Alan Ball

Alan Erwin Ball (born May 13, 1957) is an American writer and director for film and television. Ball is best known for writing the screenplay for the dramedy film American Beauty, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay at the 72nd Academy Awards ceremony. He also created the HBO drama series Six Feet Under (2001–2005) and True Blood (2008–2014), and served as an executive producer on the Cinemax action drama series Banshee (2013–2016). He wrote and directed the films Towelhead (2007) and Uncle Frank (2020).

Early life Ball was born in Marietta, Georgia to Frank and Mary Ball, both of whom were aircraft inspectors. His older sister, Mary Ann, was killed in a car accident when Ball was 13; he was in the passenger seat at the time. He attended Marietta High School in Marietta, Georgia and went to college at the University of Georgia and Florida State University. Ball graduated from Florida State in 1980 with a degree in theater arts.

After college, Ball began work as a playwright at the General Nonsense Theater Company in Sarasota, Florida.

Career Ball broke into television as a writer and story editor on the sitcoms Grace Under Fire and Cybill.

Ball wrote two film scripts that ended up in development hell prior to American Beauty (1999). He won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for American Beauty. He has written two further films: Towelhead (2007) and Uncle Frank (2020), the latter of which he also produced and directed. He is also the creator, writer and executive producer of the HBO drama series Six Feet Under and True Blood. Ball was the showrunner for True Blood for its first five seasons.

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.

Ball was one of the executive producers of the Cinemax series Banshee.

In July 2016, it was announced that Ball's family drama Here and Now had been ordered to series by HBO. Starring Tim Robbins and Holly Hunter, the show was cancelled in April 2018 after one ten-episode season.

Personal life Ball has discussed his Buddhist faith in numerous interviews, noting how it has influenced his filmmaking. In an interview with Amazon.com, Ball commented on the plastic bag scene in American Beauty, 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 also discussed how his Buddhism shaped themes in Six Feet Under and True Blood.

Ball is gay 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.

Accolades For his work in television and film, Ball has received critical acclaim and numerous awards and nominations, including an Academy Award, an Emmy a Golden Globe, and awards from the Writers, Directors, and Producers Guilds.

Awards for American Beauty 2000 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay 2000 Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay 2000 Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay for Six Feet Under 2002 Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Drama Series 2002 Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series 2004 Producers Guild of America Award for Dramatic Series

Nominations for American Beauty 2000 BAFTA Film Award for Best Original Screenplay for Six Feet Under 2002 Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement 2004 Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement 2006 Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series 2006 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series 2006 Writers Guild of America Award for Best Dramatic Series for True Blood 2009 Writers Guild of America Award for Best New Series 2010 Producers Guild of America Award for Dramatic Series

Works

Television + Grace Under Fire Title Year Credit Notes "The Road to Paris, Texas" 1994 "Grace vs. Wade" 1994 Writer "A Night at the Opera" 1995 Writer "Memphis Bound" 1995 Writer, with Marc Flanagan

+ Cybill Title Year Credit Notes "Zing!" 1995 Teleplay, with Lee Aronsohn "To Sir, with Lust" 1996 Writer "Three Women and a Dummy" 1996 Writer "Venice or Bust" 1996 Writer "Buffalo Gals" 1996 Writer "Name That Tune" 1997 Teleplay, with Michael Langworthy "Mother's Day" 1997 Story "Regarding Henry" 1997 Story Season 4 premiere "Halloween" 1997 Teleplay, with Mark Hudis "Where's a Harpoon When You Need One?" 1997 Teleplay, with Kim Friese "Bakersfield" 1998 Story "Oh Brother!" 1998 Teleplay, with Mark Hudis "Dream Date" 1998 Story

+ Oh, Grow Up Title Year Credit Notes "Pilot" 1999 Writer Series premiere "Good Pop, Bad Pop" 1999 Writer

+ Six Feet Under Title Year Credit Notes "Pilot" 2001 Series premiere "An Open Book" 2001 Writer "Knock Knock" 2001 Season 1 finale "In The Game" 2002 Writer Season 2 premiere "Someone Else's Eyes" 2002 Writer "The Last Time" 2002 Director Season 2 finale "Perfect Circles" 2003 Writer Season 3 premiere "Nobody Sleeps" 2003 Writer, withRick Cleveland "I'm Sorry, I'm Lost" 2003 Director Season 3 finale "Can I Come Up Now?" 2004 Writer "Untitled" 2004 Director Season 4 finale "Everyone's Waiting" 2005 Series finale

+ True Blood Title Year Credit Notes "Strange Love" 2008 Series premiere "The First Taste" 2008 Writer "Mine" 2008 Writer "You'll Be the Death of Me" 2008 Director Season 1 finale "Shake and Fingerpop" 2009 Writer "Frenzy" 2009 Writer "I Got a Right to Sing the Blues" 2010 Writer "Evil is Going On" 2010 Writer Season 3 finale "If You Love Me, Why Am I Dyin'?" 2011 Writer "Spellbound" 2011 Writer "Hopeless" 2012 Writer "Save Yourself" 2012 Writer Season 5 finale

+Here and Now Title Year Credit Notes "Eleven Eleven" 2018 Series premiere "It's Coming" 2018 Writer "It's Here" 2018 Writer

Film + Title Year Credit Notes American Beauty 1999 Towelhead 2007 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks 2017 Television film Uncle Frank 2020

Theatre + Title Year Credit Notes Five Women Wearing the Same Dress 1993 All That I Will Ever Be 2007