Alan Ball (screenwriter)
Encyclopedia
Alan E. Ball is an American
writer
, director
, actor
and producer
for film
, theatre
and television
.
, to Frank and Mary Ball, an aircraft inspector and a homemaker. He attended high school in Marietta
, and went on to attend the University of Georgia
and Florida State University
, from which he graduated in 1980 with a degree in theater arts. After college, he began work as a playwright at the General Nonsense Theater Company in Sarasota, Florida
.
and Towelhead
. He is also the creator, writer and producer of the HBO drama series Six Feet Under and True Blood
. For his work in television and film, Ball has received critical acclaim and numerous awards, including an Academy Award, an Emmy
and a Golden Globe
.
In 2010 Ball began work on a television adaptation of the crime noir novel The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston
, to be titled All Signs of Death. In December 2010, after several months of pre-production, HBO cancelled production on All Signs of Death.
and has been called "a strong voice for [the] LGBT
community". In 2008 he made Out magazine's annual list of the 100 most impressive gay men and women. Alan Ball has, in numerous interviews, discussed his Buddhist faith and how it has influenced his film making. In an interview with Amazon.com Ball commented on the iconic scene in American Beauty
with the plastic bag, stating, "I had an encounter with a plastic bag! And I didn't have a video camera, like Ricky does... There's a Buddhist notion of the miraculous within the mundane, and I think we certainly live in a culture that encourages us not to look for that." Ball has also discussed how his Buddhism has shaped themes in Six Feet Under and True Blood
which he has substantially contributed to. Ball keeps a collection of Macaw
parrots, much to the ire of his neighbor Quentin Tarantino
, who in March 2011 sued him under California
civil code
section 3479 over the "obnoxious pterodactyl-like screams" they make.
Nominations
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
for film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
.
Early life
Ball was born in Atlanta, GeorgiaGeorgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, to Frank and Mary Ball, an aircraft inspector and a homemaker. He attended high school in Marietta
Marietta, Georgia
Marietta is a city located in central Cobb County, Georgia, United States, and is its county seat.As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 56,579, making it one of metro Atlanta's largest suburbs...
, and went on to attend the University of Georgia
University of Georgia
The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
and Florida State University
Florida State University
The Florida State University is a space-grant and sea-grant public university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a comprehensive doctoral research university with medical programs and significant research activity as determined by the Carnegie Foundation...
, from which he graduated in 1980 with a degree in theater arts. After college, he began work as a playwright at the General Nonsense Theater Company in Sarasota, Florida
Sarasota, Florida
Sarasota is a city located in Sarasota County on the southwestern coast of the U.S. state of Florida. It is south of the Tampa Bay Area and north of Fort Myers...
.
Film and television career
Ball has written two films, Academy Award winner American BeautyAmerican Beauty (film)
American Beauty is a 1999 American drama film directed by Sam Mendes and written by Alan Ball. Kevin Spacey stars as Lester Burnham, a middle-aged magazine writer who has a midlife crisis when he becomes infatuated with his teenage daughter's best friend, Angela...
and Towelhead
Towelhead (film)
Towelhead is a 2007 black comedy film written and directed by Alan Ball and based on Alicia Erian's novel of the same name. The film made its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival on September 8, 2007 under the name Nothing is Private...
. He is also the creator, writer and producer of the HBO drama series Six Feet Under and True Blood
True Blood
True Blood is an American television series created and produced by Alan Ball. It is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris, detailing the co-existence of vampires and humans in Bon Temps, a fictional, small town in the state of Louisiana...
. For his work in television and film, Ball has received critical acclaim and numerous awards, including an Academy Award, an Emmy
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
and a Golden Globe
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
.
In 2010 Ball began work on a television adaptation of the crime noir novel The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston
Charlie Huston
Charlie Huston is an American author of crime novels and superhero comic books. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, the actress Virginia Louise Smith...
, to be titled All Signs of Death. In December 2010, after several months of pre-production, HBO cancelled production on All Signs of Death.
Personal life
Ball is gayHomosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
and has been called "a strong voice for [the] LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
community". In 2008 he made Out magazine's annual list of the 100 most impressive gay men and women. Alan Ball has, in numerous interviews, discussed his Buddhist faith and how it has influenced his film making. In an interview with Amazon.com Ball commented on the iconic scene in American Beauty
American Beauty (film)
American Beauty is a 1999 American drama film directed by Sam Mendes and written by Alan Ball. Kevin Spacey stars as Lester Burnham, a middle-aged magazine writer who has a midlife crisis when he becomes infatuated with his teenage daughter's best friend, Angela...
with the plastic bag, stating, "I had an encounter with a plastic bag! And I didn't have a video camera, like Ricky does... There's a Buddhist notion of the miraculous within the mundane, and I think we certainly live in a culture that encourages us not to look for that." Ball has also discussed how his Buddhism has shaped themes in Six Feet Under and True Blood
True Blood
True Blood is an American television series created and produced by Alan Ball. It is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris, detailing the co-existence of vampires and humans in Bon Temps, a fictional, small town in the state of Louisiana...
which he has substantially contributed to. Ball keeps a collection of Macaw
Macaw
Macaws are small to large, often colourful New World parrots. Of the many different Psittacidae genera, six are classified as macaws: Ara, Anodorhynchus, Cyanopsitta, Primolius, Orthopsittaca, and Diopsittaca...
parrots, much to the ire of his neighbor Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
, who in March 2011 sued him under California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
civil code
Civil code
A civil code is a systematic collection of laws designed to comprehensively deal with the core areas of private law. A jurisdiction that has a civil code generally also has a code of civil procedure...
section 3479 over the "obnoxious pterodactyl-like screams" they make.
