William Rabkin

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William Rabkin
Born
Berkeley, California
Alma materUniversity of Washington, UCLA
OccupationTelevision producer
television writer and author
Years active1987–present

William Rabkin is an American television producer, television writer and author.

He did his undergraduate work at the University of Washington in Seattle, then attended UCLA, where he did his MFA in screenwriting and was a part of the Daily Bruin student newspaper.[1][2]

He has written for a number of notable television series namely Spenser: For Hire, Murphy's Law, Hunter, Baywatch, Diagnosis Murder, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, Haunted Lives: True Ghost Stories, Monk and many other series.

Nearly all of his television work has been collaborations with fellow writer and producer Lee Goldberg, whom he met when they were both UCLA students working on Daily Bruin. They first teamed up as writers on the unmade, feature film adaptation of Goldberg's novel .357 Vigilante, beginning a professional partnership that lasted for twenty years.[3]

Rabkin is also the author of a number of tie-in companion novels for the Psych television series.[4] as well as the reference books Successful Television Writing (2003) (which he co-authored with Goldberg), Beginning Television Writing, (2010),[5] and Writing the Pilot (2011).

He teaches screenwriting as part of the faculty at UC Riverside's Low-Residency Graduate Creative Writing Program in Palm Desert, California.[6] and is assistant director of the MFA program at Long Island University[7]

Personal life[]

His father was Norman Rabkin (1930-2012),[8] the Shakespearean scholar best known for his work Shakespeare and the Problem of Meaning [9][10]

Bibliography[]

  • Ella Clah: The Pilot Script (with Lee Goldberg, Aimee Thurlo & David Thurlo) (2013)

Psych Tie-Ins[]

The Dead Man Series[]

  • Face of Evil (with Lee Goldberg) (2011)
  • Ring of Knives (with Lee Goldberg and James Daniels) (2011)
  • Hell in Heaven (with Lee Goldberg) (2011)
  • The Dead Woman (with Lee Goldberg and David McAfee) (2011)
  • The Blood Mesa (with Lee Goldberg and James Reasoner) (2011)
  • Kill Them All (with Lee Goldberg and Harry Shannon) (2011)
  • Beast Within (with Lee Goldberg and James Daniels) (2011)
  • Fire & Ice (with Lee Goldberg and Jude Hardin) (2012)
  • Carnival of Death (with Lee Goldberg and Bill Crider) (2012)
  • Freaks Must Die (with Lee Goldberg and Joel Goldman) (2012)
  • Slaves to Evil (with Lee Goldberg and Lisa Klink) (2012)
  • The Midnight Special (with Lee Goldberg and Phoef Sutton) (2012)
  • The Death Match (with Lee Goldberg and Christa Faust) (2012)
  • The Black Death (with Lee Goldberg and Aric Davis) (2012)
  • The Killing Floor (with Lee Goldberg and David Tully) (2012)
  • Colder Than Hell (with Lee Goldberg and Anthony Neil Smith) (Jan 2013)
  • Evil to Burn (with Lee Goldberg and Lisa Klink) (March 2013)
  • Streets of Blood (with Lee Goldberg and Barry Napier) (June 2013)
  • Crucible of Fire (with Lee Goldberg and Mel Odom) (2013)
  • The Dark Need (with Lee Goldberg and Stant Litore) (2013)
  • The Rising Dead (with Lee Goldberg and Stella Green) (2014)
  • Reborn (with Lee Goldberg, Kate Danley, Phoef Sutton, and Lisa Klink) (2014)

Non-Fiction[]

  • Science Fiction Film-Making in the 1980s (1994) – co-written with Lee Goldberg, Randy & Jean-Marc Lofficier
  • Dreamweavers: Fantasy Film-Making in the 1980s (1994) – co-written with Lee Goldberg, Randy & Jean-Marc Lofficier
  • Successful Television Writing (2003) – co-written with Lee Goldberg
  • Writing the Pilot (2011)
  • Writing the Pilot: Creating the Series (2017)

Filmography[]

Year Title Role/Job # of Episodes Written/
Notes
1987–1988 Spenser For Hire Writer 3 episodes, including the unsold spin-off pilot "Play It Again, Sammy"
1988 The Highwayman Writer 1 episode, "Haunted Highway"
1988–1989 Murphy's Law Staff Writer 5 episodes, ABC TV series starring George Segal based on the "Trace" and "Digger" books by Warren Murphy
1989 Hunter Writer, Story Editor 1 episode, "On Air"
1989–1990 Baywatch Writer, Executive Story Editor 4 episodes , including the final NBC episode, entitled "The End," before the series went into first-run syndication
1990–1991 She-Wolf of London Writer, Supervising Producer 11 episodes
1991–1992 Likely Suspects Writer, Supervising Producer 5 episodes, including "Smells Like Teen Spirit," an Edgar Award Finalist for Best Teleplay
1993–1994 Cobra Writer, Supervising Producer 7 episodes
1994–1995 Diagnosis: Murder Writer 6 episodes
1995 The Cosby Mysteries Writer, Supervising Producer 2 episodes
1995 Sliders Writer 1 episodes, “Prince of Wails”
1995 Deadly Games Writer 2 episodes, "The Boss" and "The Car Mechanic"
1995 Stick With Me, Kid Writer, Supervising producer 3 episodes
1995 SeaQuest DSV Writer, Supervising producer 3 episodes
1995 The Greatest Shows You Never Saw Writer, Producer CBS TV Special
1995–1996 Flipper Writer 2 episodes
1996–1998 Diagnosis: Murder Writer, Supervising Producer, Executive Producer 26 episodes
1999 Martial Law Writer, Executive Producer 3 episodes
2001–2002 A Nero Wolfe Mystery Writer 6 episodes, including "," an Edgar Award Finalist for Best Teleplay
2002 The Nightmare Room Writer 1 episode, “My Name is Evil”
2003 She Spies Writer 1 Episode, "Crossed Out"
2003–2005 1-800-Missing aka Missing Writer / Supervising Producer 8 episodes
2003–2006 Monk Writer 3 episodes “”, “,” “Mr. Monk Goes to Mexico”
2004 The Best TV Shows That Never Were Writer, Executive Producer ABC TV Special
2007 Psych Writer 1 episode, “Forget Me Not”
2010–2012 The Glades Writer 3 episodes

References[]

  1. ^ "Author Q&A: William Rabkin, "Psych: Mind Over Magic"". Write On Online. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
  2. ^ "Writer Lee Goldberg: 'Almost all the work comes from personal relationships' – MS in Leadership for Creative Enterprises". creative.northwestern.edu. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
  3. ^ "The Brothers Goldberg". Los Angeles Review of Books.
  4. ^ "William Rabkin Fiction Bibliography". Fantastic Fiction.
  5. ^ William Rabkin biography at writersstore.com
  6. ^ [1]
  7. ^ [2]
  8. ^ [3]
  9. ^ [4]
  10. ^ Mowat, Barbara A. (1982). "Reviewed work: Shakespeare and the Problem of Meaning, Norman Rabkin". The Journal of English and Germanic Philology. 81 (3): 414–418. JSTOR 27709048.

External links[]

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