MFA Alumni Nic Pizzolatto is the creator and Executive Producer of the hit HBO series, True Detective.
“Lots of poor, stupid people there, lots of drinking and fighting and cheating. Also lots of fanatical religion and illiteracy. It’s a rough place, and you grow up fighting.” Pizzolatto says, recounting his hometown in Louisiana. Nic didn’t grow up with books or access to materials that would better his intellect as child. He loved nature and art, and wanted out.
He gradated from a Catholic high school and moved on to get his B.A. at LSU, and graduated from the University of Arkansas in 2005 with his MFA in Creative Writing. In 2003, Pizzolatto was the recipient of the Lily Peter Fellowship for poetry and Walton fellowship. Also while enrolled at the University, Pizzolatto composed two short stories – “Ghost-Birds” and “Between Here and the Yellow Sea”. In 2004, his work was among the finalists for the National Magazine Award in Fiction. “Between Here and the Yellow Sea” was long-listed for the 2006 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award and was named one of the top five fictions of the year by Poets & Writers Magazine.
Novels, poetry and short fiction aside, Pizzolatto is the face of our Celebrity section this week for his notable achievement in creating one of the most successful HBO series the network had ever seen in 2015. True Detective premiered a second season on June 21, 2015, with Pizzolatto composing the script for each episode again. In even bigger news, Pizzolatto has written a screenplay set to be released into film on September 23rd, 2016 with cast members including Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Vincent D’Onofrio, Lee Byung-hun, Ethan Hawke, Peter Sarsgaard among others.
The film is The Magnificent Seven, a remake of the 1960’s western crime classic. John Hancock helped Pizzolatto create the screenplay.
Nic now lives in California with his life, where he has been since 2010.