Eric Rudnick
At his first TV job Eric Rudnick pitched an idea involving a chimpanzee. His boss remarked, “that’s great, but how are we going to get everyone watching at home to take acid?”
It was a reality show called Man vs. Beast on Fox. That’s how Eric got his start in TV, through a side door someone left open and onto productions like RuPaul’s Drag Race, Hell’s Kitchen, and The Biggest Loser. As a Challenge Producer, he helped pit people against each other for cash and prizes.
Raised in Massapequa, NY, Eric graduated with a Commercial Art degree from a community college, and played drums in a couple of bands for beer money. After moving to Manhattan and studying acting at The Neighborhood Playhouse and Playwrights Horizons, he began writing plays and his work has been produced in New York and Los Angeles. One of his plays, The Edge of Allegiance, became a web series which premiered on the front page of Funny or Die.
His move to scripted TV started when he won the ATX Festival’s Pitch Competition, which lead to developing a show with Fox 21 and Milestone TV & Film. He sold a show to TNT, a dramedy about an assisted living facility for Veterans, and he optioned a comedy to Fox about an investment banker who joins a traveling carnival. He is currently prepping his first feature as writer/director.
Eric digs volunteering with Young Storytellers and 826LA. He is a member of The Playwrights Union and Antaeus Theatre Company’s Playwrights Lab.