# Kurt Sutter

Kurt Leon Sutter (born May 5, 1960) is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and actor. He worked as a writer, director, and executive producer on The Shield, and appeared on the show as hitman Margos Dezerian. Sutter is also the creator of Sons of Anarchy and its spinoff Mayans M.C. on FX; he wrote, produced, and directed the series, as well as played incarcerated club member Otto Delaney. Sutter spent time with members of an outlaw motorcycle club in Northern California as research for Sons of Anarchy. Sutter's wife, actress Katey Sagal, played main character Gemma Teller.

## Early life

Sutter was born in Rahway, New Jersey. His father worked at the General Motors plant in Linden, New Jersey, and his mother was a secretary for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark. He has two older sisters. He grew up in the township of Clark, New Jersey and graduated from Roselle Catholic High School in 1982.
Sutter attended Livingston College for the journalism department of Rutgers University—which was located there—eventually graduating from Rutgers University with a BA in mass media with a minor in English in 1986. He moved to New York City and studied Meisner technique, did theater, and taught at the Gately/Poole Conservatory. Sutter then attended Northern Illinois University for three years, starting in 1997, to obtain his M.F.A. in performance and directing.

## Career

Sutter was hired as a staff writer for the first season of FX crime drama The Shield in 2002. He made his television acting debut with the episode "Blowback", in which he appeared as Armenian mob hitman Margos Dezerian. He co-wrote the episodes "Dragonchasers" and "Two Days of Blood" with fellow staff writer Scott Rosenbaum, and was promoted to story editor for the second season in 2003. He wrote the episodes "Scar Tissue" and "Dead Soldiers" and in 2004, joined the production team in the junior role of co-producer for the third season. He continued to write episodes and scripted "Playing Tight" and "Mum" with series creator and executive producer Shawn Ryan, "Slipknot" solo, and "Fire in the Hole" with consulting producer Charles H. Eglee. He reprised his role as Dezerian in the season's final episodes "All In" and "On Tilt".
He was promoted to supervising producer for the fourth season in 2005. He wrote the episode "Grave" solo, co-wrote the story for the episode "Judas Priest" with Eglee and co-wrote the teleplay with Rosenbaum. He co-wrote the story for the season finale "Ain't That a Shame" with Ryan; Ryan co-wrote the teleplay for the episode with co-executive producer Glen Mazzara. Sutter became a co-executive producer for the fifth season in 2006. He wrote the episode "Extraction", co-wrote the episode "Trophy" with Renee Palya and Tony Soltis, and co-wrote the season's penultimate episode "Fire in the Hole" with Eglee.
He became an executive producer for the sixth season in 2007, directed a promotional mini-episode for the sixth season entitled "Wins and Losses," and wrote the sixth-season premiere "On the Jones". He co-wrote the episode "Exiled" with Rosenbaum, also now an executive producer.
Sutter returned as an executive producer and writer for the seventh and final season in 2008. He wrote the premiere "Coefficient of Drag" and co-wrote the episode "Parricide" with Gary Lennon. At the close of the season he was the series' second most prolific writer (after Ryan), having written or co-written 18 episodes in total.
Also in 2008, Sutter created and executive produced a new series for FX entitled Sons of Anarchy. The show centers on the titular motorcycle club in a fictitious town called Charming in California. He was the series head writer and showrunner. Along with the pilot episode he wrote the episodes "Seeds", "Fun Town", "Capybara", "The Sleep of Babies", and the season finale "The Revelator". He would go on to write 61 of the show's 92 episodes. Sutter appears in the show as incarcerated club member Otto Delaney, and he cast his wife Katey Sagal in the starring role as the club's matriarch Gemma Teller Morrow. Sutter also hired several crew members whom he had worked with on The Shield, including unit production manager and producer Kevin G. Cremin, post-production supervisor and producer Craig Yahata, and directors Guy Ferland, Stephen Kay, Gwyneth Horder-Payton, Paris Barclay, Terrence O'Hara, and Billy Gierhart. The first season also featured The Shield star Jay Karnes as a recurring special guest star playing ATF Agent Joshua Kohn. This is a trend that continued in later seasons with the majority of the main cast of The Shield appearing in later episodes in a variety of different roles.
Sutter remained showrunner and executive producer for the series' second season in 2009. He wrote the season premiere "Albification", co-wrote the episode "Eureka" with Brett Conrad, co-wrote the episode "Gilead" with co-producer Chris Collins, co-wrote the episode "Potlatch" with Misha Green, co-wrote the teleplay for the episode "Service" with co-executive producer Jack LoGiudice from a story by Brady Dahl and Cory Udica, co-wrote the episode "The Culling" with consulting producer Dave Erickson, and wrote and directed the season finale "Na Trioblóidí". The second season featured The Shield star Kenny Johnson as a special guest star playing a club member named Kozik.
Sutter returned as showrunner and executive producer for the third season in 2010. He wrote the season premiere "SO", co-wrote the episode "Oiled" with Erickson, now a co-executive producer, co-wrote the episode "Home" with Liz Sagal, series' star Katey Sagal's sister and his sister-in-law. He co-wrote the episode "Widening Gyre" with co-producer Regina Corrado and the episode "Lochan Mor" with Erickson and Liz Sagal. He wrote the story for the episode "Turas"; the teleplay was co-written by Collins (now a producer) and Dahl. He co-wrote the episode "Firinne" with Vaunn Wilmott and the episode "Bainne" with Corrado and Erickson. He wrote the story for the episode "June Wedding"; Collins wrote the teleplay. He reprised the role of Otto in the season finale, titled "NS", which he also directed and co-wrote with Erickson. Johnson returned as Kozik in the third season. He would go on to produce seven seasons of Sons. The show concluded airing in December 2014.
In 2010, DreamWorks picked up Sutter's film script, Southpaw, and Eminem was eyed for the lead role. The film was dropped by DreamWorks in 2011, and was later picked up by MGM and Columbia Pictures. Antoine Fuqua directed the film, and Jake Gyllenhaal replaced Eminem in the lead. Rachel McAdams, Rita Ora, 50 Cent, and Forest Whitaker also appeared in the film. Southpaw was released on July 24, 2015, by The Weinstein Company.
In 2014, it was announced Sutter had begun developing The Bastard Executioner, a new series for FX, The series was ordered to pilot on December 12, 2014. Katey Sagal, Lee Jones, and Stephen Moyer signed on to join the cast of the pilot. On May 22, 2015, the pilot was ordered to series with a 10-episode launch to premiere on September 15, 2015, on FX. The series was cancelled after one season. He went on to create the Sons of Anarchy spinoff Mayans M.C. In October 2019, Sutter was fired from FX after multiple complaints were lodged against him about his "abrasive" and "unprofessional" behavior. Sutter appeared in the 2021 science fiction film Chaos Walking, his first feature film acting role.

