---
name: "René Balcer"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/rene-balcer"
roles: ["Director","Writer"]
born: "9 February 1954"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
updated: "2026-09-16T23:43:21.944511+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."
---

# René Balcer

Director and writer. Born 9 February 1954 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Writer
- **Born:** 9 February 1954, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- **Active:** 1987–1990
- **Also known as:**  René Balcer, Matthew Daniel David , Rene Balcer
- **Works often with:** Barry M. Schkolnick, Ed Zuckerman, Gabrielle Beaumont, Monty DeGraff, Morgan Gendel

## Biography

René Balcer is a Canadian-American television writer, producer and director. Born in Montreal, Quebec, in 1954, he studied creative writing and communication studies at Concordia University. He began his career in journalism and documentary filmmaking in Canada before moving to Los Angeles.

Balcer joined the writing staff of *Law & Order* in its first season in 1990 and later became showrunner. He created and showran the spin-off *Law & Order: Criminal Intent* (2001) and wrote the teleplay for the *Star Trek: The Next Generation* episode 'Power Play' (1992). His other credits include *FBI: Most Wanted* and the limited series *Law & Order True Crime* (2017).

He has received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series, a Peabody Award, a Writers Guild of America Award and multiple Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, memory-alpha.fandom.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Star Trek: The Next Generation* (1987), Fi1m 83, Teleplay — [page](https://film.one/tv/star-trek-the-next-generation.md)

## Also credited on (not yet reviewed)

- *Law & Order* (1990), Director, Story, Teleplay, Writer

## Also known for

- *Law & Order: Special Victims Unit* (1999), Writer, Story
- *FBI* (2018), Writer
- *FBI: Most Wanted* (2020), Writer
- *Law & Order: Criminal Intent* (2001), Writer, Teleplay, Story

---
© 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/rene-balcer