Will Scheffer

Will Scheffer
Born (1969-09-21) September 21, 1969 (age 55)
EducationState University of New York, Purchase (BFA)
Occupation(s)Producer, Playwright
Notable workBig Love, Getting On
SpouseMark V. Olsen

Will Scheffer is an American playwright, and was co-creator and executive producer of the television series Big Love and the American remake of Getting On with longtime life partner Mark V. Olsen. He is President and CEO of Anima Sola Productions, which he founded with Olsen in 1992 to create television and film content.

His writing credits include Big Love: In the Beginning, Ellis Island,[citation needed] Duck Town, Easter, In the Gloaming, The Pact, Citizen Baines, and Getting On.[1]

Life

Family

Scheffer's father, Ben, was a Holocaust survivor,[2] who emigrated from the Netherlands through Ellis Island in 1941. His mother, Sandra, was the daughter of Jews who fled Russia in 1916.[3]

Education

Scheffer attended State University of New York at Purchase where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honors in Theater.[citation needed]

Career

In 1997, Scheffer received the Variety magazine "One of the Rising Writers to Watch" award. He has also taught and lectured at Bernard M. Baruch College, Lewis and Clark College and School of Visual Arts, Manhattan, New York City.

Personal life

Scheffer is openly gay; he and Olsen have been married to each other since the early 1990s.[4][5] About their collaborative process, Scheffer said: "Mark and I talk everything through but don't actually write together. We take turns on drafts, passing them back and forth for multiple revisions. Sometimes I'll write the first draft and he'll revise and sometimes he'll write the first draft. On set it's looser and we'll have to revise together but we prefer to actually write in our own space. The 'fantasy' image of having desks facing each other and tossing lines back and forth doesn't work for us."[6]

Works

  • Scheffer, Will (1999). Falling Man, and Other Monologues. New York: Dramatists Play Service. ISBN 082221668X. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  • Scheffer, Will (1999). Easter. New York, NY: Dramatists Play Service. ISBN 0822216671. Retrieved 2 January 2018.

References

  1. ^ Will Scheffer at IMDb
  2. ^ Bellafante, Ginia (13 August 2011). "A Word With: Will Scheffer; Returning to Theater To Explore the Past". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  3. ^ Scheffer, Will (12 November 2017). "Ben came thru "Ellis Island" in 1941". Twitter. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  4. ^ Gross, Terry (1 August 2007), "Mark Olsen and Will Scheffer, Feeling the Big Love", Fresh Air, retrieved 2 January 2014
  5. ^ Lattin, Don (10 June 2007), "Gay monogamous couple are brains behind polygamy show", San Francisco Chronicle, retrieved 2 January 2014
  6. ^ Kouguell, Susan (2 January 2014). "Interview with Will Scheffer: HBO's Getting On Co-Creator, Co-Executive, Producer and Writer". IndieWire. Retrieved 2 January 2018.