---
name: "David Handelman"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/david-handelman"
roles: ["Writer"]
born: "23 April 1961"
died: "15 August 2024"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_fi1m_score: 84
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 2
updated: "2026-09-20T21:11:38.528998+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 Handelman

Writer. Born 23 April 1961 in Scarsdale, New York. Died 15 August 2024.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer
- **Born:** 23 April 1961, Scarsdale, New York
- **Died:** 15 August 2024
- **Active:** 1998–1999
- **Average Fi1m score:** 84, as writer, over 2 titles
- **Elsewhere:** https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q23306260, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1283212/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1215053

## Biography

David Handelman was an American writer and former journalist. He began his career as a staff writer at Rolling Stone in the 1980s, later serving as arts editor at Vogue and contributing to publications including The New York Times, GQ and Vanity Fair.

Handelman moved into television after co-writing a spec script with Mark McKinney. Aaron Sorkin hired them for the Sports Night episode “The Sword of Orion” (1999); Handelman also wrote “The Sweet Smell of Air” (2000). He joined the staff of The West Wing for its fourth season (2002–03) and later worked on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006–07) and The Newsroom (2012). Other credits include episodes of Love Monkey (2006), One Tree Hill (season 6, 2008–09), Nashville (season 2, 2013–14) and Rogue (2015). He also produced for the CNN series Smerconish.

Handelman died on 15 August 2024 in New York, aged 63.

*Sources: hollywoodreporter.com, rollingstone.com, televisionacademy.com, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (2)

- *The West Wing* (1999), Fi1m 86, Story — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-west-wing.md)
- *Sports Night* (1998), Fi1m 82, Writer — [page](https://film.one/tv/sports-night.md)

## Complete filmography (5)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Nashville* (2012), series, Writer
- *The Newsroom* (2012), series, Story Editor
- *One Tree Hill* (2003), series, Writer, Story Editor
- *The West Wing* (1999), series, Story — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-west-wing.md)
- *Sports Night* (1998), series, Writer — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/sports-night.md)

---
© 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-handelman