### Comic books

In 2016, Sutter produced a six-issue comic book miniseries with Boom! Studios entitled Lucas Stand. The first issue was released on June 1, 2016. He also worked on a comic book called Sisters of Sorrow; the book was launched at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con.

## Projects in development

In May 2021, it was announced that Sutter would direct a horror film titled This Beast for Netflix. In November 2021, it was announced that he would create a western series titled The Abandons for Netflix.

## Influences

Sutter has stated he's had multiple influences in his writing style, including William Shakespeare, specifically his play Hamlet. He based the characters of Sons of Anarchy on Hamlet. Other cultural influences include Mad Magazine, Hanna-Barbera cartoons, and the television show Hill Street Blues, among others.

## Personal life

Sutter moved to Los Angeles in 2000. Sutter married actress Katey Sagal in a private ceremony on October 2, 2004, at their home in Los Feliz, California. Their first child, daughter Esme Louise, was born January 10, 2007. Esme was carried by a surrogate mother.
Sutter is an animal rights activist, and is vegan. He is also a motorcycle enthusiast.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Film | Actor | Director | Writer | Role(s) |
| 2015 | Southpaw | No | No | Yes | N/A |
| 2021 | Chaos Walking | Yes | No | No | Cillian Boyd |
| TBA | This Beast | TBA | Yes | TBA | |

### Television
#### Actor

| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
| 2002–2004 | The Shield | Margos Dezerian | 4 episodes |
| 2008–2013 | Sons of Anarchy | "Big" Otto Delaney | 20 episodes |
| 2015 | The Bastard Executioner | The Dark Mute | 9 episodes |

#### Producer

| Year | Show | Role |
| 2002–2008 | The Shield | Credited as: Executive producer (Seasons 6–7) Co-executive producer (Season 5) Supervising producer (Season 4) Co-producer (Season 3) Story editor (Season 2) Staff writer (Season 1) |
| 2008–2014 | Sons of Anarchy | Executive producer |
| 2015 | The Bastard Executioner | Executive producer |
| 2018–2023 | Mayans M.C. | Executive producer |

