---
name: "David Milch"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/david-milch"
fi1m_id: "david-milch"
imdb_id: "nm0586965"
tmdb_id: 151295
wikidata_id: "Q1175673"
roles: ["Writer","Producer"]
born: "23 March 1945"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 5
average_fi1m_score: 84
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 5
updated: "2026-10-07T12:20:20.121091+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 Milch

## Identity

David Milch

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/david-milch
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** david-milch
- **IMDb ID:** nm0586965
- **TMDB ID:** 151295
- **Wikidata ID:** Q1175673
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Milch, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1175673, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0586965/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/151295

Writer and producer. Born 23 March 1945 in Buffalo, New York, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer, Producer
- **Born:** 23 March 1945, Buffalo, New York, USA
- **Active:** 1981–2014
- **Also known as:** David Sanford Milch
- **Frequently works with:** [Rick Wallace](https://film.one/person/rick-wallace.md), [Steven Bochco](https://film.one/person/steven-bochco.md), [Adam Nimoy](https://film.one/person/adam-nimoy.md), [Bernadette McNamara](https://film.one/person/bernadette-mcnamara.md), [Channing Gibson](https://film.one/person/channing-gibson.md), [Charles Haid](https://film.one/person/charles-haid.md), [Charles H. Eglee](https://film.one/person/charles-h-eglee.md), [Dan Attias](https://film.one/person/dan-attias.md)
- **Primetime Emmy Awards:** 4 Emmys (4 won · 15 nominated)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 84, as writer, over 5 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1980s 86 (1), 1990s 82 (2), 2000s 91 (1), 2010s 80 (1)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 84 to 82 across 3 titles
- **Score spread:** 5 at 80+, 0 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Drama 5, Crime 2, Mystery 1, Western 1
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Milch, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1175673, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0586965/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/151295

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*Deadwood*](https://film.one/tv/deadwood.md) (91), [*True Detective*](https://film.one/tv/true-detective.md) (80)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on David Milch

> David Milch makes people arguing over how to live together worth hours of our attention. His elaborate, profane dialogue can become a nuisance, but *Deadwood* earns our patience and our strong recommendation.

In *Deadwood* (2004), people swear, argue and produce elaborate speeches while trying to live together in a lawless camp. David Milch and his fellow writers make the attempts to establish order as absorbing as the violence. We were gripped by those disputes because even a promise of improvement makes us ask who will be paying for it. The series lets us understand competing interests without requiring us to like everyone involved. It is superb television, including for those of us with little appetite for Westerns.

He wrote for *Hill Street Blues* (1981) before co-creating *NYPD Blue* (1993) with Steven Bochco. Those police dramas gave him room to develop characters over time, through their dealings with one another. In *Deadwood*, he takes that interest into a place where the rules have yet to be agreed. The pleasure is in watching people learn what they must tolerate, and what they can reasonably expect, if they are going to stay.

His method includes dictating scenes and refining their rhythms through repetition, which helps explain the care audible in the dialogue. Ian McShane's Al Swearengen is an extraordinary match for writing that asks so much of the actor speaking it. There are passages, though, where we start listening to the phrasing and stop attending to the person. Profanity can become equally tiresome when there is too much of it. The opening stretch asks for patience, but once the ensemble settles, those irritations diminish and the series more than repays the effort.

*John from Cincinnati* (2007) and the horse-racing series *Luck* (2011) each lasted one season; Milch later wrote the *Deadwood* film (2019). His later series have drawn complaints of obscurity, a risk we can recognise when the speeches in *Deadwood* become too elaborate. We do not need every sentence to be easy, but we do need to know why a person is saying it. Begin with *Deadwood*, and save it for an evening when there is time to listen.

## Biography

David Sanford Milch is an American television writer and producer. He was born on 23 March 1945 in Buffalo, New York. He graduated summa cum laude from Yale University and earned an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa. He began his television career writing for *Hill Street Blues* in 1982.

Milch co-created *NYPD Blue* (1993) with Steven Bochco and created the HBO series *Deadwood* (2004). He also wrote for *True Detective* (2014) and *Luck* (2012), and wrote the 2019 film *Deadwood: The Movie*. He has been married to Rita Stern since 1982.

*Sources: tvinsider.com, imdb.com, wikiwand.com.*

## On Fi1m (5)

- *True Detective* (2014), Fi1m 80, Writer — [page](https://film.one/tv/true-detective.md)
- *Deadwood* (2004), Fi1m 91, Creator, Writer, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/tv/deadwood.md)
- *Murder One* (1995), Fi1m 82, Writer, Creative Consultant — [page](https://film.one/tv/murder-one.md)
- *NYPD Blue* (1993), Fi1m 82, Story, Teleplay, Creator, Writer — [page](https://film.one/tv/nypd-blue.md)
- *Hill Street Blues* (1981), Fi1m 86, Executive Producer, Co-Producer, Writer, Co-Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/tv/hill-street-blues.md)

