Tom Fontana

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Tom Fontana (born September 12, 1951) is an American screenwriter, writer, and television producer. Fontana worked on NBC's Homicide: Life on the Street and created HBO's Oz.<ref name=deadline>Template:Cite news</ref>

Early life and education

Fontana was born on the west side of Buffalo, New York, and is the fourth of five children in an Italian-American family;<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> he is a cousin of actress Patti LuPone. He attended Cathedral School, Canisius High School, and Buffalo State College. He worked at the Studio Arena Theater in Buffalo in various capacities before moving to New York City in 1973. <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Career

Television

Having started out as a playwright, Fontana was hired by Bruce Paltrow as a writer for St. Elsewhere. Fontana has been the creator/showrunner for Oz, Copper, The Jury, The Beat, The Bedford Diaries, The Philanthropist, Monsieur Spade and he was also the showrunner on Homicide: Life on the Street and City on a Hill.

Fontana wrote the HBO film Strip Search, directed by Sidney Lumet, and contributed two pieces to the September 11 special, America: A Tribute to Heroes. He was the executive producer of American Tragedy for CBS, Shot in the Heart for HBO Films, the independent film Jean, and the documentary The Press Secretary for PBS. Fontana also created the historical drama TV series Borgia for the French premium-pay channel Canal+, produced by Atlantique Productions and EOS Entertainment. The series recounts the Borgia family's rise to power and subsequent domination of the Vatican during the Renaissance. Fontana also co-created Copper, an 1860s police procedural set in the turbulent Five Points neighborhood of New York.

Fontana has received three Emmy Awards, four Peabody Awards, three Writers' Guild Awards, four Television Critics Association Awards, the Cable Ace Award, the Humanitas Prize, an Edgar Award, and the first prize at the Cinéma Tout Ecran Festival in Switzerland. In 2003, Fontana was the recipient of the Austin Film Festival's Outstanding Television Writer Award.

Articles

Fontana has written articles for such periodicals as The New York Times, TV Guide, and Esquire, and has taught at Columbia, Syracuse, Rutgers, and the State University College at Buffalo, his alma mater, from which he received the Distinguished Alumni Award and an honorary Doctorate of Letters.

Plays

Fontana has had numerous plays produced in New York City, where he lives, and at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater, the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, the Buffalo Studio Arena Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and McCarter Theatre Company.

Podcasts

Fontana wrote, directed and produced the podcast Sugarland for Audible.

Personal life

Fontana was married to actress Sagan Lewis for 12 years until their divorce in 1993.<ref name=deadline/> Sagan and Fontana remarried on July 10, 2015, and remained together until her death on August 7, 2016.<ref name=deadline/><ref>https://www.facebook.com/tom.fontana.1238?fref=ts Template:User-generated source</ref>

Fontana has a tattoo of the Oz logo on his upper right arm, which he is shown receiving in the opening credits of the series.<ref name=great>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Fontana does not own or use a computer, and writes all of his scripts longhand on a yellow legal pad.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Membership

He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Producers Guild of America, and the Writers Guild of America, East, from which he received the Evelyn F. Burkey Award for lifetime achievement. Fontana served as vice president of the Writers Guild of America, East from 2005 to 2007. He is president emeritus of the WGAE Foundation, commonly known as the Writers Guild Initiative, and serves on the boards of the Acting Company, the Williamstown Theatre Festival, DEAL, the New York City Police Museum, and Stockings with Care, among others.

Detective Joe Fontana, Dennis Farina's character on Law & Order, was named for Tom Fontana, who became close friends with Law & Order creator Dick Wolf while working as writers in the same building, at the same time, on the series St. Elsewhere (Fontana) and Hill Street Blues (Wolf).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Filmography

Film

Year Title Credited as Notes
Writer Producer
1985 The Fourth Wise Man Template:Yes Template:Yes
1993 New Year Template:Yes Template:Yes
1996 The Prosecutors Template:Yes Template:Yes
1997 Firehouse Template:Yes Template:Yes
2000 Homicide: The Movie Template:Yes Template:Yes
2004 Judas Template:Yes Template:Yes
2004 Strip Search Template:Yes Template:Yes

Television

Year<ref>Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.</ref> Title Network Credited as Notes
Creator Writer Producer
1982-1988 St. Elsewhere NBC Template:No Template:Yes Template:Yes
1988-1999 Tattingers NBC Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Co-created with Bruce Paltrow and John Masius
1992 Home Fires NBC Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Co-created alongside Bruce Paltrow and John Tinker
1993-1999 Homicide: Life on the Street NBC Template:No Template:Yes Template:Yes Showrunner
1997-2003 Oz HBO Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Creator/Showrunner
2000 The Beat UPN Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Creator/Showrunner
2004 The Jury Fox Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Co-created alongside Barry Levinson and James Yoshimura/Showrunner
2009 The Philanthropist NBC Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Co-created alongside Charlie Corbin and Jim Juvonen /Showrunner
2012-2013 Copper BBC America Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Co-created with Will Rokos/Showrunner
2011-2014 Borgia Canal+ Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Creator/Showrunner
2019-2022 City on a Hill Showtime Template:No Template:No Template:Yes Showrunner
2024 Monsieur Spade<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

AMC & Canal+ Template:Yes Template:Yes Template:Yes Co-creator/Co-showrunner with Scott Frank

References

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