Joshua Brand | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1950-11-29)November 29, 1950 (age 74) Queens, New York City, U.S. |
| Alma mater | City College of New York Columbia University |
| Occupation(s) | Writer, producer, director |
Joshua Brand is an American television writer, director, and producer who createdSt. Elsewhere,I'll Fly Away andNorthern Exposure with his writing-and-producing partnerJohn Falsey, with whom he worked through 1994.[1] He was also a writer and consulting producer of FX's 2013–18 seriesThe Americans.
Joshua Brand was born to aJewish family and raised inKew Gardens, Queens, New York City.[2] He graduatedmagna cum laude fromCity College of New York, after which he was given a fellowship toColumbia University, where he received a Master of Arts degree with honors inEnglish Literature.[3]
His playBabyface was produced in Los Angeles in 1978 and was selected as a semi-finalist in the Great American Play Contest sponsored by the Louisville Actors Theater. Another play,Grunts, was producedOff-Broadway at the Wonderhouse Theatre in New York City. In 2012, his full-length playThe Real Me was a finalist at the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference.[3]
Brand's early television career was spent writing scripts forMTM Enterprises'The White Shadow, where he andJohn Falsey met. The two of them then createdSt. Elsewhere for MTM in 1982 and wrote the story for every episode in the first season except one before leaving the show. He and Falsey then wrote and producedAmazing Stories forSteven Spielberg and theEmmy winning miniseriesA Year in the Life before developing their other two signature series. At the 44th Primetime Emmy Awards in 1992, Brand and Falsey captured 15% of all nominations with 16 Emmy nominations forNorthern Exposure and 15 forI'll Fly Away. During this time, Brand and Falsey also won three Emmys: outstanding miniseries in 1987 forA Year in the Life; outstanding writing in a miniseries or special for theI'll Fly Away pilot in 1992; and outstanding drama series forNorthern Exposure that same year.[4] In an unprecedented move by Public Broadcasting,PBS bought the rights toI'll Fly Away and rebroadcast the series in its entirety in the leadup to their original two-hour movie based on the show.
Brand andJohn Falsey created the short-lived seriesGoing to Extremes, which was filmed entirely on the island ofJamaica. He has been nominated for elevenEmmy Awards (winning three, as noted above), as well as winning twoPeabody Awards (Northern Exposure,I'll Fly Away), twoGolden Globe Awards (Northern Exposure), along with theHumanitas Prize, theProducers Guild of America Award, and theEnvironmental Media Award for Ongoing Commitment. Falsey and Brand split as a team in 1994, with Falsey essentially leaving the industry, but in 2013, Brand and Falsey jointly received theLaurel Award for TV Writing Achievement from theWriters Guild of America.
Since 2013, Brand has been a writer and consulting producer of the acclaimedFX seriesThe Americans; he wrote or co-wrote four episodes during thefirst season and has written two episodes ineach subsequent season.[5] The writers of the series, including Brand, received the Best Dramatic Series award at the69th Writers Guild of America Awards, and they were also nominated for that award in2015.
His directing credits include the feature filmA Pyromaniac's Love Story, the television moviesWall to Wall Records andHomeward Bound, the television pilotGemini Man, and episodes ofthirtysomething andJoan of Arcadia. Brand was also nominated for anEmmy and aDGA Award for directing the two-hourI'll Fly Away pilot.
