“I certainly feel fortunate in my career to have been able to continue to work in different mediums. I don't ever want to be the guy who gets really good at one thing and just does that over and over and over again.”

American writer and director, contemporary

Alan Erwin Ball is an American writer and director for film and television. He is best known for writing the screenplay for American Beauty (1999), which earned him the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Ball also created the HBO series Six Feet Under and True Blood, and served as an executive producer on Banshee. In addition to television, he wrote and directed the films Towelhead and Uncle Frank, showing a career that moves between sharp drama, dark humor, and family-centered stories.