Eric Overmyer
Encyclopedia
Eric Overmyer is a 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
, and Treme
.
in 1973. He credits his time at the college for helping him find and claim his identity as a writer.
Overmyer joined the crew of The Wire as a consulting producer and writer for the fourth season
in 2006. He had previously worked with series creator David Simon
on Homicide: Life on the Street where the two became friends. 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. Overmyer lives part-time in New Orleans and used his experience in navigating the "ornate oral tradition" of the city's stories. The show focuses on a working class neighborhood and is smaller in scope than The Wire. Production for the first season began in November 2009.
have been published by Broadway Play Publishing Inc.
and include:
St. Elsewhere
St. Elsewhere is an American medical drama television series that originally ran on NBC from October 26, 1982 to May 25, 1988. The series is set at fictional St. Eligius, a decaying urban teaching hospital in Boston's South End neighborhood...
, Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: Life on the Street is an American police procedural television series chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Homicide Unit. It ran for seven seasons on NBC from 1993 to 1999, and was succeeded by a TV movie, which also acted as the de-facto series finale...
, Law & Order
Law & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...
, The Wire
The Wire (TV series)
The Wire is an American television drama series set and produced in and around Baltimore, Maryland. Created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon, the series was broadcast by the premium cable network HBO in the United States...
, New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam (TV series)
New Amsterdam is an American television drama, which premiered March 4, 2008 on Fox, and ended after its eighth episode.-Premise and plot:...
, and Treme
Treme (TV series)
Treme is an American television drama series created by David Simon and Eric Overmyer that premiered on April 11, 2010 on HBO. It takes its name from Tremé, a neighborhood of New Orleans...
.
Biography
He graduated as a theater major from Reed CollegeReed College
Reed College is a private, independent, liberal arts college located in southeast Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus located in Portland's Eastmoreland neighborhood, featuring architecture based on the Tudor-Gothic style, and a forested canyon wilderness...
in 1973. He credits his time at the college for helping him find and claim his identity as a writer.
Overmyer joined the crew of The Wire as a consulting producer and writer for the fourth season
The Wire (season 4)
The fourth season of the television series The Wire commenced airing in the United States on September 10, 2006, concluded on December 10, 2006, and contained 13 episodes...
in 2006. He had previously worked with series creator David Simon
David Simon
David Simon is an American author, journalist, and a writer/producer of television series. He worked for the Baltimore Sun City Desk for twelve years. He wrote Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets and co-wrote The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood with Ed Burns...
on Homicide: Life on the Street where the two became friends. Overmyer wrote the teleplays for the episodes "Margin of Error
Margin of Error (The Wire episode)
"Margin of Error" is the sixth episode of the fourth season of the HBO original series The Wire. Written by Eric Overmyer from a story by Ed Burns & Eric Overmyer, and directed by Dan Attias, it originally aired on October 15, 2006.-Title reference:...
" and "Misgivings
Misgivings
"Misgivings" is the tenth episode of the fourth season of the HBO original series The Wire. Written by Ed Burns from a story by Ed Burns & Eric Overmyer, and directed by Ernest Dickerson, it originally aired on November 19, 2006.-Title reference:...
". from stories he co-wrote with producer Ed Burns
Ed Burns
Ed Burns is a producer, screenwriter, and novelist. He has worked closely with writing partner David Simon. They have collaborated on The Corner and The Wire . Burns is a former Baltimore police detective for the Homicide and Narcotics divisions, and a public school teacher...
. Overmyer was hired to replace George Pelecanos
George Pelecanos
George P. Pelecanos is a Greek-American author. Many of his works are in the genre of detective fiction and set primarily in his hometown of Washington, D.C. He is also a film and television producer and a television writer...
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
Jimmy McNulty
Detective James "Jimmy" McNulty is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by British actor Dominic West. McNulty is an Irish American detective in the Baltimore Police Department...
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
Writers Guild of America Award
The 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 Dramatic Series at the February 2008 ceremony
Writers Guild of America Awards 2007
The 60th Writers Guild of America Awards honored the best film, television, and videogame writers of 2007. Winners were announced on February 9, 2008.-Best Adapted Screenplay:...
and the 2007 Edgar Award
Edgar Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...
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
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
New Orleans. Overmyer lives part-time in New Orleans and used his experience in navigating the "ornate oral tradition" of the city's stories. The show focuses on a working class neighborhood and is smaller in scope than The Wire. Production for the first season began in November 2009.
Published plays
His playsPlay (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
have been published by Broadway Play Publishing Inc.
Broadway Play Publishing Inc.