#### Writer

| Year | Show | Season | Episode title | Episode | Original airdate | Notes |
| 2019 | Mayans M.C. | 2 | "Hunahpu" | 10 | November 5, 2019 | |
| 2019 | Mayans M.C. | 2 | "Itzam-Ye" | 9 | October 29, 2019 | Co-written with Elgin James |
| 2019 | Mayans M.C. | 2 | "Xbalanque" | 1 | September 3, 2019 | |
| 2018 | Mayans M.C. | 1 | "Cuervo/Tz'ikb'ull" | 10 | November 6, 2018 | |
| 2018 | Mayans M.C. | 1 | "Serpiente/Chikchan" | 9 | October 30, 2018 | Co-written with Sean Tretta |
| 2018 | Mayans M.C. | 1 | "Murcielago/Zotz" | 4 | September 25, 2018 | Co-written with Santa Sierra |
| 2018 | Mayans M.C. | 1 | "Escorpion/Dzec" | 2 | September 11, 2018 | |
| 2018 | Mayans M.C. | 1 | "Perro/Oc" | 1 | September 4, 2018 | |
| 2015 | The Bastard Executioner | 1 | "Effigy/Delw" | 3 | September 22, 2015 | Co-written with Charles Murray and Nichole Beattie |
| 2015 | The Bastard Executioner | 1 | "Pilot, Part 2" | 2 | September 15, 2015 | |
| 2015 | The Bastard Executioner | 1 | "Pilot, Part 1" | 1 | September 15, 2015 | |
| 2014 | Sons of Anarchy | 7 | "Papa's Goods" | 13 | December 9, 2014 | |
| 2014 | Sons of Anarchy | 7 | "Red Rose" | 12 | December 2, 2014 | Co-written with Charles Murray |
| 2014 | Sons of Anarchy | 7 | "Suits of Woe" | 11 | November 18, 2014 | Co-written with Peter Elkoff and Mike Daniel |
| 2014 | Sons of Anarchy | 7 | "Faith and Despondency" | 10 | November 11, 2014 | Co-written with Kem Nunn and Gladys Rodriguez |
| 2014 | Sons of Anarchy | 7 | "What a Piece of Work is Man" | 9 | November 4, 2014 | Co-written with Mike Daniels and Roberto Patino |
| 2014 | Sons of Anarchy | 7 | "The Separation of Crows" | 8 | October 28, 2014 | Co-written with Peter Elkoff and John Barcheski |
| 2014 | Sons of Anarchy | 7 | "Greensleeves" | 7 | October 21, 2014 | Co-written with Gladys Rodriguez and Josh Botana |
| 2014 | Sons of Anarchy | 7 | "Smoke 'em If You Got 'em" | 6 | October 14, 2014 | Co-written with Mike Daniels |
| 2014 | Sons of Anarchy | 7 | "Some Strange Eruption" | 5 | October 7, 2014 | Co-written with Roberto Patino |
| 2014 | Sons of Anarchy | 7 | "Poor Little Lambs" | 4 | September 30, 2014 | Co-written with Kem Nunn |
| 2014 | Sons of Anarchy | 7 | "Playing with Monsters" | 3 | September 23, 2014 | Co-written with Peter Elkoff |
| 2014 | Sons of Anarchy | 7 | "Toil and Till" | 2 | September 16, 2014 | Co-written with Kem Nunn |
| 2014 | Sons of Anarchy | 7 | "Black Widower" | 1 | September 9, 2014 |
| 2013 | Sons of Anarchy | 6 | "A Mother's Work" | 13 | December 10, 2013 | Co-written with Chris Collins |
| 2013 | Sons of Anarchy | 6 | "You Are My Sunshine" | 12 | December 3, 2013 | Co-written with Kem Nunn and Mike Daniels |
| 2013 | Sons of Anarchy | 6 | "Aon Rud Persanta" | 11 | November 19, 2013 | Co-written with Chris Collins |
| 2013 | Sons of Anarchy | 6 | "Huang Wu" | 10 | November 12, 2013 | Co-written with Charles Murray |
| 2013 | Sons of Anarchy | 6 | "John 8:32" | 9 | November 5, 2013 | Co-written with Kem Nunn |
| 2013 | Sons of Anarchy | 6 | "Los Fantasmas" | 8 | October 29, 2013 | Co-written with Roberto Patino |
| 2013 | Sons of Anarchy | 6 | "Sweet and Vaded" | 7 | October 22, 2013 | Co-written with Adria Lang |
| 2013 | Sons of Anarchy | 6 | "Salvage" | 6 | October 15, 2013 | Co-written with Mike Daniels |
| 2013 | Sons of Anarchy | 6 | "The Mad King" | 5 | October 8, 2013 | Co-written with Roberto Patino and Chris Collins |
