David Nutter (born 1960) is an American television and film director and television producer. He is best known for directing pilot episodes for television. In 2015, he received a

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Owned and operated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the P ...

for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series, for his work on the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

series ''

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American Fantasy television, fantasy Drama (film and television), drama television series created by David Benioff and for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of high fantasy novels by ...

''.

Early life and education

Nutter was born in 1960. He graduated from Dunedin High School in

Dunedin, Florida Dunedin ( ) is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The name comes from ''Dùn Èideann'', the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Dunedin is part of the Tampa Bay Area, Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater ...

, in 1978. He subsequently graduated from the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

, where he originally enrolled as a music major.David Nutter: the networks' head starter
Caroline Parry. The Broadcast Interview. Broadcastnow.co.uk. Media Business Insight Limited. September 23, 2010. Retrieved September 20, 2015

Career

Nutter started his career directing episodes of ''

Superboy Superboy is an identity used by several fictional superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. These characters have been featured in several eponymous comic series, in addition to ''Adventure Comics'' and other series ...

'' and ''

The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction on television, science fiction drama (film and television), drama television series created by Chris Carter (screenwriter), Chris Carter. The original series aired from September 10, 1993, to Ma ...

''. From there he would go on to direct the pilot and help with the creation of '' Space: Above and Beyond'', ''

Millennium A millennium () is a period of one thousand years, one hundred decades, or ten centuries, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting ...

'', '' Sleepwalkers'', '' Roswell'', '' Dark Angel'', ''

Smallville ''Smallville'' is an American superhero fiction, superhero television series developed by writer-producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, based on the DC Comics character Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The series was produce ...

'', ''

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, a feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer. Creat ...

'', ''

Without a Trace ''Without a Trace'' is an American police procedural drama television series created by Hank Steinberg that aired on CBS from September 26, 2002, to May 19, 2009 with the total of seven seasons and 160 episodes. The series focuses the cases of ...

'', ''

Dr. Vegas ''Dr. Vegas'' is an American Drama (film and television), drama television series created by John Herzfeld and Jack Orman, starring Rob Lowe and Joe Pantoliano that ran on CBS from September 24, 2004 to October 29, 2004, being cancelled after f ...

'', '' Jack & Bobby'', ''

Supernatural Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...

'', '' Traveler'', '' Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles'', ''

The Mentalist ''The Mentalist'' is an American procedural drama television series that ran from September 23, 2008, until February 18, 2015, broadcasting 151 episodes over seven seasons, on CBS. Created by Bruno Heller, who was also its executive producer, t ...

'', and '' Shameless''. He also directed " Replacements", the fourth part of the mini-series '' Band of Brothers'', and shared in that series's

for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special. Other directing highlights include " Join the Club", an Emmy-nominated episode of ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The series follows Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey American Mafia, Mafia boss who suffers from panic attacks. He reluct ...

'', and the 1998 feature film '' Disturbing Behavior''. Nutter directed 10 episodes of the

series '' Entourage'', including " The Resurrection", " The Prince's Bride" and the series finale, "

The End The End may refer to: Film * The End (1953 film), ''The End'' (1953 film), a film by Christopher Maclaine * The End (1978 film), ''The End'' (1978 film), a comedy by Burt Reynolds * ''The End'' (1995 film), a List of Canadian films of 1995, Cana ...

". In 2007, Nutter directed Parts 2 and 8 of the mini-series '' The Pacific'', the sequel to '' Band of Brothers''. In 2008, LG used Nutter's pilot expertise to create a campaign for its new "Scarlet" line of

HDTV High-definition television (HDTV) describes a television or video system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since at least 1933; in more recent times, it ref ...

s, by creating a promotional clip in the style of a trailer for a TV pilot. In 2011, Nutter directed the pilot of Rina Mimoun's ''The Doctor'', for CBS. In 2012, Nutter directed " The Old Gods and the New" and " A Man Without Honor", two episodes of the second season of the

series ''

''. In 2013, he directed the last two episodes of the third season: " The Rains of Castamere", which received the

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) and chosen by its members. The award is administered by th ...

for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form, and " Mhysa". Nutter also directed the pilot of

The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

series ''

Arrow An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers c ...

'', based on the comic-book character

Green Arrow Green Arrow is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Mort Weisinger and designed by George Papp, he first appeared in ''More Fun Comics'' No. 73 on September 19, 1941 (cover dated November 1941), th ...

, starring Stephen Amell. In 2015, he returned to the series ''Game of Thrones'' to direct the last two episodes of the fifth season, " The Dance of Dragons" and " Mother's Mercy". For the latter, he received a

for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series. In 2015, Nutter experienced a major injury that required several back surgeries, and had to skip directing any episodes of the next two seasons of ''Game of Thrones'' while he recovered. In September 2017, it was announced that Nutter would return to direct at least two episodes of the eighth season of ''Game of Thrones'', alongside

Miguel Sapochnik Miguel Sapochnik (born 1 July 1974) is an English film director, film and television director of Argentine origin, and former storyboard artist. For his work as a director on the HBO epic fantasy series ''Game of Thrones'', he won the award for ...

David Benioff David Friedman (; born September 25, 1970), known professionally as David Benioff (), is an American novelist, screenwriter, and producer. Along with his collaborator D. B. Weiss, he is best known for co-creating ''Game of Thrones'' (2011–201 ...

and D. B. Weiss for the remainder of the episodes. It was later confirmed that Nutter would direct three episodes, which includes the first,

second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

, and fourth episodes of the eighth season. In May 2021, it was announced that Nutter would direct all six episodes of

series, '' The Time Traveler's Wife''.

List of directed pilots

The first sixteen pilots directed by Nutter all went to series. This streak was broken in 2011 when CBS chose to not pick up Rina Mimoun's ''The Doctor''. * '' Space: Above and Beyond'' (1995) * ''

'' (1996) * '' Sleepwalkers'' (1997) * '' Roswell'' (1999) * '' Dark Angel'' (2000) * ''

'' (2001) * ''

'' (2002) * ''

'' (2004) * ''

'' (2003) * '' Jack & Bobby'' (2004) * ''

'' (2005) * '' Traveler'' (2006) * '' Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles'' (2007) * ''

'' (2008) * '' Eastwick'' (2009) * '' Chase'' (2010) * ''The Doctor'' (2011) * ''

'' (2012) * ''

The Flash The Flash is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1 (cover date, cover-dated Jan ...

'' (2014) * ''

Deception Deception is the act of convincing of one or many recipients of untrue information. The person creating the deception knows it to be false while the receiver of the information does not. It is often done for personal gain or advantage. Tort of ...

'' (2018)

Personal life

Nutter was married to his wife, Birgit, from 1987 until her death from cancer in 2019.David Nutter: The X-Files Mark His Success
''St. Petersburg Times/The Tampa Bay Times''. Joni M. Fisher. 2015. Retrieved September 20, 2015 They have two children, actress Zoe K. Nutter and Ben Nutter.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nutter, David 1960 births American television directors Directors Guild of America Award winners Dunedin High School alumni Film directors from Florida Hugo Award winners Living people People from Dunedin, Florida Place of birth missing (living people) Primetime Emmy Award winners University of Miami alumni University of Miami School of Communication alumni Television producers from Florida