Eric Overmyer

Eric Ellis Overmyer (born September 25, 1951) is an American writer and producer. He has written and/or produced numerous TV shows, including ''St. Elsewhere'', '' Homicide: Life on the Street'', '' Law & Order'', ''The Wire'', '' New Amsterdam'', '' Bosch'', '' Treme'', and '' The Man in the High Castle''.

Biography

He graduated as a theater major from Reed College in 1973. He credits his time at the college for helping him find and claim his identity as a writer.

Overmyer wrote for the NBC crime drama ''Homicide: Life on the Street'' from 1996 to 1999. He joined the crew as a writer for the fourth season. He became a consulting producer for the sixth season in fall 1997. He returned as a supervising producer for the seventh and final season in fall 1998. The series was based on the book ''Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets'' by David Simon. Simon also worked as a writer and producer on the later seasons on the show and the two became friends.

Overmyer joined the crew of ''Law & Order'' as a consulting producer and writer for the twelfth season in 2001. He became a co-executive producer for the later part of the season. He remained in this role until he was promoted to executive producer for the fifteenth season in fall 2004. He left the show after the conclusion of the fifteenth season.

Overmyer joined the crew of ''The Wire'' as a consulting producer and writer for the fourth season in 2006. Overmyer wrote the teleplays for the episodes " Margin of Error" and " Misgivings". from stories he co-wrote with producer Ed Burns. Overmyer was hired to replace George Pelecanos as a full-time writer and producer. Simon has said that he was impressed with Overmyer's writing, particularly in synthesising the story for "Margin of Error" as the episode is the height of the show's political storyline but must also progress other plot threads. As a member of the fourth season writing staff, Overmyer has been credited as overseeing the domestic storyline of Jimmy McNulty and "smartly fleshing out" some of his key scenes. Overmyer left the crew at the end of the fourth season. Overmyer and the writing staff won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Dramatic Series at the February 2008 ceremony and the 2007 Edgar Award for Best Television Feature/Mini-Series Teleplay for their work on the fourth season.

Overmyer collaborated with Simon again on the HBO drama ''Treme''. They co-created the series which is about post- Katrina New Orleans