| 2013 | Sons of Anarchy | 6 | "Wolfsangel" | 4 | October 1, 2013 | Co-written with Kem Nunn |
| 2013 | Sons of Anarchy | 6 | "Poenitentia" | 3 | September 24, 2013 | Co-written with Charles Murray |
| 2013 | Sons of Anarchy | 6 | "Straw" | 1 | September 10, 2013 |
| 2012 | Sons of Anarchy | 5 | "J'ai Obtenu Cette" | 13 | December 4, 2012 | Co-written with Chris Collins |
| 2012 | Sons of Anarchy | 5 | "Darthy" | 12 | November 27, 2012 | Co-written with Chris Collins |
| 2012 | Sons of Anarchy | 5 | "To Thine Own Self" | 11 | November 20, 2012 | Co-written with Mike Daniels and John Barcheski |
| 2012 | Sons of Anarchy | 5 | "Andare Pescare" | 9 | November 6, 2012 | Co-written with Liz Sagal |
| 2012 | Sons of Anarchy | 5 | "Toad's Wild Ride" | 7 | October 23, 2012 | Co-written with Chris Collins |
| 2012 | Sons of Anarchy | 5 | "Orca Shrugged" | 5 | October 9, 2012 | Co-written with Regina Corrado |
| 2012 | Sons of Anarchy | 5 | "Laying Pipe" | 3 | September 25, 2012 | Co-written with Kem Nunn and Liz Sagal |
| 2012 | Sons of Anarchy | 5 | "Sovereign" | 1 | September 11, 2012 |
| 2011 | Sons of Anarchy | 4 | "To Be, Act 2" | 14 | December 6, 2011 | Co-written with Chris Collins |
| 2011 | Sons of Anarchy | 4 | "To Be, Act 1" | 13 | November 29, 2011 | Co-written with Chris Collins |
| 2011 | Sons of Anarchy | 4 | "Burnt and Purged Away" | 12 | November 22, 2011 | Co-written with Dave Erickson |
| 2011 | Sons of Anarchy | 4 | "Hands" | 10 | November 8, 2011 | Co-written with Chris Collins and David LaBrava |
| 2011 | Sons of Anarchy | 4 | "Fruit for the Crows" | 7 | October 18, 2011 | Co-written with Liz Sagal |
| 2011 | Sons of Anarchy | 4 | "Una Venta" | 4 | September 27, 2011 | Co-written with Marco Ramirez |
| 2011 | Sons of Anarchy | 4 | "Out" | 1 | September 6, 2011 |
| 2010 | Sons of Anarchy | 3 | "NS" | 13 | November 30, 2010 | Co-written with Dave Erickson |
| 2010 | Sons of Anarchy | 3 | "June Wedding" | 12 | November 23, 2010 | Story by Sutter, teleplay by Chris Collins |
| 2010 | Sons of Anarchy | 3 | "Bainne" | 11 | November 16, 2010 | Co-written with Dave Erickson and Regina Corrado |
| 2010 | Sons of Anarchy | 3 | "Fírinne" | 10 | November 9, 2010 | Co-written with Vaun Wilmott |
| 2010 | Sons of Anarchy | 3 | "Turas" | 9 | November 2, 2010 | Story by Sutter, teleplay co-written by Chris Collins and Brady Dahl |
| 2010 | Sons of Anarchy | 3 | "Lochan Mor" | 8 | October 26, 2010 | Co-written with Dave Erickson and Liz Sagal |
| 2010 | Sons of Anarchy | 3 | "Widening Gyre" | 7 | October 19, 2010 | Co-written with Regina Corrado |
| 2010 | Sons of Anarchy | 3 | "Home" | 4 | September 28, 2010 | Co-written with Liz Sagal |
| 2010 | Sons of Anarchy | 3 | "Oiled" | 2 | September 14, 2010 | Co-written with Dave Erickson |
| 2010 | Sons of Anarchy | 3 | "SO" | 1 | September 7, 2010 | |
| 2009 | Sons of Anarchy | 2 | "Na Trioblóidí" | 13 | December 1, 2009 | |
| 2009 | Sons of Anarchy | 2 | "The Culling" | 12 | November 24, 2009 | Co-written with Dave Erickson |
| 2009 | Sons of Anarchy | 2 | "Service" | 11 | November 17, 2009 | Teleplay co-written with Jack LoGiudice from a story by Brady Dahl and Cori Udica |
| 2009 | Sons of Anarchy | 2 | "Potlatch" | 8 | October 27, 2009 | Co-written with Misha Green |
| 2009 | Sons of Anarchy | 2 | "Gilead" | 7 | October 20, 2009 | Co-written with Chris Collins |
