Arthur M. Jolly

Arthur M. Jolly
Born 1969
Sussex, U.K.
Occupation screenwriter, playwright
Website
www.arthurjolly.com

Arthur M. Jolly (born 1969) is an American playwright and screenwriter. In 2006, he was awarded an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting for a script named The Free Republic of Bobistan.[1][2]

Early life

Jolly was born in Lewes, England, the son of Sir Richard Jolly, a development economist, and Lady Alison Jolly, a primatologist. He graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1987, where he was a student of Frank McCourt. From 1988 to 1998, Jolly worked in New York as a stunt performer and special effects artist, garnering over 160 credits and doubling numerous actors including Adrien Brody. During this time, Jolly wrote several screenplays and had his first publication, the short story Dancing with Fire.

In 1998, Jolly moved to Northern California to become a helicopter pilot - a career that would last for eight years, flying tourists into the Grand Canyon, fighting forest fires in Northern Idaho, and teaching U.S. Army pilots in Fort Rucker, Alabama.

Career

After his short play Howie’s Last Words was accepted into the Summer Shorts Festival[3] of the Miami City Theatre and given a full equity production in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Jolly moved to Los Angeles to write full-time. He is the playwright of over 50 produced plays, many of which have been published. In 2006, Jolly was awarded the coveted Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 2013, Jolly was named an alternate for the Fox Writers Intensive. He is a member of the Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights, the WGAw and the Dramatists Guild, and is represented by the Brant Rose Agency.

Writing style

Jolly writes comedies and realist dramas, but often with heightened language and characters that are self-aware. His dramas sometimes verge into dark territory and even physical violence, but always with an underlying sense of optimism. His characters struggle with the human condition, and frequently use humor to deal with personal problems and their inability to understand or handle their own emotions. This gives Jolly's work an uneasy blend of humor and pathos, where laughter is used to mask deeper conflicts. The lightning fast turns from one to the other present an exciting challenge for many actors and directors, and also make monologues from Jolly's plays a favorite at auditions and International Thespian Festival competitions. He has a reputation as a writer of strong roles for women, and many of his plays involve female-centric story lines (A Gulag Mouse, Trash, Past Curfew) or gender reversals where roles traditionally thought of as male are written as female. (Long Joan Silver)

Stage Plays

Screenplays

References

  1. ↑ "Academy Nicholl Fellows 1986–Present". Oscars.org. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
  2. ↑ Lindeen, Julie (October 5, 2006). "Acad sets Nicholl finalists". Daily Variety. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
  3. ↑ Sun Sentinel review of Summer Shorts Festival 2005
  4. ↑ Medford Playwright Wins Competition
  5. ↑ Joining Sword With Pen Competition announced
  6. ↑ Nicholl fellows 1986-present
  7. ↑ Daily Variety - Acad sets Nicholl finalists

External links

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