Broadway Play Publishing Inc, along with Dramatists Play Service, Playscripts, Inc., and Samuel French Inc., is one of the four major New York play publishers and licensors of stage rights...
and include:
- Alki (adaption of Peer GyntPeer GyntPeer Gynt is a five-act play in verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen, loosely based on the fairy tale Per Gynt. It is the most widely performed Norwegian play. According to Klaus Van Den Berg, the "cinematic script blends poetry with social satire and realistic scenes with surreal ones"...
by Henrik IbsenHenrik IbsenHenrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
) - AmphitryonAmphitryonAmphitryon , in Greek mythology, was a son of Alcaeus, king of Tiryns in Argolis.Amphitryon was a Theban general, who was originally from Tiryns in the eastern part of the Peloponnese. He was friends with Panopeus....
(adaption of the play by GiraudouxJean GiraudouxHippolyte Jean Giraudoux was a French novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright. He is considered among the most important French dramatists of the period between World War I and World War II. His work is noted for its stylistic elegance and poetic fantasy...
and von KleistHeinrich von KleistBernd Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist was a poet, dramatist, novelist and short story writer. The Kleist Prize, a prestigious prize for German literature, is named after him.- Life :...
respectively) - Dark Rapture
- Don Quixote de La Jolla
- Figaro/FigaroFigaro-Literature:* Figaro, the central character in:** The Barber of Seville by Beaumarchais***Il barbiere di Siviglia , the opera by Paisiello based on Beaumarchais' play...
- The Heliotrope Bouquet by Scott JoplinScott JoplinScott Joplin was an American composer and pianist. Joplin achieved fame for his ragtime compositions, and was later dubbed "The King of Ragtime". During his brief career, Joplin wrote 44 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas...
and Louis ChauvinLouis ChauvinLouis Chauvin was an American ragtime musician.Born in St. Louis, Missouri of a Mexican Spanish-Indian father and an African American mother, he was widely considered the finest pianist in the St. Louis area at the turn of the century... - In a Pig's Valise
- In Perpetuity Throughout the Universe
- Mi Vida Loca
- Native Speech
- On the Verge
Awards
| Year | Award | Category | Result | Work | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Writers Guild of America Award Writers Guild of America Award The 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... |
Outstanding Dramatic Series | The Wire The WIRE the WIRE is the student-run College radio station at the University of Oklahoma, broadcasting in a freeform format. The WIRE serves the University of Oklahoma and surrounding communities, and is staffed by student DJs. The WIRE broadcasts at 1710 kHz AM in Norman, Oklahoma... season 4 The Wire (season 4) The fourth season of the television series The Wire commenced airing in the United States on September 10, 2006, concluded on December 10, 2006, and contained 13 episodes... |
Shared with Ed Burns Ed Burns Ed Burns is a producer, screenwriter, and novelist. He has worked closely with writing partner David Simon. They have collaborated on The Corner and The Wire . Burns is a former Baltimore police detective for the Homicide and Narcotics divisions, and a public school teacher... , Chris Collins Chris Collins (writer) Chris Collins is an American television writer and producer. He has worked on the HBO dramas The Sopranos and The Wire. He was an executive story editor for the Starz drama series Crash. He is a producer and writer for the FX series Sons of Anarchy.-Biography:Collins joined the crew of The Wire in... , Kia Corthron Kia Corthron Kia Corthron is an American playwright, activist, and television writer. She wrote an episode of The Wire entitled, "Know Your Place", as well as an episode of The Jury called, "Lamentation on the Reservation".-Biography:... , Dennis Lehane Dennis Lehane Dennis Lehane is an American author. He has written several award-winning novels, including A Drink Before the War and the New York Times bestseller Mystic River, which was later made into an Academy Award-winning film. Another novel, Gone, Baby, Gone, was also adapted into an Academy... , David Mills David Mills (writer) David Eugene Mills was an American journalist, writer and producer of television programs. He was an executive producer and writer of the HBO miniseries The Corner, for which he won two Emmy Awards, and the creator, executive producer, and writer of the NBC miniseries Kingpin.-Early life:Mills was... , George Pelecanos George Pelecanos George P. Pelecanos is a Greek-American author. Many of his works are in the genre of detective fiction and set primarily in his hometown of Washington, D.C. He is also a film and television producer and a television writer... , Richard Price Richard Price Richard Price was a British moral philosopher and preacher in the tradition of English Dissenters, and a political pamphleteer, active in radical, republican, and liberal causes such as the American Revolution. He fostered connections between a large number of people, including writers of the... , David Simon David Simon David Simon is an American author, journalist, and a writer/producer of television series. He worked for the Baltimore Sun City Desk for twelve years. He wrote Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets and co-wrote The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood with Ed Burns... and William F. Zorzi William F. Zorzi William F. Zorzi is an American journalist and screenwriter. He worked at The Baltimore Sun for almost twenty years and covered politics for the majority of his career. He has also written for the HBO television series The Wire.-Journalism:... |
|
| 2007 | Edgar Award Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America... |
Best Television Feature/Mini-Series Teleplay | Shared with Ed Burns, Kia Corthron, Dennis Lehane, David Mills, George Pelecanos, Richard Price, David Simon and William F. Zorzi | ||