Television
| Year | Show | Episode | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | True Blood True Blood True Blood is an American television series created and produced by Alan Ball. It is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris, detailing the co-existence of vampires and humans in Bon Temps, a fictional, small town in the state of Louisiana... |
"Spellbound" | Season 4, episode 8; writer |
| "If You Love Me, Why Am I Dyin'?" | Season 4, episode 3; writer | ||
| 2010 | "Evil is Going On" | Season 3, episode 12; writer | |
| "I Got a Right to Sing the Blues" | Season 3, episode 6; writer | ||
| 2009 | "Frenzy" | Season 2, episode 11; writer | |
| "Shake and Fingerpop" | Season 2, episode 4; writer | ||
| 2008 | "You'll Be the Death of Me" | Season 1, episode 12; director | |
| "Mine" | Season 1, episode 3; writer | ||
| "The First Taste" | Season 1, episode 2; writer | ||
| "Strange Love" | Season 1, episode 1; writer/director | ||
| 2005 | Six Feet Under | "Everyone's Waiting" | Season 5, episode 12; writer/director |
| 2004 | "Untitled" | Season 4, episode 12; director | |
| "Can I Come Up Now?" | Season 4, episode 4; writer | ||
| 2003 | "I'm Sorry, I'm Lost" | Season 3, episode 13; director | |
| "Nobody Sleeps" | Season 3, episode 4; writer (with Rick Cleveland Rick Cleveland Rick Cleveland is an American television writer, playwright and monologist, best known for writing on the HBO original series, Six Feet Under and NBC's The West Wing.... ) |
||
| "Perfect Circles" | Season 3, episode 1; writer | ||
| 2002 | "The Last Time" | Season 2, episode 13; director | |
| "Someone Else's Eyes" | Season 2, episode 9; writer | ||
| "In The Game" | Season 2, episode 1; writer | ||
| 2001 | "Knock, Knock" | Season 1, episode 13; writer/director | |
| "An Open Book" | Season 1, episode 5; writer | ||
| "Pilot Pilot (Six Feet Under) "Pilot" is the original pilot episode of the American drama television series Six Feet Under. It premiered in the United States on the premium cable network HBO on June 3, 2001. The episode was written and directed by series creator Alan Ball.-Premise:On Christmas Eve 2000, patriarch Nathaniel... " |
Season 1, episode 1; writer/director |
Film
| Year | Film | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Towelhead Towelhead (film) Towelhead is a 2007 black comedy film written and directed by Alan Ball and based on Alicia Erian's novel of the same name. The film made its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival on September 8, 2007 under the name Nothing is Private... |
Writer/director |
| 1999 | American Beauty American Beauty (film) American Beauty is a 1999 American drama film directed by Sam Mendes and written by Alan Ball. Kevin Spacey stars as Lester Burnham, a middle-aged magazine writer who has a midlife crisis when he becomes infatuated with his teenage daughter's best friend, Angela... |
Writer/co-producer |
Awards and nominations
Awards- 2000 Academy Award for Best Original ScreenplayAcademy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay)The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best script not based upon previously published material. Before 1940, there was an Academy Award for Best Story for writing. For 1940, it and the award in this article were separated into two awards. Beginning with the...
– American BeautyAmerican Beauty (film)American Beauty is a 1999 American drama film directed by Sam Mendes and written by Alan Ball. Kevin Spacey stars as Lester Burnham, a middle-aged magazine writer who has a midlife crisis when he becomes infatuated with his teenage daughter's best friend, Angela... - 2000 Golden Globe AwardGolden Globe AwardThe Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
for Best Screenplay-Motion Picture – American Beauty - 2000 Writers Guild of America AwardWriters Guild of America AwardThe Writers Guild of America Award for outstanding achievements in film, television, and radio has been presented annually by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West since 1949...
for Best Original Screenplay – American Beauty - 2002 Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement – Six Feet Under
- 2002 Emmy AwardEmmy AwardAn Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series – Six Feet Under - 2004 Producers Guild of America AwardProducers Guild of America AwardThe Producers Guild of America Award was originally established in 1990 as the Golden Laurel Awards, created by PGA Treasurer Joel Freeman with the support of Guild President Leonard Stern, in order to honor the visionaries who produce and execute motion picture and television product...
for Dramatic Series – Six Feet Under
Nominations
- 2000 BAFTA Film Award – American Beauty
- 2002 Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement – Six Feet Under
- 2004 Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement – Six Feet Under
- 2006 Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series – Six Feet Under
- 2006 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series – Six Feet Under
- 2006 Writers Guild of America Award for Best Dramatic Series – Six Feet Under
- 2009 Writers Guild of America Award for Best New Series – True Blood
- 2010 Producers Guild of America Award for Dramatic Series – True Blood