# Terence Winter
**Terence Winter** (Terence Patrick Winter, born 1960 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American television writer, producer, and showrunner best known as a writer and executive producer on HBO's *The Sopranos* and as the creator and showrunner of HBO's Prohibition-era drama *Boardwalk Empire* (2010–2014).[1](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/terence-winter/) • [2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/terence-winter) He also wrote the screenplay for Martin Scorsese's *The Wolf of Wall Street*, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award in 2014.[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/terence-winter)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1960, Brooklyn, New York; birth name Terence Patrick Winter[1](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/terence-winter/) |
| Education | B.A., New York University, 1984; J.D., St. John's University School of Law, 1988[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/terence-winter) |
| *The Sopranos* | Writer and executive producer; credited with 25 episodes, more than anyone other than creator David Chase[3](https://time.com/3265324/boardwalk-empire-hbo-terence-winter-hbo/) |
| *Boardwalk Empire* | Creator, showrunner, and head writer, HBO, 2010–2014; pilot directed by Martin Scorsese[4](https://www.latimes.com/archives/blogs/show-tracker/story/2010-09-16/boardwalk-empire-executive-producer-terence-winter-talks-going-back-to-the-20s) |
| Film | *The Wolf of Wall Street* screenplay; Academy Award nomination, 2014[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/terence-winter) |
| Awards | Four Emmy awards and three Writers Guild Awards for *The Sopranos*[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/terence-winter) |
| Later series | Co-creator of *Vinyl* (HBO); served as showrunner and later head writer for *Tulsa King* (Paramount+)[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/terence-winter) • [5](https://www.cinemablend.com/streaming-news/dutton-ranch-bts-change-quotes-how-taylor-sheridan-wont-compromise-running-around) • [17](https://www.paramountpressexpress.com/cbs-entertainment/releases/?view=109346-season-one-of-paramount-original-series-tulsa-king-starring-oscar-nominee-sylvester-stallone-to-make-broadcast-premiere-on-cbs-in-summer-2024) |
## Early life and law career
Winter grew up in Brooklyn and attended a vocational high school to learn auto mechanics, then became the first person in his family to attend college.[6](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/index.php/interviews/terence-winter) He received a B.A. from New York University in 1984 and a J.D. from St. John's University School of Law in 1988.[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/terence-winter) In interviews he has described the sequence as deliberate avoidance: he became a lawyer, he says, to avoid being a writer, because growing up in Brooklyn a writing career sounded implausible.[7](https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/11/10/transcript-tulsa-king-conversation-with-terence-winter/)
Before television he held a series of working jobs. A *Vice* profile describes his twenties as a climb from working as a butcher in a gangster-owned neighborhood shop in Brooklyn to a position at a Manhattan law firm.[8](https://www.vice.com/en/article/vice-meets-terence-winter/) He was on the partnership track at a major firm when he quit, moved to Los Angeles, and began writing spec scripts; an early attempt, a *Doogie Howser, M.D.* episode, duplicated a storyline the show had already aired.[6](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/index.php/interviews/terence-winter) • [9](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-xpm-2012-sep-14-la-et-st-terence-winter-boardwalk-empire-20120915-story.html)
## Television work before The Sopranos
His first break came through the Warner Bros. Sitcom [Writers Workshop](https://www.edgepedia.org/writers-workshop), and his early credits spanned comedy and genre television: *The Cosby Mysteries* (NBC, 1994), *Sister, Sister* (ABC/The WB, 1994–99), *Xena: Warrior Princess* (syndicated, 1995–2001), and *Flipper* (syndicated, 1995–2000), the last of which carried his first producer credit.[1](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/terence-winter/) The Television Academy also lists *The Great Defender* and [Eddie Murphy](https://www.edgepedia.org/eddie-murphy)'s *[The PJs](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-pjs)* among the series he wrote for and produced before joining HBO.[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/terence-winter)
