Jason Katims
Jason Katims (born November 30, 1960) is an American television writer, producer, and playwright. He is best known as the creator of several television series, including Relativity (1996), Roswell (1999–2002), Friday Night Lights (2006–2011), Parenthood (2010–2015), About a Boy (2014–2015) and Rise (2018).
Jason Katims

Jason_Katims_PaleyFest_2013_-_2.jpg: Genevieve derivative work: CennoxX · This file was derived from: Jason Katims PaleyFest 2013 - 2.jpg · CC BY 2.0
- Name
- Jason Katims
- Born
- 30 November 1960
- Birthplace
- New York City, New York, U.S.
- Occupation
- Producer, screenwriter, playwright
- Spouse
- Kathy Katims
- Education
- Queens College
- Nationality
- United States
- Known for
- Roswell
- Honours
- Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q3162957 · wikipedia · Jason Katims
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Jason Katims • Born — 30 November 1960 • Birthplace — New York City, New York, U.S. • Occupation — Producer, screenwriter, playwright • Spouse — Kathy Katims • Notable Works — Roswell Friday Night Lights Parenthood About a Boy Almost Family • Children — 2 • Education — Queens College
Early life and family
Early life and family
Jason Katims was born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, and raised first in Crown Heights and later in Midwood. His father Robert Katims was an actor and a salesman; his mother Ruth Sandra Ohsie, an English and philosophy major, "did some teachings". His parents were "very politically active, very left-leaning." He has an older brother and sister. Before studying theater at Queens College in Queens, New York City, he graduated from Edward R. Murrow High School. He married his high school sweetheart; they have two children, Phoebe and Sawyer Katims.
Career
Career
Katims was a playwright in New York until director and producer Ed Zwick asked him if he wanted to write for television and films. In 1994, he wrote three episodes for the ABC teen drama My So-Called Life. He created Relativity in 1996 but the TV series was cancelled after 17 episodes. He subsequently created Roswell, which gained cult following. Katims worked on the NBC series Friday Night Lights as head writer and executive producer. He was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for Best New Series at the February 2007 ceremony for his work on the first season of Friday Night Lights. He was nominated for the WGA Award for Best Dramatic Series the following year at the February 2008 ceremony for his work on the second season of Friday Night Lights. Katims was nominated for Best Dramatic Series a second time at the February 2009 ceremony for his work on the third season of Friday Night Lights. He was nominated for the WGA Award for Best Drama Series for the third consecutive year at the February 2010 ceremony for his work on the fourth season. In 2011, he was honored by an award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series in Friday Night Lights. Katims is also the creator of and executive producer for another NBC series, Parenthood, based on the feature film of the same name and a short-lived TV series that followed; Katims' series debuted in 2010 and ended in 2015. Katims based that series' Max Braverman character on his life with his own son, who has Asperger syndrome. Katims developed About a Boy, a 2014 TV series based on the novel of the same name, for NBC. He has written a play, The Man Who Couldn't Dance and is a former member of Stagewrights, a playwriting collective in New York City. Katims also developed Almost Family, a 2019 TV series based on the Australian series Sisters, for Fox. On June 15, 2020, Katims is the writer of As We See It, based on Israeli series On the Spectrum for Amazon Prime Video. More recently, he signed a multi-year overall deal with Imagine Television.
