View source for Anne Cofell Saunders

{{disline|See also [[User:Acofell]], Anne Cofell Saunders's user page on Battlestar Wiki.}}

:''Contributors may ask Mrs. Saunders (or other cast and crew that take time out of their busy schedules to visit "Battlestar Wiki") a question about the show and its production. Please submit questions '''ONLY''' on the special [[Battlestar Wiki:Official Communiques]] article. Please keep your question succinct, brief, and remember not to get too carried away--it's a TV show.''

{{Crew Data
| image= Battlestar Galactica--AnneSaunders.jpg
| role=Writer
| series=RDM
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| nationality= US
| imdb= 1093194
| sortkey= Saunders, Anne Cofell
}}
'''Anne Cofell Saunders''' was a writer on ''[[Battlestar Galactica (RDM)|Battlestar Galactica]]''. She currently is the Co-Producer for a new NBC series named "CHUCK".<ref>{{cite_news|first=Shane|last=Froebel|url=http://blog.battlestarwiki.org/2007/05/14/saunders-to-be-leaving-bsg-before-season-4/|title= Saunders to be leaving BSG before Season 4|publisher=Battlestar Wiki Blog|page=|date=2007-05-13|accessdate=2007-05-13|language=English}}</ref>

Saunders worked as an assistant to the Executive Producer and was the head researcher on ''[[w:24 (series)|24]]'' for several years, until she was given a freelance script on the show in 2004.  Immediately after writing her first episode of ''24'', she was hired to write for ''Battlestar Galactica''. She was a regular writer on the second season and contributed to four episodes. For the third season she became the series [[story editor]] and wrote two episodes, "[[Torn]]" and "[[Dirty Hands]]," before departing the series.

In an interview in May 2006, <ref> [http://www.syfyportal.com/news.php?id=2603 SyFy Portal] </ref> Saunders expressed admiration for her fellow BSG writers, [[Mark Verheiden]], [[David Weddle]], [[Bradley Thompson]], [[Jeff Vlaming]], and [[Carla Robinson]], calling them "some of the strongest writers Hollywood can offer" and said that Executive Producer [[Ron D. Moore|Ron Moore]] continues to surprise and challenge the writers to take risks, such as with the Season 2 finale's {{TRS|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II}} shocking one-year leap forward in time, an episode Saunders is proud she wrote. 

Either by luck or design, Saunders has created or written some of the strongest female characters on BSG, including [[Helena Cain|Admiral Cain]], {{callsign|Starbuck}} and [[Laura Roslin]]. "I feel a strong affinity with Starbuck's character," Saunders said in the interview. "As a woman, wouldn't it be great to be a fighter pilot? To be that outrageously tough chick?" 

Having the chance to write for Laura Roslin, the teacher who becomes the colonies' president, is something Saunders said she really looked forward to because of her own background in teaching. "I taught at the university level, and I taught high school in Japan, and the one thing a teacher has to do is set parameters and have a strong presence," Saunders said. "You have to love Roslin when she said (to Adama), 'You have to kill her (Cain).' To me, she was drawing her line in the sand." 

Saunders and her husband are major science fiction fans, with the rooms in their house lined with books from authors like [[w:Isaac Asimov|Isaac Asimov]], [[w:Frank Herbert|Frank Herbert]] and [[w:Orson Scott Card|Orson Scott Card]]. She believes revealing how much of a sci-fi fan she is to Ron Moore is one the reasons she got hired. "It’s not every day that he meets women who are nuts for sci-fi," she said.

== Writer credits for "Battlestar Galactica" ==
*Season 2:
**[[Pegasus (episode)|Pegasus]]
**[[Pegasus (Extended Version)]]
**[[Sacrifice]]
**[[Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II]]
*Season 3:
**[[Torn]]
**[[Dirty Hands]]
''See also: [[:Category:Episodes written by Anne Cofell Saunders|Episodes written by Anne Cofell Saunders]]''

== Story credits for "Battlestar Galactica" ==
*Season 2:
**[[Resurrection Ship, Part I]]
''See also: [[:Category:Episodes with story by Anne Cofell Saunders|Episodes with story by Anne Cofell Saunders]]''

== References ==
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[[Category:A to Z]]
[[Category:Behind the Scenes]]
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[[Category:Writers]]
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