## The Sopranos
Winter joined HBO's *The Sopranos* in its second season and stayed through the series' run, writing and executive producing on the drama about a New Jersey mob family.[4](https://www.latimes.com/archives/blogs/show-tracker/story/2010-09-16/boardwalk-empire-executive-producer-terence-winter-talks-going-back-to-the-20s) • [10](https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/send_file/send?accession=bgsu1395641750&disposition=inline) He is credited with 25 episodes, more than any writer on the show other than creator [David Chase](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-chase).[3](https://time.com/3265324/boardwalk-empire-hbo-terence-winter-hbo/) The work brought him four Emmy awards and three Writers Guild Awards.[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/terence-winter) His Emmy wins include Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series in 2004 and 2006, and he was nominated in that category in 2007 for the episode "The Second Coming."[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/terence-winter)
## Boardwalk Empire
Near the end of his *Sopranos* tenure, HBO called Winter with a proposition: the network had optioned *Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times and Corruption of Atlantic City*, Nelson Johnson's history of corruption in Atlantic City, and asked him to read it and see whether a series was in it. When HBO added that Martin Scorsese was attached, Winter says he committed on the spot.[4](https://www.latimes.com/archives/blogs/show-tracker/story/2010-09-16/boardwalk-empire-executive-producer-terence-winter-talks-going-back-to-the-20s) • [11](https://wnyc.org/story/as-boardwalk-empire-comes-to-close-creator-reminisces-about-how-it-started/)
The resulting series, which Winter created, ran on HBO from 2010 to 2014 and dramatized the rise of organized crime in Atlantic City during [Prohibition](https://www.edgepedia.org/prohibition).[4](https://www.latimes.com/archives/blogs/show-tracker/story/2010-09-16/boardwalk-empire-executive-producer-terence-winter-talks-going-back-to-the-20s) Scorsese directed the pilot.[4](https://www.latimes.com/archives/blogs/show-tracker/story/2010-09-16/boardwalk-empire-executive-producer-terence-winter-talks-going-back-to-the-20s) Winter identified Enoch "Nucky" Johnson, the Atlantic City county treasurer during the Prohibition years, as the model for the lead, and fictionalized him as [Nucky Thompson](https://www.edgepedia.org/nucky-thompson), played by [Steve Buscemi](https://www.edgepedia.org/steve-buscemi); the idea of casting Buscemi arose when Scorsese mentioned wanting to work with the actor, whom Winter knew from *The Sopranos*.[11](https://wnyc.org/story/as-boardwalk-empire-comes-to-close-creator-reminisces-about-how-it-started/) • [12](https://boardwalkempire.fandom.com/wiki/Terence_Winter) Winter has said he deliberately strayed from the historical Johnson, telling an interviewer that an accurate casting of the real Nucky would have meant Jim Gandolfini.[12](https://boardwalkempire.fandom.com/wiki/Terence_Winter)
The production built a 300-foot-long (91 m) boardwalk set on an empty lot in Brooklyn at a cost of five million dollars; the pilot's final budget came in at 18 million dollars against a reported budget of up to 50 million.[12](https://boardwalkempire.fandom.com/wiki/Terence_Winter) Winter ran the show for its first four seasons, credited on 37 episodes.[12](https://boardwalkempire.fandom.com/wiki/Terence_Winter) He framed the series as the mirror image of his earlier work: *The Sopranos* explored the waning days of organized crime, while Prohibition was its beginning.[11](https://wnyc.org/story/as-boardwalk-empire-comes-to-close-creator-reminisces-about-how-it-started/)
**The ending.** Winter has been explicit that he wanted closure rather than ambiguity. He had lobbied Chase, unsuccessfully, to tell the audience what happened to the Russian in *The Sopranos* episode "Pine Barrens," and said in advance that he would not end *Boardwalk Empire* with a cut-to-black finale; the series' final season, an eight-episode run set in 1931 around the repeal of Prohibition, ends with Nucky Thompson's death shown unambiguously.[13](https://time.com/3536517/boardwalk-empire-finale-review/) • [3](https://time.com/3265324/boardwalk-empire-hbo-terence-winter-hbo/) Winter said the show had always been intended to bookend the Prohibition era, and that by the middle of season four the story was winding down on its own.[3](https://time.com/3265324/boardwalk-empire-hbo-terence-winter-hbo/)
## Film screenwriting
Winter's feature work includes the screenplay for *Get Rich or Die Tryin'* (2005) and *The Wolf of Wall Street* (2013), Scorsese's film starring [Leonardo DiCaprio](https://www.edgepedia.org/leonardo-dicaprio); the latter brought him an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2014.[1](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/terence-winter/) • [2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/terence-winter) In 2012 he was reported to be drafting a script for [Matt Damon](https://www.edgepedia.org/matt-damon) and [Ben Affleck](https://www.edgepedia.org/ben-affleck)'s Whitey Bulger biopic.[9](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-xpm-2012-sep-14-la-et-st-terence-winter-boardwalk-empire-20120915-story.html)