## Complete filmography (19)

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

- *Deadwood: The Movie* (2019), Executive Producer, Writer
- *Robert Penn Warren: A Vision* (2018), Actor
- *True Detective* (2014), series, Writer — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/tv/true-detective.md)
- *Luck* (2012), series, Writer, Executive Producer, Creator
- *John from Cincinnati* (2007), series, Executive Producer, Writer, Creator
- *Deadwood* (2004), series, Writer, Executive Producer, Creator — Fi1m 91, [page](https://film.one/tv/deadwood.md)
- *Big Apple* (2001), series, Creator
- *Total Security* (1997), series, Creator
- *Brooklyn South* (1997), series, Writer, Executive Producer, Creator
- *Murder One* (1995), series, Writer, Creative Consultant — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/murder-one.md)
- *NYPD Blue* (1993), series, Writer, Story, Teleplay, Executive Producer, Executive Consultant, Creator — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/nypd-blue.md)
- *Civil Wars* (1991), series, as Investigator
- *Capital News* (1990), series, Executive Producer, Creator
- *Home Free* (1988), Writer, Executive Producer
- *Beverly Hills Buntz* (1987), series, Creator
- *L.A. Law* (1986), series, as James Beaumont, Pelton, Al Urbaniak · Writer
- *Bay City Blues* (1983), series, Writer
- *The Beginnings of Bebop* (1981), Producer
- *Hill Street Blues* (1981), series, Writer, Co-Producer, Co-Executive Producer, Executive Producer — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/tv/hill-street-blues.md)

## Gallery

- ![David Milch](https://film.one/media/person/61274/gallery-ab05233b858e.jpg) David Milch — Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/David_Milch_%288226373241%29.jpg/1280px-David_Milch_%288226373241%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![64th Annual Peabody Awards Luncheon Waldorf=Astoria Hotel New York, NY USA May 16, 2005](https://film.one/media/person/61274/gallery-07893e20ab3c.jpg) 64th Annual Peabody Awards Luncheon Waldorf=Astoria Hotel New York, NY USA May 16, 2005 — Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/29/David_Milch_%288226365071%29.jpg/1280px-David_Milch_%288226365071%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![64th Annual Peabody Awards Luncheon Waldorf=Astoria Hotel New York, NY USA May 16, 2005](https://film.one/media/person/61274/gallery-ee67df751f9b.jpg) 64th Annual Peabody Awards Luncheon Waldorf=Astoria Hotel New York, NY USA May 16, 2005 — Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d7/David_Milch_%288226365527%29.jpg/1280px-David_Milch_%288226365527%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![64th Annual Peabody Awards Luncheon Waldorf=Astoria Hotel New York, NY USA May 16, 2005](https://film.one/media/person/61274/gallery-201c403b5f7f.jpg) 64th Annual Peabody Awards Luncheon Waldorf=Astoria Hotel New York, NY USA May 16, 2005 — Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/88/David_Milch_%288226365997%29.jpg/1280px-David_Milch_%288226365997%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![David Milch](https://film.one/media/person/61274/gallery-0453be5f697f.jpg) David Milch — Image via TMDB
- ![64th Annual Peabody Awards Luncheon Waldorf=Astoria Hotel New York, NY USA May 16, 2005](https://film.one/media/person/61274/gallery-c312ba405120.jpg) 64th Annual Peabody Awards Luncheon Waldorf=Astoria Hotel New York, NY USA May 16, 2005 — Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e5/David_Milch_%288226366849%29.jpg/1280px-David_Milch_%288226366849%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![64th Annual Peabody Awards Luncheon Waldorf=Astoria Hotel New York, NY USA May 16, 2005](https://film.one/media/person/61274/gallery-e91b90e2ae75.jpg) 64th Annual Peabody Awards Luncheon Waldorf=Astoria Hotel New York, NY USA May 16, 2005 — Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/David_Milch_%288226368469%29.jpg/1280px-David_Milch_%288226368469%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Primetime Emmy Awards — 4 won, 15 nominated

- 2005: Outstanding Drama Series (nominated), for *Deadwood*
- 2004: Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (nominated), for *Deadwood*
- 1999: Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (nominated), for *NYPD Blue*
- 1999: Outstanding Drama Series (nominated), for *NYPD Blue*
- 1998: Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (won), for *NYPD Blue*
- 1998: Outstanding Drama Series (nominated), for *NYPD Blue*
- 1997: Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (won), for *NYPD Blue*
- 1997: Outstanding Drama Series (nominated), for *NYPD Blue*
- 1996: Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (nominated), for *Murder One*
- 1996: Outstanding Drama Series (nominated), for *NYPD Blue*
- 1995: Outstanding Drama Series (won), for *NYPD Blue*
- 1995: Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (nominated), for *NYPD Blue*
- 1994: Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (nominated), for *NYPD Blue*
- 1994: Outstanding Drama Series (nominated), for *NYPD Blue*
- 1987: Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (nominated), for *Hill Street Blues*
- 1986: Outstanding Drama Series (nominated), for *Hill Street Blues*
- 1985: Outstanding Drama Series (nominated), for *Hill Street Blues*
- 1984: Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (nominated), for *Hill Street Blues*
- 1983: Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (won), for *Hill Street Blues*

### Other awards — 2 won, 5 nominated

- Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Dramatic Series 2007: Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Dramatic Series (nominated), for *Deadwood*
- Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Dramatic Series 2006: Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Dramatic Series (nominated), for *Deadwood*
- Laurel Award for TV Writing Achievement 1999: Laurel Award for TV Writing Achievement (won)
- Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Episodic Drama 1997: Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Episodic Drama (nominated)
- Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Episodic Drama 1995: Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Episodic Drama (nominated), for *Pilot*
- Edgar Awards 1994: Edgar Awards (won)
- Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Episodic Drama 1986: Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Episodic Drama (nominated)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© 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-milch