Ben Schiffer (born 12 July 1983) is a British television screenwriter and playwright.
He is married to actress Emily Taaffe.
Early life and education
Schiffer was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, the second son of Jewish American emigrants. He moved to London at the age of two. He attended University College School before moving to Dublin, Ireland to read English and History at Trinity College Dublin, graduating with a First-Class Honours B.A. in 2006. His first commission, whilst still at University, was the short film Hot Or Not, broadcast on BBC One in 2006.
Career
Theatre
Schiffer wrote his first play, Paper Tigers, whilst still at university; the play ran to sell-out crowds at the Edinburgh Fringe. His recent theatre work includes His Ghostly Heart and 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover, both commissioned by and performed at The Bush Theatre as well as at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Ben has been on the Royal Court Theatre's Young Writers Scheme and has had his previous plays performed in London, Dublin, Edinburgh and the Latitude Festival.
Television
Schiffer wrote episodes of Brief Encounters and Spooks: Code 9 in 2006 and 2008, respectively. He then would work on the UK teen drama Skins, writing a total of five episodes for the first four series, as well as contributing a story for the episode Abbud in 2011. In 2013, he wrote and co-executive produced Dates, created by Skins creator Bryan Elsley for Channel 4. He wrote a pilot, Goths, with Jack Thorne, for Shine Media. His previous comedy pilot Not Safe For Work won an RTS Student Award in 2010. He would contribute episodes to Stan Lee's Lucky Man, Netflix's Young Wallander, Sky's Intergalactic and Ransom, on which he also served as co-producer.
Most recently, he served as the Creator and Showrunner of The Turkish Detective, an adaptation of Barbara Nadel's 'DI Ikmen' novels for Paramount+.
Film
He was cited as one of Screen International's Stars of Tomorrow in 2009 and his screenplay Cheerleaders 3D came second in the 2010 Brit List with 8 Votes.
References
- "4Talent magazine · Skin Deep". Archived from the original on 1 May 2008.
- "Vertigo Magazine, Article – New Kids on the Block, by Alexis Karlin". Archived from the original on 19 July 2011.
- The Daily Telegraph Telegraph interview
- "Trio of New Dramas Commissioned by Channel 4!". 25 September 2012. Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
- https://deadline.com/2022/04/the-turkish-detective-ben-schiffer-niels-arden-oplev-miramax-tv-series-order-at-paramount-1235001585/
- "Ben Schiffer".
External links
- Ben Schiffer at IMDb
- 1983 births
- Living people
- Alumni of Trinity College Dublin
- 21st-century British male writers
- British television writers
- British male screenwriters
- British dramatists and playwrights
- British male dramatists and playwrights
- British male television writers
- 21st-century British screenwriters
- People educated at University College School