William J. MacDonald (writer and producer)

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William J. MacDonald is an American film and television writer and producer.

MacDonald is a graduate of Georgetown University, and has a law degree from Fordham University in New York.^[1] With a background in international trade and business affairs, MacDonald eventually rose to run the famed Hollywood Producer Robert Evans' production company at Paramount Pictures.

MacDonald is responsible for producing such films as Silver, Jade, An Occasional Hell, Rough Riders, Molly and One Man's Hero. He has also written for the TNT series, Witchblade which ran from 2001-2002.

MacDonald is also the co-creator of the HBO original series Rome (in association of the BBC) along with Bruno Heller and John Milius. MacDonald serves as a writer and executive producer on the series.

A long time fan of The Saint, Macdonald acquired the television rights to the Leslie Charteris character in 2006. In consultation with Burl Barer, Edgar Award winning author of The Saint: A Complete History in Print, Radio, Television, and Film, Roger Moore, Ian Dickerson, and Audrey Charteris, Macdonald formulated a "faithful-to-the original" concept for adaptation to television's world markets. On December 7th, 2008 it was announced that James Purefoy will play Simon Templar in a new TV series of The Saint, which is scheduled to start shooting in Berlin and Australia in April of 2008.

Macdonald is also currently writing a screenplay based on Iris Chang's bestselling novel The Rape of Nanking.^[2]