| 2009 | Sons of Anarchy | 2 | "Eureka" | 4 | September 29, 2009 | Co-written with Brett Conrad |
| 2009 | Sons of Anarchy | 2 | "Albification" | 1 | September 8, 2009 | |
| 2008 | Sons of Anarchy | 1 | "The Revelator" | 13 | November 26, 2008 | |
| 2008 | Sons of Anarchy | 1 | "The Sleep of Babies" | 12 | November 19, 2008 | |
| 2008 | Sons of Anarchy | 1 | "Capybara" | 11 | November 12, 2008 | Co-written with Dave Erickson |
| 2008 | Sons of Anarchy | 1 | "The Pull" | 8 | October 22, 2008 | Co-written with Jack LoGiudice |
| 2008 | Sons of Anarchy | 1 | "Fun Town" | 3 | September 17, 2008 | |
| 2008 | Sons of Anarchy | 1 | "Seeds" | 2 | September 10, 2008 | |
| 2008 | Sons of Anarchy | 1 | "Pilot" | 1 | September 3, 2008 | |
| 2008 | The Shield | 7 | "Parricide" | 8 | October 21, 2008 | Co-written with Gary Lennon |
| 2008 | The Shield | 7 | "Coefficient of Drag" | 1 | September 2, 2008 | |
| 2007 | The Shield | 6 | "Exiled" | 7 | May 15, 2007 | Co-written with Scott Rosenbaum |
| 2007 | The Shield | 6 | "On The Jones" | 1 | April 3, 2007 | |
| 2006 | The Shield | 5 | "Of Mice and Lem" | 10 | March 14, 2006 | Co-written with Charles H. Eglee |
| 2006 | The Shield | 5 | "Trophy" | 5 | February 7, 2006 | Co-written with Renee Palya and Tony Soltis |
| 2006 | The Shield | 5 | "Extraction" | 1 | January 10, 2006 | |
| 2005 | The Shield | 4 | "Ain't That a Shame" | 13 | June 14, 2005 | Story co-written with Shawn Ryan, teleplay by Ryan and Glen Mazzara |
| 2005 | The Shield | 4 | "Judas Priest" | 12 | June 7, 2005 | Story co-written with Charles H. Eglee, teleplay co-written with Scott Rosenbaum |
| 2005 | The Shield | 4 | "Grave" | 2 | March 22, 2005 | |
| 2004 | The Shield | 3 | "Fire in the Hole" | 13 | June 1, 2004 | Co-written with Charles H. Eglee |
| 2004 | The Shield | 3 | "Slipknot" | 9 | May 4, 2004 | |
| 2004 | The Shield | 3 | "Mum" | 5 | April 6, 2004 | Co-written with Shawn Ryan |
| 2004 | The Shield | 3 | "Playing Tight" | 1 | March 9, 2004 | Co-written with Shawn Ryan |
| 2003 | The Shield | 2 | "Scar Tissue" | 8 | February 25, 2003 | |
| 2003 | The Shield | 2 | "Dead Soldiers" | 2 | January 14, 2003 | |
| 2002 | The Shield | 1 | "Two Days of Blood" | 12 | May 28, 2002 | Co-written with Scott Rosenbaum |
| 2002 | The Shield | 1 | "Dragonchasers" | 10 | May 14, 2002 | Co-written with Scott Rosenbaum |
| 2002 | The Shield | 1 | "Blowback" | 5 | April 9, 2002 | |

#### Director

| Year | Show | Season | Episode title | Episode | Original airdate | Notes |
| 2014 | Sons of Anarchy | 7 | "Papa's Goods" | 13 | December 9, 2014 | Series finale |
| 2013 | Sons of Anarchy | 6 | A Mother's Work | 13 | December 10, 2013 | Season finale |
| 2012 | Sons of Anarchy | 5 | "J'ai Obtenu Cette" | 13 | December 4, 2012 | Season finale |
| 2011 | Sons of Anarchy | 4 | "To Be, Act 2" | 14 | December 6, 2011 | Season finale Pt. 2 |
| 2011 | Sons of Anarchy | 4 | "To Be, Act 1" | 13 | November 29, 2011 | Season finale Pt. 1 |
| 2010 | Sons of Anarchy | 3 | "NS" | 13 | November 30, 2010 | Season finale |
| 2009 | Sons of Anarchy | 2 | "Na Triobloidi" | 13 | December 1, 2009 | Season finale |
| 2008 | Sons of Anarchy | 1 | "The Revelator" | 13 | November 26, 2008 | Season finale |
| 2007 | The Shield | 6 | "Wins and Losses" | 0 | February 15, 2007 | Promotional short for season 6 |