Alan Poul

American film and television producer and director

Ari Karpel

(m. 2017)

Alan Mark Poul (born May 1, 1954) is an American film and television producer and director.

Career

Poul served as executive producer for the HBO original series, Six Feet Under, on which he made his directing debut. He directed four episodes of the series from seasons two through five.^[3]

He later directed the pilot for CBS' series Swingtown, of which he directed a total of four episodes. He also directed the 2010 CBS Films romantic comedy The Back-Up Plan, originally titled Plan B.^[4]

He signed a new deal with HBO in April 2011. He was an executive producer of Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom.^[5] He directed seven episodes of the show, including the series finale.

Poul was an executive producer on Tokyo Vice and directed the final episode of its first season, Yoshino.^[6] He is fluent in Japanese.^[6]

Poul has been nominated for 7 Primetime Emmys, a Directors Guild of America award, and won a News & Documentary Emmy Award in Outstanding Historical Program for The Pacific Century.^[7]

Credits

Producer

Film

Black Rain (1989)
Candyman (1992)
Inside Out (1992)
'Til There Was You (1997)
Woman on Top (2000)

Television

Tales of the City (1993)
My So-Called Life (1994–1995)
More Tales of the City (1998)
Six Feet Under (2001–2005)
Further Tales of the City (2001)
Swingtown (2008)
Westworld (2016) (consulting producer)
Perception
Good Christian Bitches
The Eddy
Tales of the City (2019)

Television director

Six Feet Under (2001) 4 episodes:
- episode 2.10 "The Secret" (2002)
- episode 3.04 "Nobody Sleeps" (2003)
- episode 4.05 "That's My Dog" (2004)
- episode 5.04 "Time Flies" (2005)
Rome (2005), 2 episodes:
- episode 1.06 "Egeria" (2005)
- episode 2.03 "These Being the Words of Marcus Tullius Cicero" (2007)
Big Love (2006) 2 episodes:
- episode 1.11 "Where There's a Will (Big Love)" (2006)
- episode 2.03 "Reunion" (2007)
Swingtown (2008) 4 episodes:
- episode 1.01 "Pilot" (2008)
- episode 1.02 "Love Will Find a Way" (2008)
- episode 1.08 "Puzzlerama" (2008)
- episode 1.13 "Take It To The Limit" (2008)
The Newsroom (2012–13), 7 episodes:
- episode 1.04 "I'll Try to Fix You" (2012)
- episode 1.09 "The Blackout Part II: Mock Debate" (2012)
- episode 2.01 "First Thing We Do, Let's Kill All the Lawyers" (2013)
- episode 2.05 "News Night with Will McAvoy" (2013)
- episode 2.09 "Election Night, Part II" (2013)
- episode 3.03 "Main Justice" (2014)
- episode 3.06 "What Kind of Day Has It Been" (2014)
Tales of the City (2019), 3 episodes:
- episode 1 "Coming Home"
- episode 2 "She Messy"
- episode 8 "Days of Small Surrenders"

Theatre

"Vagabond Stars" 1978 (lyricist) Pre-Broadway: Berkshire Theatre Festival. Starring: Lewis Stadlen, Marilyn Sokol, Robert M. Rosen aka Robert Ozn, Paul Kreppel

References

^ ^a ^b Alan Mark Poul Biography (1954–)
^ "Association of Yale Alumni lists Poul 76 as Gold Host". Archived from the original on April 10, 2012. Retrieved February 26, 2012.
^ Buchanan, Kyle (December 18, 2007). "The gigolo grows up". The Advocate. Retrieved April 2, 2008.
^ Siegel, Tatiana (February 2, 2009). "Alan Poul picks 'Plan B'". Variety.{https://variety.com/2009/film/markets-festivals/alan-poul-picks-plan-b-1117999458/}
^ "Alan Poul Inks Overall Deal with HBO, Joins Aaron Sorkin's Cable News Pilot as EP". April 11, 2011.
^ ^a ^b Motamayor, Rafael (May 31, 2022). "Every Language Everywhere All at Once". Vulture. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
^ "Alan Poul". IMDb. Retrieved February 4, 2022.