Writer showrunner Glen Mazarra on development, NFTs as IP, and tools to deal with rejection
Glen Mazzara is the Creator, Executive Producer, and Showrunner of A&E’s new series, DAMIEN, based on the classic horror film, THE OMEN.
Mazzara was most recently Executive Producer and Showrunner for seasons two and three of AMC’s record-breaking series and AFI Top Ten TV Program (2012), THE WALKING DEAD. The series earned him two Saturn awards, a Bram Stoker award for Superior Achievement in a Screenplay for the season three finale as well as a Writer’s Guild of American nomination for his writing on season one.
Mazzara’s body of work includes AFI, Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning series THE SHIELD, for which he earned a Peabody Award, CBS’ NASH BRIDGES and NBC’s LIFE. He ran season two of TNT’s medical drama HAWTHORNE and created the series CRASH, the first scripted drama on STARZ.
On the feature side, Mazzara has written THE OVERLOOK HOTEL, a prequel to Stanley Kubrick’s classic film, THE SHINING. The film, which Mark Romanek is attached to direct, is currently in development.
An advocate and practitioner of diversity in front of the camera, in the director’s chair, and in the writers’ room, Mazzara is co-chair of the Writers Guild of America’s (WGA) Diversity Advisory Group and has been working to improve television employment opportunities for writers of diverse backgrounds.
Passionate about mentorship, Mazzara is a co-founder of the WGA Staff Writer Bootcamp and is a frequent speaker at the WGA, the Writers Guild Foundation, the WGA Showrunner Training Program, and the WGA Writers Access Project.
He has taught classes and seminars at colleges across the country and is a frequent speaker at professional conferences both in the U.S. and overseas. He is a proud member of his alma mater, New York University’s Mentoring Network and received their inaugural Mentor of the Year Award. He also gave the commencement speech to Tisch School of the Arts in 2013. Mazzara recently served as an advisor for the Sundance Institute’s Episodic Story Lab and is on the Board of Trustees for the Humanitas Prize.
Mazzara currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife and three sons.
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