Alan E. Ball is an American writer, director, actor and producer for film, theatre and television. He is particularly notable for writing American Beauty and True Blood and for creating Six Feet Under, work which earned him an Academy Award, an Emmy, and awards from the Writers, Directors, and Producers Guilds. Ball was born in Marietta, Georgia, to Frank and Mary Ball, an aircraft inspector and a homemaker. His older sister, Mary Ann, was killed in a car accident when Ball was 13; he was in the passenger seat at the time. He attended high school in Marietta, and went on to attend the University of Georgia and Florida State University, from which he graduated in 1980 with a degree in theater arts. After college, he began work as a playwright at the General Nonsense Theater Company in Sarasota, Florida. Ball broke into television as a writer and story editor on the situation comedies Grace Under Fire and Cybill. Ball has written two films, American Beauty (1999) and Towelhead (2007), the latter of which he also produced and directed. He is also the creator, writer and executive producer of the HBO drama series Six Feet Under and True Blood. He was showrunner for True Blood for its first five seasons. In 2010 Ball began work on a television adaptation of the crime noir novel The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston, to be titled All Signs of Death. In December 2010, after several months of pre-production, HBO cancelled production on All Signs of Death. He is also one of the executive producers of the Cinemax series Banshee. In January 2015, it was announced that Ball's period musical drama Virtuoso had had a pilot ordered by HBO. The pilot will be executively produced by Elton John. Confirmed actors to be starring in the show include Peter Macdissi, Iva Babic, Francois Civil, Lindsay Farris, Nico Mirallegro and Alex Lawther. For his work in television and film, Ball has received critical acclaim and numerous awards and nominations, including an Academy Award, an Emmy a Golden Globe, and awards from the Writers, Directors, and Producers Guilds.
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Biography from TMDB.
- May 13, 1957 (69)
- Atlanta, Georgia, USA
- Writer, producer and director, also actor
- 7 on MovieCove · 16 credits in all
What are Alan Ball's films like?
Across their 5 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Self and Bonds.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 5
A split, not a type: Light 1 · Serious 0 · Dark 4
Grounded 4 · Stylized 1 · Heightened 0
Gentle 1 · Charged 2 · Intense 2
Steady 1 · Shifting 3 · Whiplash 1
Straight-faced 3 · Some laughs 2 · Funny 0
Slow burn 4 · Even-paced 1 · Relentless 0
Casual 1 · Engaged 4 · Full focus 0
Easy watch 1 · Affecting 0 · Heavy 4
Resolved 4 · Open-ended 1 · Ambiguous 0
Moods and endings
- Happy2
- Bittersweet3
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Alan Ball's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 6 of their 7 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on HBO Max (4).
Subscription and free streaming for Alan Ball's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
16 credits, 7 with a MovieCove page; 5 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.
Uncle Frank(2020)
Midcredits score: 91st percentile of all films
Here and Now (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2018)
Midcredits score: 60th percentile of all films
5 Women Wearing the Same Dress (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2015)
Banshee(2013)
Midcredits score: 96th percentile of all shows
The American Tetralogy (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2012)
Towelhead(2007)
Midcredits score: 70th percentile of all films
True Blood(2008)
Midcredits score: 84th percentile of all shows
Six Feet Under(2001)
Midcredits score: 97th percentile of all shows
Oh, Grow Up (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1999)
American Beauty(1999)
Midcredits score: 99th percentile of all films
Cybill (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1995)
Grace Under Fire (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1993)
A Drop of True Blood (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
All Signs of Death (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Virtuoso (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Career shape
A full career of 16 titles, 13 of them dated from 1993 to 2020.
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
Awards
an Oscar, a Primetime Emmy, a Golden Globe and 4 other major awards from 27 major nominations, 2000–2021.
- Primetime Emmy, nominated · Outstanding Television Movie
+1 other major body · 1 nomination
- Writers Guild Award, nominated · Original Long Form
- Primetime Emmy, nominated · Outstanding Television Movie
- Producers Guild Award, nominated · Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama
- Primetime Emmy, nominated · Outstanding Drama Series
- BAFTA Award, nominated · Best International
+1 other major body · 1 nomination
- Producers Guild Award, nominated · Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama
- Writers Guild Award, nominated · New Series
- Primetime Emmy, nominated · Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series
- Primetime Emmy, nominated · Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series
+3 other major bodies · 3 nominations
- Directors Guild Award, nominated · Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series - Night
- Writers Guild Award, nominated · Dramatic Series
- Producers Guild Award, nominated · Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama
- Primetime Emmy, nominated · Outstanding Drama Series
+1 other major body · 1 nomination
- Producers Guild Award, nominated · Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama
- Directors Guild Award, nominated · Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series - Night
- Producers Guild Award, won · Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama
Show 3 earlier yearsShow fewer
- Primetime Emmy, nominated · Outstanding Drama Series
+1 other major body · 1 nomination
- Producers Guild Award, nominated · Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama
- Primetime Emmy, won · Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series
- Primetime Emmy, nominated · Outstanding Drama Series
+1 other major body · 1 win
- Directors Guild Award, won · Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series - Night
- Oscar, won · Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
- Golden Globe, won · Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
- BAFTA Award, nominated · Best Screenplay - Original
+2 other major bodies · 2 wins
- Writers Guild Award, won · Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
- Critics Choice Award, won · Best Screenplay, Original
Major bodies only: the Oscars, Primetime Emmys, Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Screen Actors Guild Awards are named; Cannes, Venice, the Berlinale, Sundance, the directors', writers' and producers' guilds, the Grammys, Critics Choice and the Independent Spirit Awards count as other major bodies. Festival and regional prizes are not counted. Source: IMDb.
How do Alan Ball's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 81st percentile, the median of all 4; across their 5 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 74th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up5
- 50th to 74th2
Shape of the crowd
None of their 7 titles divides audiences: 4 are Crowd Pleasers.
- Universally Loved3
- Crowd Pleaser4
Reviewers score the dialogue 58/100 and the plot and story 51/100 in their films, across 4 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a writer.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Is Alan Ball's work okay for kids?
Across a limited sample of up to 3 MovieCove titles with content scores.
Severity 0–100 from the Content Guide. Categories with under 10 votes on a title are not counted.
Who does Alan Ball work with?
People who share at least 2 of Alan Ball's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Peter Macdissi shares the most, 3.
Actors
- Peter MacdissiShared titles: Uncle Frank (2020), The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2017), Towelhead (2007)See all 3 shared titles with Peter Macdissi
- Annette BeningShared titles: American Beauty: Look Closer... (2000), American Beauty (1999)See all 2 shared titles with Annette Bening
- Chris CooperShared titles: American Beauty: Look Closer... (2000), American Beauty (1999)See all 2 shared titles with Chris Cooper
- Peter GallagherShared titles: American Beauty: Look Closer... (2000), American Beauty (1999)See all 2 shared titles with Peter Gallagher
Composers
- Thomas NewmanShared titles: Towelhead (2007), American Beauty (1999)See all 2 shared titles with Thomas Newman
Mixed roles
- Bruce CohenShared titles: American Beauty: Look Closer... (2000), American Beauty (1999)See all 2 shared titles with Bruce Cohen
- Conrad L. HallShared titles: American Beauty: Look Closer... (2000), American Beauty (1999)See all 2 shared titles with Conrad L. Hall
- Dan JinksShared titles: American Beauty: Look Closer... (2000), American Beauty (1999)See all 2 shared titles with Dan Jinks
