Oh, technology: Today I officially end any ties whatsoever to academia by putting on this wacky silver gown and going to my convocation. What’s more, my university is doing a live webcast of the ceremony. From 10am to 8pm (my specific ceremony is at 3pm), you (and by you I mean my mother) can watch hours and hours of people’s names being called out and their subsequent walks across the stage, including my own. And to top that off: While I was definitely keeping fingers crossed for Oprah, Rene Balcer is getting an honorary doctorate at the ceremony. Who you ask? Not only the SHOWRUNNER for Law & Order: Criminal Intent, but he also wrote episodes of Star Trek: The Generation! And today, he will inspire me, and – thanks to the glory of the internet – you.
Rene Balcer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rene Balcer (born 1954) is an Emmy-Award winning Canadian television writer and producer.
He was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and attended the Lower Canada College in Montreal. He earned his B.A. in Communication Studies from Concordia University in 1978. He began his career as a journalist, covering the Yom Kippur War as a cameraman. He later worked as a reporter and editor for various Canadian publications, and made documentary films for the National Film Board of Canada. In 1980, he moved to Los Angeles, where he collaborated with the cult film director Monte Hellman on a number of film projects. He later worked for a variety of notable film producers including Francis Coppola, Steven Tisch and Mace Neufeld. In 1990, he wrote his first television project for Steve Tisch, the MOW “Out On The Edge”.
He is most noted for his writing and production work for the successful, Emmy Award-winning television series Law & Order, and for creating its spin-off series Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Balcer has received four Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America, three for his writing for Law & Order, and a fourth for Law & Order: Criminal Intent. He also wrote for the series Star Trek: The Next Generation’, and has penned three made-for-television movies, one of which “Out On The Edge” (1990) won the American Psychological Association Award for best television program.
Balcer won an Emmy in 1997 as Executive Producer of “Law & Order.” He has also won a Peabody Award, a Writers Guild Award for his television writing, two Silver Gavel Awards from the American Bar Association, a Career Award from the Reims International Television Festival, a Career Angie Award from the International Mystery Writers Festival, and a Maggie from Planned Parenthood for his teleplay “The Third Horseman”. In 2004, he was awarded the Alumnus of the Year from Concordia University.
He was showrunner for Law & Order: Criminal Intent through the fifth season. In March of 2007, Balcer returned to “Law & Order” at the end of its 17th season as executive producer and head writer. He has continued on as showrunner for the show’s 18th and 19th seasons. He is currently writing a four-hour miniseries about the Sixties in conjunction with George Clooney’s Smokehouse Productions and the A & E Network.
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