## Vinyl and later television
Winter was co-creator, head writer, and executive producer of HBO's *Vinyl*, a drama about the 1970s music industry made with Scorsese and [Mick Jagger](https://www.edgepedia.org/mick-jagger) among its producers.[2](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/terence-winter) • [14](https://time.com/4217048/vinyl-mick-jagger-martin-scorcese/) He later created and ran *Tulsa King*, the [Paramount+](https://www.edgepedia.org/paramount) crime drama starring [Sylvester Stallone](https://www.edgepedia.org/sylvester-stallone), writing on 12 episodes between 2022 and 2024.[15](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1010540/) He stepped down from the showrunner role after the first season, citing creative differences, and later returned as the show's head writer while the production continued without a season-two showrunner.[5](https://www.cinemablend.com/streaming-news/dutton-ranch-bts-change-quotes-how-taylor-sheridan-wont-compromise-running-around)
## The other Terence Winter
A separate American writer and producer, **Terence Paul Winter** (born 1974 in Chicago, Illinois), is credited on *Godzilla* (1998), *Castle* (2009–2016), *Lethal Weapon* (2017–2018), and as showrunner of *The Rookie: Feds* (2022–2023).[16](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0935834/) The two are distinct people, and credits for one are frequently misattributed to the other in online databases and discussions.
## References
1. [Terence Winter, TV Insider biography](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/terence-winter/)
2. [Terence Winter, Television Academy biography and Emmy record](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/terence-winter)
3. [Boardwalk Empire: Terence Winter Discusses Show's Final Season, TIME](https://time.com/3265324/boardwalk-empire-hbo-terence-winter-hbo/)
4. ['Boardwalk Empire' executive producer Terence Winter talks going back to the '20s, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/archives/blogs/show-tracker/story/2010-09-16/boardwalk-empire-executive-producer-terence-winter-talks-going-back-to-the-20s)
5. [Dutton Ranch Is Dealing With A Big BTS Change, CinemaBlend](https://www.cinemablend.com/streaming-news/dutton-ranch-bts-change-quotes-how-taylor-sheridan-wont-compromise-running-around)
6. [Terence Winter, Television Academy Interviews](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/index.php/interviews/terence-winter)
7. [Transcript: "Tulsa King" A Conversation with Terence Winter, The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/11/10/transcript-tulsa-king-conversation-with-terence-winter/)
8. [Terence Winter, Vice](https://www.vice.com/en/article/vice-meets-terence-winter/)
9. [It's back to Brooklyn for 'Boardwalk Empire's' Terence Winter, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-xpm-2012-sep-14-la-et-st-terence-winter-boardwalk-empire-20120915-story.html)
10. [The Strong, Silent Type: Tony Soprano, Don Draper, and the Construction of the White Male Antihero, OhioLINK thesis](https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/send_file/send?accession=bgsu1395641750&disposition=inline)
11. [As 'Boardwalk Empire' Comes To A Close, Creator Reminisces About Its Start, WNYC](https://wnyc.org/story/as-boardwalk-empire-comes-to-close-creator-reminisces-about-how-it-started/)
12. [Terence Winter, Boardwalk Empire Wiki](https://boardwalkempire.fandom.com/wiki/Terence_Winter)
13. [REVIEW: Boardwalk Empire Watch: Golden Boy, TIME](https://time.com/3536517/boardwalk-empire-finale-review/)
14. [Review: Vinyl Seeks Rock's Holy Grail, TIME](https://time.com/4217048/vinyl-mick-jagger-martin-scorcese/)
15. [Terence Winter, IMDb (nm1010540)](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1010540/)
16. [Terence Paul Winter, IMDb (nm0935834)](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0935834/)
17. [Paramount Press Express, SEASON ONE OF PARAMOUNT+ ORIGINAL SERIES “TULSA KING,” STARRING OSCAR® NOMINEE SYLVESTER STALLONE, TO MAKE BROADCAST PREMIERE ON CBS IN SUMMER 2024](https://www.paramountpressexpress.com/cbs-entertainment/releases/?view=109346-season-one-of-paramount-original-series-tulsa-king-starring-oscar-nominee-sylvester-stallone-to-make-broadcast-premiere-on-cbs-in-summer-2024)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Producers, studio executives, and showrunners › Television producers and showrunners › Drama series showrunners*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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