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(written from a production point of view)

John Shiban (born 8 February 1962; age 62) was a co-executive producer and staff writer on Star Trek: Enterprise during its second season.

Shiban was invited to join the writing staff by showrunner Brannon Braga, who was impressed with his work on The X-Files and hoped that he can become the "genius" of the team. However, Shiban, who brought his own ideas and wanted to "turn things upside down" met with resistance from the already established format and working methods of Star Trek, and left after a single season due to creative differences. (The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years)

Shiban attended the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature. He later earned a Master of Fine Art degree in Screenwriting from the American Film Institute.

He is perhaps best known as a writer and later as a producer on The X-Files (which was co-produced and directed by Rob Bowman and Kim Manners). He shared an Emmy Award nomination in 1997 for co-writing the X-Files episode "Memento Mori". As a co-producer on The X-Files, he was among the recipients of the show's Emmy nomination as Outstanding Drama Series in 1998.

While working on The X-Files, Shiban and fellow X-Files writers and producers created two short-lived series for the FOX network, Harsh Realm (starring Terry O'Quinn) and The Lone Gunmen. After his work on Enterprise, Shiban wrote for and co-executive produced the ABC series Threat Matrix. He also wrote and executive produced the 2004 TV adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

In 2006 Shiban wrote, directed and executive produced the TV horror movie Rest Stop. Among the performers he cast in this movie was Star Trek: Deep Space Nine guest actress Diane Salinger. Shiban recently produced a sequel, Rest Stop: Don't Look Back, also starring Salinger. Shiban then executive produced the 2007 direct-to-DVD releases Sublime and Believers.

From 2005 through 2007 Shiban was a writer and executive producer on the CW series Supernatural (with Mark Sheppard and again with direction by Manners); for the 2007–2008 season, he served as consulting producer on the series. In 2008, Shiban produced the DVD movies Otis (featuring Tracy Scoggins) and Alien Raiders (featuring Bonita Friedericy).

In April 2008 it was announced that Shiban had been tapped to executive produce the syndicated television series Wizard's First Rule, based on the books by Terry Goodkind. [1] The series was eventually produced under the title Legend of the Seeker; Shiban produced its first season.

During the 2009–2010 television season, Shiban worked as a writer and producer for the AMC drama series Breaking Bad (which co-starred Jonathan Banks, Dan Desmond, Raymond Cruz and John de Lancie) and its prequel spin-off Better Call Saul (again with Banks and Cruz).

Shiban was one of the writers for the fourth season of Torchwood. This makes him, along with fellow Torchwood writer Jane Espenson, one of only two people to write for both the Star Trek and Doctor Who franchises on television. [2]

In 2011-12, Shiban served as executive producer and writer on the first season of the western series Hell on Wheels, starring Anson Mount, Colm Meaney, and Christopher Heyerdahl.

Since 2020, he has been working as writer and executive producer on the Netflix crime drama show Ozark. In 2024, he became showrunner for the fourth season of the spin-off show Law & Order: Organized Crime (which co-starred Keith Carradine and was co-directed by The Orville's Jon Cassar).

Star Trek writing credits[]

External links[]

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