--- name: "David Greenwalt" canonical: "https://film.one/person/david-greenwalt" fi1m_id: "david-greenwalt" imdb_id: "nm0339264" tmdb_id: 87590 wikidata_id: "Q2413805" roles: ["Writer","Director","Producer"] born: "16 October 1949" reviewed_on_fi1m: 4 average_as: "writer" average_over: 1 updated: "2026-09-26T15:00:45.449884+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # David Greenwalt ## Identity David Greenwalt - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/david-greenwalt - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** david-greenwalt - **IMDb ID:** nm0339264 - **TMDB ID:** 87590 - **Wikidata ID:** Q2413805 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Greenwalt, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2413805, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0339264/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/87590 Writer and director. Born 16 October 1949 in Los Angeles, CA. ## Details - **Work:** Writer, Director, Producer - **Born:** 16 October 1949, Los Angeles, CA - **Active:** 1988–2011 - **Titles on Fi1m:** 4: 3 directing, 1 writing - **Frequently works with:** [Nick Marck](https://film.one/person/nick-marck.md), [David Grossman](https://film.one/person/david-grossman.md), [David Solomon](https://film.one/person/david-solomon.md), [Howard Gordon](https://film.one/person/howard-gordon.md), [James A. Contner](https://film.one/person/james-a-contner.md), [James Whitmore Jr.](https://film.one/person/james-whitmore-jr.md), [Michael Lange](https://film.one/person/michael-lange.md), [Michael W. Watkins](https://film.one/person/michael-w-watkins.md) - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1980s 82 (1), 1990s 82 (2), 2010s 63 (1) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Greenwalt, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2413805, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0339264/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/87590 ## Streaming the US now - **Disney+:** [*The X-Files*](https://film.one/tv/the-x-files.md) (84), [*The Wonder Years*](https://film.one/tv/the-wonder-years.md) (82), [*Buffy the Vampire Slayer*](https://film.one/tv/buffy-the-vampire-slayer.md) (80) - **Peacock:** [*Grimm*](https://film.one/tv/grimm.md) (63) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on David Greenwalt > David Greenwalt is a writer worth following for the people in his supernatural stories. The programmes he helped shape can be uneven, but their humour and emotional pull usually give us good reason to stay. Sarah Michelle Gellar lets Buffy's irritation survive the jokes and the supernatural trouble. That matters: a heroine who can be funny and affecting without becoming agreeable gives a writer something to work with. David Greenwalt helped establish *Buffy the Vampire Slayer* (1997) as a writer, director and co-executive producer, working with Joss Whedon. We were moved by Gellar's Buffy because she never had to become sweet or patient to earn our affection. The series' uneven supernatural plotting is easier to forgive when its heroine feels so recognisably difficult. Before the supernatural programmes, Greenwalt wrote films with Jim Kouf, including *Class* (1983) and *Secret Admirer* (1985), which he also directed. His television writing and directing included *The Wonder Years* (1988), and that work belongs in any account of what he does well. Fred Savage makes adolescence funny and touching without making it easy, an approach that sits comfortably beside Greenwalt's later interest in character-led fantasy. Our reservation with the series is Daniel Stern's narration, which sometimes explains what the actors have already made clear. The writing needs to leave the performances enough room. *The X-Files* (1993), to which he contributed as a writer and producer, makes the same case for the value of a strong central performance, or two. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson make its unexplained events absorbing company, though the secrecy can try our patience. We would not assign either the pleasure or the frustration to Greenwalt alone. His responsibility became clearer on *Angel* (1999), the *Buffy* spin-off he co-created with Whedon and ran for its first three seasons. His stated emphasis on what happens to the characters helps explain why humour and hurt matter so much in his genre work. With *Grimm* (2011), he returned to Kouf to co-create a supernatural procedural. Kouf's presence also prevents us from treating the Whedon years as the whole story. We value Greenwalt's preference for developing characters over simply solving cases, but the stories still need to make sense. Start with *Buffy*, allowing for some uneven plotting along the way. ## Biography David Greenwalt is an American screenwriter, director and producer. Born on 16 October 1949 in Los Angeles, California, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in drama, English and education from the University of Redlands after earlier studies at Los Angeles City College and California State University, Northridge. He began his career writing and directing feature films in the 1980s, often in collaboration with Jim Kouf, before moving into television. Greenwalt wrote and directed episodes of *Buffy the Vampire Slayer* (1997), serving as co-executive producer and later executive producer on the series; he also wrote an episode of *The X-Files* (1993). He co-created the spin-off *Angel* (1999) with Joss Whedon and co-created the series *Grimm* (2011), on which he served as executive producer and writer. Other credits include work on *The Wonder Years* (1988), *The Commish* (1993) and *Profit* (1996). *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (4) ### Directed (3) - *Grimm* (2011), Fi1m 63, Director, Writer, Executive Producer, Creator — [page](https://film.one/tv/grimm.md) - *Buffy the Vampire Slayer* (1997), Fi1m 80, Director, Teleplay, Writer, Story, Co-Executive Producer, Consulting Producer — [page](https://film.one/tv/buffy-the-vampire-slayer.md) - *The Wonder Years* (1988), Fi1m 82, Writer, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-wonder-years.md) ### Wrote (1) — the average rests on these - *The X-Files* (1993), Fi1m 84, Writer — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-x-files.md) ## Complete filmography (28) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Vasos de papel* (2016), Writer - *Grimm* (2011), series, Writer, Executive Producer, Director, Creator — Fi1m 63, [page](https://film.one/tv/grimm.md) - *In Plain Sight* (2008), series, Consulting Producer - *Moonlight* (2007), series, Writer, Executive Producer - *Kidnapped* (2006), series, Producer - *Eureka* (2006), series, Consulting Producer - *Surface* (2005), series, Writer, Consulting Producer - *Jake 2.0* (2003), series, Director, Writer, Executive Producer - *Miracles* (2003), series, Writer, Executive Producer - *Angel* (1999), series, Director, Writer, Consulting Producer, Executive Producer, Story, Teleplay, Creator - *Buffy the Vampire Slayer* (1997), series, Writer, Director, Co-Executive Producer, Consulting Producer, Executive Producer, Story, Teleplay — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/tv/buffy-the-vampire-slayer.md) - *Profit* (1996), series, Executive Producer, Director, Writer, Creator - *The X-Files* (1993), series, Writer, Co-Executive Producer — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-x-files.md) - *Shannon's Deal* (1990), series, Director, Writer, Story, Teleplay - *Exile* (1990), Director - *Doogie Howser, M.D.* (1989), series, Writer - *Rude Awakening* (1989), Director - *The Wonder Years* (1988), series, Director, Writer — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-wonder-years.md) - *Double Switch* (1987), Director - *Miracles* (1986), Executive Producer - *Help Wanted: Kids* (1986), Director - *The Disney Sunday Movie* (1986), series, Director - *Secret Admirer* (1985), Director, Writer - *American Dreamer* (1984), Writer - *Class* (1983), Writer, Associate Producer - *Utilities* (1983), Screenplay, Story - *Wacko* (1982), Writer - *Untitled Grimm Reboot Film*, Executive Producer --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/david-greenwalt