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Ben Watkins moved 14 times by the time he graduated high school. As a kid, his experiences ran the gamut from living in a fancy, gated community, to being homeless and sleeping in a 1976 Ford Monarch. He was married and had a family by the time he graduated college.
Before he turned to writing, Ben had worked more than 30 jobs ranging from plastics salesman to paralegal to soap opera stud. With such an eclectic background, it’s no wonder he has emerged as one of the most original storytellers in television.
Ben Watkins began the transition to writing with the award-winning Sundance short film Quest to Ref, which he wrote, co-directed and starred in. Soon after adapting that project into a feature screenplay for Universal, Watkins joined USA Network’s Burn Notice. He rose from staff writer to executive producer, before moving on to create the provocative Amazon Originals series, Hand of God. Watkins recently completed production on season one of Hand of God, which premiered in September.
Ben resides in El Segundo, California, with his wife and four sons.
Follow Ben on Twitter: @_benipedia_
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First published September 30, 2015.
117 - Money and the Writer with Trina Rozen, CPA
116 - Tawnya Bhattacharya, Founder of Script Anatomy
115 - Ali Laventhol (Ginny & Georgia, A Million Little Things)
114 - Cameron Johnson (Empire, Zoe Ever After)
113 - Lee Aronsohn & Jason Kyle
112 - Elaine Loh (Gossip Girl, Dynasty)
111 - Michael Jamin (Beavis & Butthead, King of the Hill, Maron, Tacoma FD)
110 - Greta Heinemann (NCIS: New Orleans, NBC's Good Girls)
109 - Priyanka Mattoo - How to Find a Hollywood Mentor During Lockdown
108 - Will Pascoe (Showrunner of Absentia)
107 - Jami O'Brien (Creator / Showrunner of N0S4A2)
106 - UK Show Creator / Show Runner Dan Sefton (Co-Founder, Seven Seas Films)
105 - Steve Harper (God Friended Me, American Crime, Send Me)
104 - Evan Bleiweiss (Vampire Diaries, Rosewood, Black Sails, The Crossing)
103 – Carole Kirschner (CBS Diversity Institute Writers Mentoring Program, Showrunner Training Program)
102 - Spiro Skentzos (Arrow, Grimm, Chadam)
101 - Shawn Ryan (Timeless, SWAT, The Shield, The Chicago Code, The Unit)
100 - Benjamin Raab & Deric A. Hughes (Warehouse 13, Arrow, The Flash, Legacies)
099 - Ken Estin (Showrunner of Cheers, Taxi) and Paula Finn (Author, Sitcom Writers Talk Shop)
098 - Robert Hewitt Wolfe (EP of Elementary, The Dresden Files & Andromeda)
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