Television
Television
The numbers in directing and writing credits refer to the number of episodes. • Title — Year — Credited as — Network — Notes • Creator — Director — Writer — Executive producer • My So-Called Life — 1994 — (3) — ABC — Story editor • Relativity — 1996 — (7) — co-executive — Pilot writer • Roswell — 1999–2002 — Developer — (17) — The WB • DeMarco Affairs — 2004 — ABC • Fertile Ground — 2005 — N/A • Pepper Dennis — 2006 — (2) — The WB • The Wedding Bells — 2007 — (1) — Fox • Friday Night Lights — 2006–2011 — (2) — (10) — NBC The 101 Network • Parenthood — 2010–2015 — Developer — (3) — (21) — NBC • About a Boy — 2014–2015 — Developer — (6) • The Path — 2016 — (1) • Pure Genius — 2016–2017 — (3) — CBS • Rise — 2018 — Developer — (5) — NBC • Almost Family — 2019–2020 — (2) — Fox • As We See It — 2022 — Developer — (3) — Amazon Prime Video • Dear Edward — 2023 — Apple TV+
Film
• The Pallbearer (1996) • The Vow (2012)
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Jason Katims”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q3162957: Jason Katims
Reputable secondary · Wikidata
scholarly publication
- Get to the Heart of Your Story Interview: Jason Katims— Parenthood, The TV Showrunner's Roadmap, 2013
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2013
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Jason Katims, revision 1372422171 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.[http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/223710/dream-team-to-produce-pilot-of-michael-sokoloves-drama-high Tablet Magazine: "Dream Team To Produce Pilot of Michael Sokolove’s ‘Drama High’ - Two Jewish producers—Jeffrey Seller of ‘Hamilton’ and Jason Katims of NBC’s ‘Friday Night Lights’—will help create a pilot for Sokolove’s critically-acclaimed book about high school theater in Levittown, PA" by Zoë Miller] retrieved October 22, 2017
- 2.Jason Katims - Biography. Yahoo! TV.
- 3.[http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a41871/jason-katims-profile/ Esquire: "The Cult of Jason Katims. The man behind Friday Night Lights and Parenthood has a gift for making men a little verklempt. It's made him a power in traditional TV. Now he's betting on something entirely different" By Mike Sager] March 30, 2016
- 4.Meyers, Lawrence. Inside the TV Writers' Room: Practical Advice for Succeeding in Television. Syracuse University Press. 82. June 2, 2010. 978-0-8156-3241-2.
- 5.Paskin, Willa. The Showrunner Transcript: Parenthood and Friday Night Lights' Jason Katims on Portraying Families Realistically. NY Mag. May 20, 2011.
- 6.TheWBAndrew. The WB Sessions With Jason Katims. March 11, 2001.
- 7.Blake, Meredith. With 'Rise,' Jason Katims brings Broadway drama to a small-town high school. Los Angeles Times. March 12, 2018.
- 8.Roswell interview with Jason Katims - Starting Out. BBC.
- 9.WGA. 2008 Writers Guild Awards Television & Radio Nominees Announced. 2007.
- 10.Perry, Byron. WGA announce TV, radio nominees. Variety. December 12, 2007.
- 11.D'Orio, Carl. HBO tops WGA awards list. The Hollywood Reporter. Associated Press. December 13, 2007.
- 12.2009 Writers Guild Awards Television, Radio, News, Promotional Writing, and Graphic Animation Nominees Announced. WGA.org. 2008.
- 13.Mitchell, Gregg. 2010 Writers Guild Awards Television, Radio, News, Promotional Writing, and Graphic Animation Nominees Announced. Writers Guild of America. 2009.
- 14.Coyle, Jake. At Emmy Awards, 'Friday Night Lights' finally punches through to the end zone. Winnipeg Free Press. Associated Press. September 19, 2011.
- 15.Rubino, Lindsay. Katims' 'Call' to Success. Broadcasting & Cable. May 5, 2011.
- 16.White, Peter. Jason Katim's Autism Comedy Drama, Based On Israel's 'On The Spectrum', Goes To Series At Amazon. Deadline Hollywood. June 15, 2020.
- 17.Cordero, Rosy. 'As We See It': Amazon Prime Video Reveals Title And First Look Photos Of Jason Katims Series. Deadline Hollywood. October 11, 2021.
- 18.Goldberg, Lesley. Jason Katims Reunites With 'Friday Night Lights' Producers Imagine TV. The Hollywood Reporter. August 4, 2022.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Get to the Heart of Your Story Interview: Jason Katims— Parenthood, The TV Showrunner's Roadmap, 2013Crossref registry
Institutional witnessreference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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