ACHIEVEMENT IN WRITING: FRANK PIERSON

Frank Pierson is a screenwriter and director. He recently completed his four year term as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

A former Time magazine correspondent, Frank Pierson began his screen career as a story editor (and later producer-director) on the popular CBS TV series Have Gun Will Travel in the early 1960s. He also wrote for Studio One, Alcoa Goodyear Theatre, Route 66 and Naked City during the so-called 'Golden Age of Television'.

Pierson's first feature screenplay as co-writer was Cat Ballou (1965) which earned him an Oscar nomination, and he won an Oscar for his finely observed solo script for Sidney Lumet's Dog Day Afternoon (1975). Other collaborations include the classic individual-against-the-unjust-prison-system drama, Cool Hand Luke (1967, which also netted him an Oscar nod), as well as adaptations of Scott Turow's bestseller Presumed Innocent (1990) and Bobbie Ann Mason's novel In Country (1989).

Pierson made his feature directorial debut with The Looking Glass War (1970) and subsequently helmed the 1976 Barbra Streisand-Kris Kristofferson remake of A Star Is Born as well as King Of The Gypsies (1978), all of which he also scripted.

In the 90s, Pierson found a home on the small screen, helming a series of well-reviewed, award-winning cable films ranging from biopics (1992's Citizen Cohn and 1995's Truman, both for HBO) as well the First Amendment drama Dirty Pictures (Showtime, 2000). In 2001, he earned acclaim for Conspiracy (HBO), the highly dramatic re-enactment of the secret Wannsee Conference that led to the Nazi plan for the extermination of all Jews in Europe. Conspiracy won him the Directors’ Guild award for Best Direcion of a television movie, an Emmy nomination and a Peabody award. He is currently writing an adaptation of Mrs. Ivanova’s Charm School, a cold war thriller for Kennedy Marshall Films.

He has been twice president of the Writers Guild of America and is deeply involved in issues of copyright and the moral rights of artists as well as their economic welfare.

He serves as Distinguished Filmmaker in residence at the American Film Institute Conservatory and is a member of the AFI Board of Trustees.

Career Highlights

Film
Cat Ballou (1965) / Oscar Nomination
Cool Hand Luke (1967) / Oscar Nomination
Dog Day Afternoon (1975) / Oscar Win
In Country (1989)
Presumed Innocent (1990)
The Looking Glass War (1970)
A Star Is Born (1976)
King of the Gypsies (1978)

Television
Have Gun, Will Travel (1959-1960)
Route 66 (1963)
Citizen Cohn (1992, HBO) / Emmy Nomination
Truman (1995, HBO)
Dirty Pictures (2000, Showtime)
Conspiracy (2001, HBO) / Emmy Nomination
Soldier's Girl (2003) / Emmy Nomination

Other Awards & Honors
President, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Director's Guild Award - Best Director, Television Movie
President, Writers Guild of America (two terms)
Distinguished Filmmaker in Residence, American Film Institute