Rene Balcer Biography, Life, Interesting Facts

Rene Balcer is a television writer, director, producer, and showrunner.

Early Life

Rene Balcer was born on February 9, 1954, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He is a Canadian national.

Education

Rene studied in the Lower Canada College in Montreal. He joined the Concordia University to study creative writing under the guidance of poet Deborah Eibel. He obtained his graduation in BA Magna Cum Laude in Communication Studies in 1978. In 2018, Rene got an honorary Doctorate of Laws (LLD) from Concordia University.

Career

As a student, Rene Balcer attended a seminar with Jean-Luc Godard and worked as a personal assistant of John Huston during the shooting of the movie Angela. Rene started his career as a journalist, took pictures of Yom Kippur War. He then took up the assignments of reporter, editor and movie reviewer. He produced a film at the National Film Board of Canada.

In 1980, Rene shifted to Los Angeles. In 1989, he scripted the debut television project, Out on the Edge for Steve Tisch. He was the executive director of many television series, such as Law and Order, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Star Trek: The Next Generation.

He authored three television movies. His TV movie, Out on the Edge achieved the American Psychological Association Award of Excellence. He continued his work on TV showrunner.

In 2012, Rene Balcer made a series entitled Jo, a cop drama in Paris featuring Jean Reno, Jill Hennessy, Tom Austen, and Orla Brady. In 2013, Rene produced the series, The Ordained. He continued the show running activities through 2007 to 2013.

Rene turned the poem ‘Backbone’ into melancholy song. He also made a film publication Xu Bing’s Tobacco Project: Virginia (2011).

In 2006, Rene Balcer gave many of his collections to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. In 2010, Rene sponsored writing of index of works of Chinese during the Cultural Revolution. He and his wife Carolyn organized an exhibition Blooming in the Shadows: Unofficial Chinese Art 1974-1985 at New York.

In 2011, Rene’s company, Mattawin published a book of photographs by Ai Weiwei and another exhibition in 2014, Museum of Chinese in America.

He has written essays to many journals. He has given seminars in colleges in the US, Canada, Tokyo and Brisbane about writing, art and duties of artists in free societies.

Rene has participated in the production of some films

Rene Balcer has served as the jury at Monte-Carlo Television Festival and Shanghai Television Festival.

Awards

Rene Balcer has been awarded 7 Emmy Awards from 1994 to 2000, Two Writers Guild of America (1998,2000), Peabody Award (1997), Golden Globes (1998,1999), Edgar Award – Mystery Writers of America (1993,1994,1995,1998,1999,2000,2003,2004,2005), Producers Guild of America Award (1997), American Psychological Association (1989), Advocates for Youth (1995), International Monitor Award (1999), ABA Silver Gavel Award (1999,2000) … and many more.