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.

Tim Kring
Kring at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con
Kring at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con
BornRichard Timothy Kring
(1957-07-09) July 9, 1957 (age 67)
El Dorado County, California, U.S.
OccupationScreenwriter, television producer
Notable works

Early life

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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.[2]: 6 

Career

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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.[4]

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.[5] 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.[6]

Awards and nominations

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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.[7]

Filmography

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Film

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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

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The numbers in writing credits refer to the number of episodes.

Title Year Credited as Network Notes
Creator Producer Writer Executive
producer
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

References

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  1. ^ Hadas Bashan (December 24, 2009). אנטי גיבור [Anti Hero]. Pnai Plus (in Hebrew). No. 1062. Yedioth Ahronoth. pp. 58–61. Retrieved December 28, 2009.
  2. ^ a b 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.
  3. ^ "Notable Alumni". University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. Archived from the original on May 23, 2007.
  4. ^ Adalian, Josef (May 29, 2003). "Kring rings up deal". Variety. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
  5. ^ Spoiler TV: Pilot Order for Heroes Creator Tim Spoiler TV
  6. ^ "NBC's 'Heroes' to be Revived as Miniseries (Video)". The Hollywood Reporter. February 22, 2014.
  7. ^ Master of Sci-Fi: Tim Kring Archived October 2, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
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