June 2022

David Hudgins is an award-winning screenwriter, showrunner and executive producer of multiple television series. Currently, he is executive producer and showrunner of CBS’ hit drama series FBI: MOST WANTED.

Originally from Texas, Hudgins is a graduate of Duke University. He has received multiple Emmy and Writer’s Guild Award nominations for his work on “Friday Night Lights,” including Best Drama Series. He is also a recipient of the Peabody Award for Excellence in Broadcasting for his work on “Friday Night Lights.” Hudgins is president of The Catherine H. Tuck Foundation, a breast cancer charity he founded in 2012 in honor of his late sister. He also serves on the advisory boards for The Humanitas Awards and the Austin Television Festival.

He began his career in the United States Senate as a staff assistant to Al Gore. He then obtained his law degree from Southern Methodist University and spent eight years as a trial lawyer with the firm Touchstone, Bernays, Johnston, Beall & Smith in Dallas. In 2001, following the death of his sister from breast cancer, Hudgins made a radical life change. He quit the practice of law and moved with his family to the hills of Tennessee to pursue screenwriting full time. Two years later, after the sale of his first screenplay, “Scottsboro,” Hudgins moved to Los Angeles and began working in television.

His first job was as a staff writer on The WB television drama “Everwood.” He then moved to NBC’s “Friday Night Lights,” where he worked for three seasons as a writer and co-executive producer. In 2009, Hudgins created and ran “Past Life” for Warner Bros. Television, a one-hour drama that aired on FOX. He then returned to “Friday Night Lights” as co-showrunner and executive producer on the show’s fifth and final season, before moving on to NBC’s “Parenthood,” where he spent four seasons as executive producer. In June 2014, Hudgins moved his overall deal to Sony Pictures Television. He created and ran “Game of Silence,” which aired on NBC, and served as showrunner on the Hulu drama series “Shuteye”.

Hudgins lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Meghan. They have four sons, Jackson, Brooks, Reid and Owen, two energetic dogs, and one very sketchy cat.