Jason Katims (born November 30, 1960) 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).

Early life and family

Jason Katims was born to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, and raised first in Crown Heights and later in

Midwood Midwood is a neighborhood in the south-central part of the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded on the north by the Bay Ridge Branch tracks just above Avenue I and by the Brooklyn College campus of the City ...

.Esquire: "The Cult of Jason Katims. The man behind Friday Night Lights and Parenthood has a gift for making men a little verklempt. It's made him a power in traditional TV. Now he's betting on something entirely different" By Mike Sager
March 30, 2016 His father Robert Katims was an actor and a salesman; his mother Ruth Sandra Ohsie, an English and philosophy major, "did some teachings". His parents were "very politically active, very left-leaning." He has an older brother and sister. Before studying theater at

Queens College Queens College (QC) is a public college in the New York City borough of Queens. Part of the City University of New York system, Queens College occupies an campus primarily located in Flushing. Queens College was established in 1937 and offe ...

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

, New York City, he graduated from Edward R. Murrow High School. He married his high school sweetheart; they have two children, Phoebe and Sawyer Katims.

Career

Katims was a playwright in New York until director and producer

Ed Zwick Edward M. Zwick (born October 8, 1952) is an American filmmaker. He has worked primarily in the comedy drama and epic historical film genres and was awarded an Academy Award, as well as a BAFTA Award, for his work producing ''Shakespeare in Lov ...

asked him if he wanted to write for television and films. In 1994, he wrote three episodes for the ABC teen drama ''

My So-Called Life ''My So-Called Life'' is an American teen drama television series created by Winnie Holzman and produced by Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz. It aired on ABC from August 25, 1994 to January 26, 1995. Set at the fictional Liberty High Sch ...

''. He created '' Relativity'' in 1996 but the TV series was cancelled after 17 episodes. He subsequently created '' Roswell,'' which gained cult following. Katims worked on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

series '' Friday Night Lights'' as head writer and executive producer. He was nominated for a

Writers Guild of America Award The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949. Eligibility Th ...

for Best New Series at the February 2007 ceremony for his work on the first season of ''Friday Night Lights''. He was nominated for the WGA Award for Best Dramatic Series the following year at the February 2008 ceremony for his work on the second season of ''Friday Night Lights''. Katims was nominated for Best Dramatic Series a second time at the February 2009 ceremony for his work on the third season of ''Friday Night Lights''. He was nominated for the WGA Award for Best Drama Series for the third consecutive year at the February 2010 ceremony for his work on the fourth season. In 2011, he was honored by an award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series in ''Friday Night Lights''. Katims is also the creator of and executive producer for another NBC series, '' Parenthood'', based on the feature film of the same name and a short-lived TV series that followed; Katims' series debuted in 2010 and ended in 2015. Katims based that series' Max Braverman character on his life with his own son, who has

Asperger syndrome Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's syndrome or Asperger's, is a diagnostic label that has historically been used to describe a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and no ...

. Katims developed '' About a Boy'', a 2014 TV series based on the novel of the same name, for

. He has written a play, ''The Man Who Couldn't Dance'' and is a former member of Stagewrights, a playwriting collective in New York City. Katims also developed '' Almost Family'', a 2019 TV series based on the Australian series ''

Sisters A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...

'', for

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

. On June 15, 2020, Katims is the writer of ''As We See It'', based on Israeli series ''On the Spectrum'' for

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

. More recently, he signed a multi-year overall deal with Imagine Television.

Filmography

Film

*'' The Pallbearer'' (1996) *'' The Vow'' (2012)

Television

The numbers in directing and writing credits refer to the number of episodes.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Katims, Jason 1960 births 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American soap opera writers Television producers from New York City American male television writers 20th-century American Jews Living people Writers from Brooklyn Primetime Emmy Award winners American showrunners American male screenwriters American male dramatists and playwrights Queens College, City University of New York alumni 20th-century American male writers Screenwriters from New York (state) People from Midwood, Brooklyn People from Crown Heights, Brooklyn Edward R. Murrow High School alumni 21st-century American Jews