Writers

Kirk Ellis won two Primetime Emmys, a Golden Globe, a WGA Award, a Peabody and the Humanitas Prize for his work on the HBO miniseries John Adams. The miniseries won a record breaking 13 Emmys in total, as well as four Golden Globes. Previously, Ellis received an Emmy nomination and won the WGA Award and Humanitas Prize for the ABC miniseries Anne Frank, which he wrote and co-produced. His miniseries Into the West, Life with Judy Garland and The Beach Boys: An American Family, all received multiple Emmy nominations. For HBO/Playtone, Ellis is currently adapting David McCullough’s 1776. Upcoming feature projects include the Mormon polygamy drama Escape, to star Katherine Heigl. Other projects include The Teapot Dome Scandal, for AMC/DreamWorks, and miniseries for Robert Halmi/ABC depicting the true story of the Von Trapp Family made famous in The Sound of Music. A graduate of the University of Southern California’s School of Cinema and Television, Ellis began his professional career as a film critic for The Hollywood Reporter. In 1985, at the age of 24, he was named the trade paper’s international editor — the youngest journalist ever to serve in the post. In 1992 he was named editor in chief of the London-based European trade magazine, Moving Pictures, and simultaneously formed Shadow Catcher Productions, an independent production banner under which Ellis develops his own indie features and documentaries. Ellis made his feature film debut writing and co-producing The Grass Harp, based on the coming-of-age novel by Truman Capote. He also has collaborated on projects with such esteemed directors as Francis Ford Coppola, Roland Joffe and William Friedkin. He has been a member of the Writers peer group since 2008.