Richard Timothy Kring (born July 9, 1957) is an American screenwriter and television producer, best known for his creation of the drama series Strange World, Crossing Jordan, Heroes, and Touch.
Early life
Kring was born in El Dorado County, California. He is Jewish.1 He has two brothers and a sister.2: 83
He attended Allan Hancock College, where his father, Ray, was the track coach, then graduated from the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts in 1983.3 Discussing his beginnings, Kring said:
I never even thought about scripts when I got out of film school. I pulled cables and shot documentaries. I finally got a gig with commercial house where I would come on with a camera crew as second assistant shooting Japanese cigarette commercials. I had an opportunity to get into the camera crew and decided I did not really want to do that with my life. So I sat down and wrote a script and went back to all the people I had met, got an agent out of it and started going out on a gazillion pitch meetings, and pitched anything I could.4: 6
Career
Kring's first job as a screenwriter was for the television show Knight Rider. Other early projects included co-writing an episode of Misfits of Science (which, like his later project Heroes, featured super-powered humans as a main theme) and Teen Wolf Too with Jeph Loeb. Kring and Loeb would collaborate again when producing Heroes. Kring also co-wrote the 2010 book Shift: A Novel (Gates of Orpheus Trilogy) with Dale Peck.
In 1999, he signed a deal with NBC.5
After the cancellation of Heroes in 2010 Kring created the TV series Touch, a drama focusing on a father (Kiefer Sutherland) who discovers that his mute son can predict future events.6 The series premiered on January 25, 2012, on Fox and was cancelled after two seasons on May 9, 2013.
On February 22, 2014, during its Olympics coverage, NBC announced Heroes was coming back as a 13-episode event miniseries titled Heroes Reborn. It premiered in 2015 with creator Tim Kring as the executive producer.7
Awards and nominations
Kring has been nominated for an Emmy Award in 2007 for Outstanding Drama Series as the producer for Heroes. He was also named one of the Masters of Sci Fi TV for his work on the series.8
Filmography
Film
| Title | Year | Credited as | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Producer | Writer | |||
| Teen Wolf Too | 1987 | No | Screenplay | Credited as R. Timothy Kring |
| Sublet | 1998 | No | Yes | |
| In the Cloud | 2018 | Yes | No | |
Television
The numbers in writing credits refer to the number of episodes.
| Title | Year | Credited as | Network | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creator | Producer | Writer | Executiveproducer | ||||
| Misfits of Science | 1985 | No | No | Yes (1) | No | NBC | Credited as R. Timothy Kring |
| Knight Rider | 1986 | No | No | Yes (1) | No | Credited as R. Timothy Kring | |
| Bay Cove | 1987 | — | No | Yes | No | Credited as R. Timothy Kring | |
| Without Consent | 1994 | — | No | Teleplay | No | ABC | Television film |
| Falling for You | 1995 | — | No | Teleplay | No | CBS | Television film |
| Chicago Hope | 1996–97 | No | Yes | Yes (6) | No | Producer (season 3: 26 episodes)Supervising producer (seaspn 4: 2 episodes) | |
| L.A. Doctors | 1999 | No | No | Yes (1) | No | Co-executive producer (3 episodes) | |
| Strange World | 1999–2002 | Yes | No | Yes (1) | No | ABC | |
| Providence | 1999–2001 | No | No | Yes (5) | No | NBC | Co-executive producer (season 2–3) |
| Crossing Jordan | 2001–07 | Yes | No | Yes (22) | Yes | ||
| Heroes | 2006–10 | Yes | Yes | Yes (16) | Yes | ||
| Touch | 2012–13 | Yes | No | Yes (6) | Yes | Fox | |
| Daybreak | 2012 | Yes | No | No | Yes | Web series | |
| Dig | 2015 | Yes | No | Yes (5) | Yes | USA Network | Miniseries |
| Heroes Reborn: Dark Matters | 2015 | No | No | No | Yes | Web series | |
| Heroes Reborn | 2015–16 | Yes | No | Yes (2) | Yes | NBC | Miniseries |
| The Wilding | 2016 | No | No | No | Yes | USA Network | Unsold pilot |
| Beyond | 2017–18 | No | No | No | Yes | Freeform | |
| Treadstone | 2019 | Yes | No | Yes (2) | Yes | USA Network | |
External links
Wikiquote has quotations related to Tim Kring.- Tim Kring at IMDb
- Interview: Tim Kring, Heroes creator, The TV Addict, 2006-10-12
- NBC's Super Heroes: Burning Questions Answered!, TV Guide, 2006-10-16 (archive.org link)
References
Hadas Bashan (December 24, 2009). אנטי גיבור [Anti Hero]. Pnai Plus (in Hebrew). No. 1062. Yedioth Ahronoth. pp. 58–61. Retrieved December 28, 2009. אנטי גיבור ↩
Meyers, Lawrence (June 2, 2010). Inside the TV Writers' Room: Practical Advice for Succeeding in Television. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 978-0-8156-3241-2. 978-0-8156-3241-2 ↩
"Notable Alumni". University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. Archived from the original on May 23, 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20070523202842/http://www-cntv.usc.edu/alumni/alumni-history/ ↩
Meyers, Lawrence (June 2, 2010). Inside the TV Writers' Room: Practical Advice for Succeeding in Television. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 978-0-8156-3241-2. 978-0-8156-3241-2 ↩
Adalian, Josef (May 29, 2003). "Kring rings up deal". Variety. Retrieved October 5, 2020. https://variety.com/2003/scene/markets-festivals/kring-rings-up-deal-1117887036/ ↩
Spoiler TV: Pilot Order for Heroes Creator Tim Spoiler TV http://www.spoilertv.com/2011/01/fox-pilot-order-for-heroes-creator-tim.html#ixzz1NU0Rj6cS/ ↩
"NBC's 'Heroes' to be Revived as Miniseries (Video)". The Hollywood Reporter. February 22, 2014. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/nbcs-heroes-be-revived-as-682619 ↩
Master of Sci-Fi: Tim Kring Archived October 2, 2008, at the Wayback Machine http://www.tvweek.com/news/2008/09/master_of_scifi_tim_kring.php ↩