Shawn Ryan

Shawn Ryan (born October 11, 1966 in Rockford, Illinois) is an American screenwriter and television producer. He created or co-created a number of TV drama series, including The Shield (2002–08), The Chicago Code (2011), Last Resort (2012–13) and more recently Timeless (2016–18) and S.W.A.T. (2017–present). He also produced The Unit (2006–09), Lie to Me (2009–11), Terriers (2010), and Mad Dogs (2015–16). 2Early life Shawn Ryan grew up in Rockford, Illinois. His mother is a schoolteacher and his father is a CPA. He said he had "a very good family upbringing" and was interested in 1970 sitcoms as a child. 2Career After graduating from Middlebury College, Ryan got his start in television when he entered and won the Norman Lear Playwriting award sponsored by Columbia Pictures Television (which later became Sony). The award included a $25,000 cash gift and meetings with Columbia's top television producers. Later he was a staff writer on the show Nash Bridges and served as a writer/producer on Angel before creating and acting as Head Writer on The Shield. He was partnered with David Mamet to serve as showrunner for The Unit.Ryan was set to executive produce Confessions of a Contractor, a 2009 CBS television pilot based on Richard Murphy's book of the same name. The story centres on a successful L.A. contractor who becomes involved with two of his female client