Joshua Brand & John Falsey To Receive WGA Paddy Chayefsky Award For TV
Joshua Brand and John Falsey, who co-created hit TV series including Northern Exposure, St. Elsewhere and I’ll Fly Away, have been awarded the WGA West‘s 2013 Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television. The honor, the guild’s lifetime achievement award for outstanding television writing, will be bestowed February 17 during the WGA Awards‘ West Coast ceremony at the JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. LIVE. “Writers Joshua Brand and John Falsey’s have left an indelible imprint on the television landscape, co-creating some of TV’s most enduring, memorable series that have both entertained and moved a generation of viewers”, said WGAW president Christopher Keyser. “Defined by an expert blend of sharp observation, dry wit, and honest emotion, their work is, like a singer with a five-octave range, breathtaking in its scope and its power. Together, Brand and Falsey have created an enviable legacy that both veteran and up-and-coming writers can aspire to match”.
Brand and Falsey launched their careers writing for the high school sports drama The White Shadow, then teamed co-create the medical drama St. Elsewhere, which explored the personal and professional lives of the colorful staff at Boston’s St. Eligius Hospital. The show received multiple Emmy, WGA, Humanitas Prize, and Peabody Awards during its run. In the mid-1980s, they developed the epic adventure series Amazing Stories with director-producer Steven Spielberg and served as supervising producers for the show’s first season, co-writing several episodes. Later in the decade, they co-created and executive produced the family drama A Year In The Life. In 1990, the pair co-created and executive produced the offbeat comedy Northern Exposure, which earned six Emmys (including Outstanding Drama Series), two Peabodys, two Golden Globes, and a PGA Television Producer of the Year Award over its five-season run.
In the early ’90s, the team co-created and executive produced I’ll Fly Away, which earned three Emmys. Currently, Brand is serving as a consultant on the FX series The Americans, as well as writing a one-hour FX pilot, Lords Of The Sunset Strip, focusing on L.A.’s ’70s club scene. Among Falsey’s recent projects, he wrote a pilot script Jaynie for HBO in 2011.
Past TV Laurel Award recipients include Steven Bochco, Susan Harris, Stephen J. Cannell, David Chase, Larry David, Diane English, and most recently Marshall Herskovitz & Ed Zwick.
Related stories
‘Breaking Bad’ & ‘Modern Family’ Dominate 2013 Writers Guild Awards TV Nominations
OSCARS: Awards Season Frenzy Hits Pinnacle At WGA and ACE; End In Sight
Get more from Deadline.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter
