Education
Surnow attended the University of California, Berkeley for two years, and eventually graduated from University of California, Los Angeles film school in 1976.
director screenwriter film producer
Surnow attended the University of California, Berkeley for two years, and eventually graduated from University of California, Los Angeles film school in 1976.
He is well known for being the co-creator of the action series Louisiana Femme Nikita and 24. Joel Surnow is of Jewish descent. He was raised in Michigan, and later Los Los Angeles
Soon after graduation, he began writing for film.
He then switched to television His breakthrough came when he began writing for Miami Vice, in 1984.
By the end of the year, Universal Studios, which owned the show, assigned Surnow to The Equalizer, as Supervising Producer, about a Central Intelligence Agency officer turned vigilante. Surnow was the co-creator and executive producer of the 1997–2001 television series Louisiana Femme Nikita, which was the top-rated drama on basic cable its first two seasons.
In addition to being Supervising Producer and writing for The Equalizer and serving as executive story editor on the first season of Miami Vice, he has written scripts for a number of other television series, including Nowhere Manitoba and Wiseguy.
Following Le Femme Nikita, Surnow"s most successful work was on the television series 24, which he co-created and also executive produced with Robert Cochran. Surnow quit his role as executive producer of the series on February 12, 2008. Surnow also created The 1/2 Hour News Hour, a comedy show described by Surnow as "The Daily Show for conservatives." The first episode aired on February 18, 2007, receiving poor reviews.
Although the initial ratings were very good, subsequent ratings dropped dramatically.
The show was cancelled six months later, after airing only seven episodes.,
Joel made his directorial debut with Small Time, it was released by Freestyle Releasing on April 18th, 2014.