Alan Ball: Conversations

by Thomas Fahy (Editor)

Overview

Alan Ball: Conversations features interviews that span Alan Ball's entire career and include detailed observations and insights into his Academy Award-winning film American Beauty and Emmy Award-winning television shows Six Feet Under and True Blood. Ball began his career as a playwright in New York, and his work soon caught the attention of Hollywood television producers. After writing for the sitcoms Grace Under Fire and Cybill, Ball turned his attention to the screenplay that would become American Beauty. The critical success of this film opened up exciting possibilities for him in the realm of television. He created the critically acclaimed show Six Feet Under, and after the series finale, he decided to explore the issue of American bigotry toward the Middle East in his 2007 play, All That I Will Ever Be, and the film Towelhead, which he adapted and directed in the same year. Ball returned to television once again with the series True Blood-an adaptation of the humorous, entertaining, and erotic world of Charlaine Harris's vampire novels. In 2012 Ball announced that he would step down as executive producer of True Blood, in part, to produce both a new television series and his latest screenplay, What's the Matter with Margie?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781617038778
Publisher:	University Press of Mississippi
Publication date:	08/23/2013
Series:	Television Conversations Series
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Thomas Fahy, New York, New York, is associate professor of English and director of American studies at Long Island University, C. W. Post Campus. He is the author of Staging Modern American Life: Popular Culture in the Experimental Theatre of Millay, Cummings, and Dos Passos and editor of Considering Alan Ball: Essays on Death, Sexuality, and the American Dream, as well as several other books.

Table of Contents

Introduction vii

Chronology xii

Works for Theater, Film, and Television xiv

American Beauty: An Interview with Alan Ball Peter N. Chumo II/2000 3

American Beauty Screenwriter Alan Ball Conducts Case Study at the IFP/West Screenwriters Conference Susan Royal/2000 14

Gaywatch: Alan Ball Goes Six Feet Under Christine Champagne/2001 37

Big Mind, Small Screen: Six Feet Under's Alan Ball Jeff Greenwald/2004 41

Alan Ball: Six Feet Under Anna Carugati/2004 46

Considering Alan Ball: An Interview Thomas Fahy/2005 50

Fresh Air Interview with Alan Ball: A Six Feet Under Postmortem Terry Gross/2005 55

Sexual Politics and Awakenings in Towelhead Cynthia Lucia/2008 62

A Big Messy Place: Alan Ball on Towelhead K.J. doughton/2008 74

Fresh Air Interview with Alan Ball: Talking True Blood and Towelhead Terry Gross/2008 84

Life and Death, Drama and Humor, Join Hands Kinney Littlefield/2011 97

Excerpt from Interview with Alan Ball: True Blood and Beyond Nancy Harrington/2011 105

Alan Ball in Conversation with Alan Brough Alan Brough/2011 115

Index 131