Jason Katims

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 family<ref>Tablet Magazine: "Dream Team To Produce Pilot of Michael Sokolove’s ‘Drama High’ - Two Jewish producers—Jeffrey Seller of ‘Hamilton’ and Jason Katims of NBC’s ‘Friday Night Lights’—will help create a pilot for Sokolove’s critically-acclaimed book about high school theater in Levittown, PA" by Zoë Miller retrieved October 22, 2017</ref> in Brooklyn, New York City, New York,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and raised first in Crown Heights and later in Midwood.<ref name=EsquireKatims>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</ref> His father Robert Katims was an actor and a salesman; his mother Ruth Sandra Ohsie, an English and philosophy major, "did some teachings".<ref name="book">Template:Cite book</ref> His parents were "very politically active, very left-leaning."<ref name=EsquireKatims /> He has an older brother and sister.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Before studying theater at Queens College<ref name=Rubino5511 /> in Queens, New York City,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> he graduated from Edward R. Murrow High School.<ref name="Blake">Template:Cite news</ref>

He married his high school sweetheart;<ref name=EsquireKatims /> they have two children, Phoebe and Sawyer Katims.

Career

Katims was a playwright in New York until director and producer Ed Zwick asked him if he wanted to write for television and films.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1994, he wrote three episodes for the ABC teen drama My So-Called Life. 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 series Friday Night Lights as head writer and executive producer. He was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award 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.<ref name="WGA 08 Official">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Variety WGA 08">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="HR WGA 08">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name="WGA 09 Official">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name="WGA TV nominees 2010">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2011, he was honored by an award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series in Friday Night Lights.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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;<ref name=Rubino5511 /> 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.<ref name=Rubino5511>Template:Cite news</ref>

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

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, for Fox.

On June 15, 2020, Katims is the writer of As We See It, based on Israeli series On the Spectrum for Amazon Prime Video.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

More recently, he signed a multi-year overall deal with Imagine Television.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Filmography

Film

• The Pallbearer (1996)
• The Vow (2012)

Television

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

Title	Year	Credited as				Network	Notes
		Creator	Director	Writer	Executive producer
My So-Called Life	1994	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes (3)	Template:No	ABC	Story editor
Relativity	1996	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes (7)	Template:Yes		Pilot writer
Roswell	1999–2002	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes (17)	Template:Yes	The WB
DeMarco Affairs	2004	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	ABC
Fertile Ground	2005	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	N/A
Pepper Dennis	2006	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes (2)	Template:Yes	The WB
The Wedding Bells	2007	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes (1)	Template:Yes	Fox
Friday Night Lights	2006–2011	Template:No	Template:Yes (2)	Template:Yes (10)	Template:Yes	NBC The 101 Network
Parenthood	2010–2015	Template:Yes	Template:Yes (3)	Template:Yes (21)	Template:Yes	NBC
About a Boy	2014–2015	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes (6)	Template:Yes
The Path	2016	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes (1)	Template:Yes
Pure Genius	2016–2017	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes (3)	Template:Yes	CBS
Rise	2018	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes (5)	Template:Yes	NBC
Almost Family	2019–2020	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes (2)	Fox
As We See It	2022	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes (3)	Template:Yes	Amazon Prime Video
Dear Edward	2023	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Apple TV+

External links

• [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 0441300

 | name/{{#if:{{#invoke:ustring|match|1=0441300|2=^nm}}
   | Template:Trim/
   | nm0441300/
   }}
 | {{#if: {{#property:P345}}
   | name/Template:First word/
   | find?q=%7B%7B%23if%3A+Jason+Katims%0A++++++%7C+Jason+Katims%0A++++++%7C+%5B%5B%3ATemplate%3APAGENAMEBASE%5D%5D%0A++++++%7D%7D&s=nm
   }}
 }}{{#if:  0441300 {{#property:P345}} | {{#switch: 
 | award | awards = awards Awards for | biography | bio = bio Biography for
 }}}} {{#if: Jason Katims
 | Jason Katims
 | Template:PAGENAMEBASE
 }}] at IMDb{{#if: 0441300{{#property:P345}}
 | Template:EditAtWikidata
 | Template:Main other

}}{{#switch:{{#invoke:string2|matchAny|^nm.........|^nm.......|nm|.........|source=0441300|plain=false}}

 | 1 | 3 =  Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning
 | 4 = Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning

}}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:IMDb name with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|showblankpositional=1| 1 | 2 | id | name | section }} Template:Parenthood Template:Friday Night Lights Template:EmmyAward DramaWriting 2010s