Alan Ball (screenwriter)

Alan Erwin Ball (born May 13, 1957) is an American writer and director for film and television. Ball is best known for writing the screenplay for the dramedy film American Beauty (1999), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay at the 72nd Academy Awards ceremony. He also created the HBO drama series Six Feet Under (2001–2005) and True Blood (2008–2014), and served as an executive producer on the Cinemax action drama series Banshee (2013–2016). He wrote and directed the films Towelhead (2007) and Uncle Frank (2020).