Shawn Ryan feels like he’s picked up in mid-sentence. The seasoned showrunner is back in his element, leading a writers room and juggling two series, Netflix’s “The Night Agent” and the final season of CBS’ high-octane police drama “S.W.A.T.” The end of the Writers Guild of America strike late last month unleashed a torrent of work for Ryan and his teams based at Sony Pictures Television. “Night Agent” was a little more than halfway done with writing for the 10...
MiddKid Productions
Shawn
Ryan
Founder / Producer / Writer
The critical and eventual ratings success of “The Shield” marked a turning point. FX started down its path to becoming a provider of premium drama and comedy, and Shawn Ryan became a brand name showrunner for series that tweak and deepen existing formats.
“It’s enough to do something very well,” Ryan told Variety in 2002 as “The Shield” was entering its second season. “‘CSI: Crime Scene Investigation’ is a good example. That kind of sleuthing has been covered, but its look, feel and little differences make it exciting. That’s also the case with ’24.’ A gimmick can get you started, but that goes away, so what’s left better be sturdy on its own.”
During the 2007-08 writers’ strike, Ryan wrote an open letter to fellow showrunners encouraging them to not only abstain from writing but from all other duties, including editing and casting, saying, “these are all acts that are about the writing of the show or protecting the writing of the show.”
Ryan began as a writer on “Nash Bridges” and later on “Angel” before “The Shield.” He’s also served as exec producer on CBS’s “The Unit,” ABC’s “The Last Resort,” Fox’s “The Chicago Code” and the critically-beloved FX series “Terriers.” He’s currently an executive producer of NBC’s “Timeless” and the new series “S.W.A.T.” for CBS, starring Shemar Moore.
