Award-winning writer and producer Frank Spotnitz founded Big Light Productions, a London and Paris-based production company, in 2013 with a vision to create distinctive and ambitious TV drama series.

As CEO Spotnitz oversees the development and production of the company’s television slate. Under Spotnitz’s stewardship, Big Light has produced a number of high-end drama productions including Amazon’s Emmy award-winning The Man in the High Castle, Ransom, The Indian Detective, and three seasons of Medici for Netflix and Rai.

Their latest drama series Leonardo, based on the famous Italian artist, was co-created and written by Spotnitz, and co-produced by Big Light Productions and Lux Vide for RAI, France Télévisions, RTVE and Sony. The series, which stars Aidan Turner, Freddie Highmore and Matilda De Angelis has just started airing in Italy, and will air on Amazon Prime in the UK & Ireland in April.

In addition, Eisenhorn a new drama series based on the hugely popular Warhammer 40,000 game, is in development.

Spotnitz has over 25 years’ experience in television as a writer and producer. Serving as executive producer, he wrote or co-wrote more than 40 episodes of The X-Files. He served as a producer and co-writer of both The X-Files feature films, Fight the Future (1998) and I Want to Believe (2008). He shares three Golden Globes for Best Dramatic Series and a Peabody Award for his work on the seminal science-fiction series, and was Emmy-nominated both for writing and three times Outstanding Drama Series.

Spotnitz’s other credits include Hunted, which he created for the BBC and Cinemax; Strike Back, for Sky and Cinemax; Night Stalker for ABC; Michael Mann’s Robbery Homicide Division for CBS, as well as The Lone Gunmen, Harsh Realm and Millennium for Fox.

In 2013 Spotnitz helped establish and began teaching at Serial Eyes, a postgraduate training programme in Berlin which prepares for the next generation of European TV writer-producers. With the writers’ room experience at the core of the programme, twelve participants are given the opportunity to learn from industry experts and develop a European model of showrunning. Each year one participant is also selected to do a three-month placement with Big Light.

Born in Japan, Spotnitz received a B.A. in English literature from UCLA and an M.F.A. in screenwriting from the American Film Institute. He began his career as a newspaper and magazine writer, working for the Associated Press, United Press International and Entertainment Weekly, among others.

Speaking on: Showrunner Screen Time: Emily Andras, Frank Spotnitz, Anna Winger, Anthony Farrell, Loren Bouchard