David Seidler (4 August 1937 – 16 March 2024) was a British-American playwright and film and television writer.

Seidler immigrated to the United States with his family in the early part of World War II during the London Blitz.

[7] Seidler arrived in Hollywood at the age of 40, and his first job there was writing Tucker: The Man and His Dream for Francis Ford Coppola.

Always wanting to write about George VI, and being a stutterer himself, Seidler started researching in the 1970s.

In turn, Logue was keen to talk with Seidler and even share the notebooks his father kept while treating the King, but on the condition that he received "written permission from the Queen Mother" first.

Upon writing to her, Seidler received a reply from her private secretary, asking him not to pursue the project during her lifetime.

Eventually, he wrote the first draft of his screenplay, and his then-wife and writing partner suggested that he rewrite it as a stage play, as an exercise.

She felt that the "physical confines of the stage would force him to focus on the key relationships in the story, without the distractions imposed by concern for cinematic technique.