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Chris Downey

Chris Downey

Before Downey was writing about morally bankrupt corporations and white-collar scam artists, he was defending them in court as a criminal defense attorney specializing in white-collar crime. Born and raised in Queens in New York City, Downey pursued a number of passions and careers before diving headfirst into the wilds of television writing. Before pursing creative fiction, he wrote for his school's newspaper in college and went on to become a professional reporter for Knight-Ridder newspapers and The Associated Press. After attending law school, Downey worked as an attorney for a number of years until the day he showed up for an interview for a writing gig on "Cosby" (CBS 1996-2000), clad in his lawyer uniform of pinstripes and suspenders. Downey snagged his first writing credit with an episode of the "other" Cosby series starring Bill Cosby and Phylicia Rashad, four years after "The Cosby Show" (NBC 1984-1992) went off the air. He went on to write for several other shows, including the sitcom "Oh, Grow Up" (ABC 1999), a short-lived series created by Alan Ball based on a one-act stage play that he wrote before he broke into television. The series centered on group of guy friends suffering from arrested development, serving as a prequel to the endless shows that followed, banking on the theme of perpetual young adulthood. After wrapping a few episodes, he tackled the sitcom" What about Joan" (ABC 2000-2001) starring Joan Cusack. With some credible writing credits under his belt, Downey joined the team at "The King of Queens," serving both as writer and executive producer for six seasons. After "Queens" entered infinite syndication status, Downey was recruited by his old writing colleague and drinking buddy, John Rogers, to partner with him on a new heist show, which became "Leverage." Having seen their fair share of serial killers and rapists on television, the two wanted to create a criminal drama that also served as a revenge fantasy where the audience gets to see the everyday bad guys get swindled themselves. Downey served as both writer and showrunner for five seasons until the series was eventually canceled in 2012. Never one short on ideas for coming up with endless heists for the show, Downey started a podcast initially for fans of the show to give them insight into the behind-the-scenes process. As interest grew, he expanded the show into a weekly podcast called "The Downey Files," where he and a guest writer would tackle a potential movie premise and try to develop it into something real within the course of a half-hour. In the middle of managing his showrunning duties, Downey also sold a script to New Line Cinema called "My Beautiful Coma." The indie comedy finally got the greenlight six years later, with filmmaking team Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini hired to rewrite and direct and Brett Ratner to produce, marking Downey's big screen debut. After his film started to gain some traction, he collaborated on another feature, this time appearing as himself in the documentary "Showrunners" (2013) which highlights the titans of television industry and what it takes to make a hit show.Having proved his mettle with "Leverage," Downey was asked to take the reins on TNT's drama "King and Maxwell" (TNT 2013). Based on the bestselling series of books by David Baldacci, this espionage drama starred Rebecca Romijn and Jon Tenney as former Secret Service agents turned private investigators. Downey once again juggled writing duties while serving as executive producer on the series.
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