Lawrence Konner


Lawrence Konner is an American screenwriter and television writer of shows such as Boardwalk Empire and The Sopranos.

Biography

Screenwriter

Konner was raised in a Jewish family. He began his career as a writer for television of the shows Little House on the Prairie, Family and Remington Steele.
Since then he has written episodes of the HBO series The Sopranos, one of which was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dramatic Writing. He was writer and co-executive producer for the HBO series Boardwalk Empire. Most recently, he has been a writer and co-executive producer of the series Magic City, which premiered in January 2012 on the Starz channel.
In collaboration with Konner's movie-writing partner Mark Rosenthal, the two men first worked together on the motion picture The Legend of Billie Jean. This was followed by the films The Jewel of the Nile, ', and ', as well as the rebooted versions of The Beverly Hillbillies, Mighty Joe Young and Planet of the Apes. Other screenplays include Mona Lisa Smile, Flicka, and Mercury Rising.

Documentaries produced and directed by Konner

In 1995, Konner produced and directed a documentary short, One Thing I Know, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, screened at the Cannes Film Festival, and won the Special Jury Prize at the USA Film Festival. In 2003, through his independent company, The Documentary Campaign, Konner produced Persons of Interest, a feature-length documentary about the illegal detentions of thousands of Muslims in the aftermath of September 11, which premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival and won the Amnesty International Humanitarian Award. In 2005, Konner produced the film Zizek!, a documentary which follows the philosopher Slavoj Žižek on a worldwide speaking tour.

Board of Directors of the Writers Guild of America

Konner was a member of the Board of Directors of The Writers Guild of America, and a former Creative Director at the Sundance Institute. He is a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Personal life

His first wife was Ronnie Wenker; they had two children Jennifer and Jeremy before divorcing. In 2006, he married jornalist and novelist Zoë Heller in a "minimally" Jewish ceremony; the couple had two daughters and separated in 2010.

Filmography