', '' The Tony Danza Show'' and '' Malcolm in the Middle''. In the mid-2000s, Amiel transitioned into writing feature films, penning the scripts for the romantic comedies '' The Prince and Me'' and Garry Marshall's ''

'', both released in 2004. In 2006, Amiel wrote

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

's '' The Shaggy Dog'', starring

Tim Allen Timothy Alan Dick (born June 13, 1953), known professionally as Tim Allen, is an American actor and comedian. He is known for playing Tim "The Toolman" Taylor on the ABC sitcom ''Home Improvement'' (1991–1999) and Mike Baxter on the ABC/ ...

and

Robert Downey Jr Robert John Downey Jr. (born April 4, 1965) is an American actor and producer. His career has been characterized by critical and popular success in his youth, followed by a period of substance abuse and legal troubles, before a resurgence of ...

. Amiel wrote 2012's

Ken Kwapis Kenneth William Kwapis (born August 17, 1957) is an American film and television director, screenwriter, and author. He specialized in the single-camera sitcom in the 1990s and 2000s and has directed feature films such as '' Sesame Street Presen ...

-directed '' Big Miracle'' starring

Drew Barrymore Drew Blythe Barrymore (born February 22, 1975) is an American actress, director, producer, talk show host and author. A member of the Barrymore family of actors, she is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a ...

. Cinemax picked up Amiel and Begler's ''

'' to series, after they wrote the pilot script on spec. Steven Soderbergh came on board the series as director and executive producer. Amiel and Begler served as co-showrunners and executive producers, and wrote the majority of the series' episodes. The series premiered on August 8, 2014. It was renewed for a second season of 10 episodes, airing October 2015. In April 2021, it was announced that Amiel and Bagler will serve as executive producers, writers and showrunners for second season of ''

Perry Mason Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and 4 short stories, all of which involve a c ...

''. Around the same time he signed an overall deal with HBO The Knick (18415223088)

Filmography

Films Production staff Writer

References

External links

Jack Amiel on Twitter
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Amiel, Jack Living people Writers from Manhattan Ethical Culture Fieldston School alumni Year of birth missing (living people) University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni Screenwriters from New York (state)