Harry Werksman
Harry M. Werksman Jr. is an American television screenwriter and producer.
Biography
Harry Werksman was born Pittsburgh and grew up in Palm Springs before leaving to attend St. George’s School in Newport, RI, which seemed like another universe away.
He then attended Northwestern University and received a BA in History and Political Science. He is member of Pi Sigma Alpha, National Honorary Political Science Society, was awarded a Special Political Science Departmental Certificate in International Relations and his honors thesis examined the historical roots of emerging capitalist economic systems in the sixteenth century.
Werksman then went on to New College, Oxford University and graduated with a Master of Letters (M.Litt.) in modern history. His thesis was titled “Politics, Religion and Social Control in Wiltshire, 1603-1625”.
After moving back to the United States, he shifted his focus away from academics working for Winner/Wagner & Associates, specializing in crisis management communications, and with Winner Wagner & Mandabach during the successful1992 Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday campaign in Arizona where he developed speaker’s kits and trained spokespeople.
During this time, Werksman was also a contributing writer to various publications, including: The LA Reader, Sci Fi Universe Magazine, Eon Magazine, Universal’s 13thStreet and The Star Trek Fact Files. He also worked as a researcher for The Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation before finally realizing his ambition of being a full-time, professional writer.
Werksman has worked for over 25 years as a TV writer-producer. His credits include: EON-4, STAR TREK: DS9, VIP, EARTH: FINAL CONFLICT, FARSCAPE, THE INVISIBLE MAN, DEATHLANDS: HOMEWARD BOUND, VERITAS: THE QUEST, GREY’S ANATOMY, UGLY BETTY, MOONLIGHT, FINAL FANTSY XVand CASTLE.
He has sold four original one-hour pilots - one of which was chosen by the Writer’s Guild of America as one of the best pilots in its 5thAnnual Unproduced Television Scripts competition – and also taught screenwriting writing at both The American Film Institute’s MFA Program, UCLA Extension – Writer’s Program, New York Film Academy (Los Angeles) and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Werksman has been nominated for two Emmys, one Golden Globe, one Saturn Award, one People’s Choice Award and three WGA Awards. He has won a WGA Award for Grey’s Anatomy, a Golden Globe for Ugly Betty, and both a People’s Choice Award and a Saturn Award for Moonlight.
Happily married to his partner in crime and prep school sweetheart, Amanda, he’s still a history and sci-fi geek, has a serious book-collecting problem and adores his crazy Boykin Spaniel, Berger.A passion for cooking - inspired by his mother, a graduate of Cordon Blue in Paris, - leads him to spend many hours in the kitchen experimenting and perfecting a wide variety of new dishes and his own spin on classics.
And now, he’s left the comfortable confines of Los Angeles for the wind-swept, wide-open spaces of Santa Fe, New Mexico. We he continues actively write and develop new projects for both TV and film.