A. Zell Williams is an award-winning playwright, TV producer, and screenwriter. He began his career in the Bay Area theatre scene and went on to see his work produced and developed across the country and internationally.

His plays include THE URBAN RETREAT (The Public Theatre), DOWN PAST PASSYUNK (InterAct Theatre, winner of the Barrymore Award for Best New Play), SLAY & EAT (Victory Gardens Ignition Festival), DIVERSITY (Ojai Playwrights Conference), CARROLL GARDENS (16th Street Theater), and IN A DAUGHTER’S EYES (InterAct Theatre, Brava Theatre).

Zell’s first television writing job was on the long-running series LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT (NBC). Since then, he has served as a writer on AMERICAN SOUL (BET), NEXT (Fox), GOOD TROUBLE (FreeForm), and INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE (AMC). He was part of the developmental room for THE LAST POLICE (Fox), created by Kyle Killen. Zell’s series, FREEDOM HOUSE, sold to Macro.

Zell is an alumnus of both Ars Nova’s Play Group and New Dramatists. He was a 3-time nominee for the prestigious Playwright of New York (PoNY) Award. He is the co-host and producer of The Inner Cities Podcast with his friend and fellow writer, Tochi Onyebuchi. He was born and raised in the California Central Valley, is an avid reader of African American history, a Francophile, a gamer, and the proud roommate of Grayson, the Aussie Cattle Dog.

Zell holds a Bachelor’s in Theatre Arts from Santa Clara University and a Master’s in Dramatic Writing from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.