Jeff Melvoin

Jeff Melvoin is an American television writer, producer, and educator. He has written dozens and produced hundreds of one-hour episodes on over a dozen television series.^[1]

Melvoin is co-founder and chair of the Writers Guild of America's Showrunner Training Program and the Writers Education Committee.^[2] He is a past board member of the Mystery Writers of America (Southern California Chapter) and the Writers Guild of America, West. He also serves as a Trustee on the Board of Humanitas, which awards the annual Humanitas Prize in television and film.^[3]

Additionally, Melvoin has taught at Harvard, USC School of Cinematic Arts, UCLA, and the Sundance Institute.^[4]

In 2004, Melvoin co-authored a WGA booklet, Writing for Episodic TV, which is still in print.

Early life and education

Melvoin was born in Boston, MA and grew up in Highland Park, IL. He attended Highland Park High School, and has attributed the birth of his creative career to his drama teacher Barbara Paterson. In high school, his fellow actors included Jeff Perry and Gary Sinise, two of the founding members of the Steppenwolf Theater Company.^[5]

Melvoin attended Harvard University, graduating magna cum laude in 1975 with a degree in American history and literature. He wrote his senior thesis on the development of the American detective in fiction. While in college, he also directed six theatrical productions, including two on the mainstage of Harvard’s Loeb Theater.^[6]

Journalism career

After college, Melvoin took a mini-MBA program at Keller Graduate School of Business Management in Chicago and was subsequently hired by Fairchild Publications (Women's Wear Daily, W) as a reporter for Fairchild News Service (FNS) in Washington, D.C. Shortly after, he was made FNS bureau chief in Miami.

In 1978, he was hired as a correspondent for TIME magazine. He worked in their New York, Boston and Los Angeles bureaus before leaving the magazine in late 1982.^[7]

Television career

Melvoin began his television career in 1983 as a staff writer for the lighthearted MTM detective show Remington Steele, joining the NBC series in its second season. He worked his way up to supervising producer by the end of the show’s fourth season.^[4]

In 1986, Melvoin became co-executive producer on the final season of the NBC police drama, Hill Street Blues, also produced by MTM.^[4]

Melvoin then began a four-year association with Columbia TriStar Television, developing original pilots. Three of his pilots were produced, but none were picked up to series.^[8]

In 1991, Melvoin was hired as a writer-producer on the CBS comedy-drama Northern Exposure, produced by Universal Television. He worked on the series from episode 17 until the end four years later writing 18 episodes and rewriting a half-dozen others. During his time on the show, Melvoin received numerous awards and nominations, including an Emmy award for best dramatic series, two Emmy nominations for best writing in a dramatic series, two Golden Globe awards and a Television Critics Association award for best dramatic series.^[1]

In 1995, Melvoin became Executive Producer on the fourth season of the David E. Kelley dramatic series, Picket Fences, produced by 20th Century Fox Television for CBS. It marked Melvoin’s first showrunner position.^[9]

Following Picket Fences, Melvoin signed an overall deal with Tristar Television and became a consultant on the light science fiction drama, Early Edition, for CBS. He took over the series as showrunner for seasons two through four, from 1997-2000.^[10]

In 2001, he was executive producer on the Showtime drama, Going to California, produced by Columbia TriStar Television, which lasted one season.^[11]

In 2003, he was executive producer on the ABC drama Line of Fire, produced by Touchstone Television. The FBI drama ran for 13 episodes.^[12]

In 2004, Melvoin signed an overall deal with ABC Studios and became executive producer on season four of Alias, the J.J. Abrams spy drama produced by Touchstone Television for ABC.^[13]

Following that, Melvoin became executive producer on In Justice, a short-lived ABC series from The Good Wife creators Robert and Michelle King.^[14]

In 2007, Melvoin was hired as executive producer on Army Wives, produced by ABC Studios for the Lifetime Network. He ran the show in its first season, then left for other opportunities, returning to run the show for season’s three through seven, ending its run in 2013. In its day, Army Wives was the most successful one-hour drama in the history of the Lifetime network.^[15]

After Army Wives, Melvoin has worked on his own development and a variety of other projects, including the Shane Black and Fred Dekker spaghetti western series, EDGE, developed for Amazon Studios in 2015-2016, but eventually shelved.

In December 2016, Melvoin was hired as executive producer on ABC's Designated Survivor.^[16]

Showrunner Training Program

In 2005, Melvoin approached Writers Guild of America West President John Wells to create a WGA Showrunner Training Program. In the face of a rapidly changing industry, Melvoin saw a need to compensate for the disappearance of the old, informal apprenticeship system in television writing-producing with an intense, master class program for selected candidates. Together, Melvoin and Wells successfully lobbied the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to fund the WGA’s Showrunner Training Program.^[2]

Melvoin continues to chair the program, whose alumni include Glen Mazzara, Kenya Barris, Courtney Kemp Agboh, Matt Nix, Veena Sud, and Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, among many others, who in the program’s first eleven years have gone on to create, co-create or executive-produce over 78 series.^[17]

In 2015, Melvoin was given the Morgan Cox Award, the WGA’s highest recognition “to that member whose vital ideas, continuing efforts, and personal sacrifice best exemplify the ideal of service to the Guild.” In announcing the award, WGA President Christopher Keyser said, “If this is a Golden Age of television, the program Jeff so lovingly shepherds deserves its fair share of credit. Thanks to him, as an art form and as a business, we are better at what we do.”^[1]

Filmography

• Designated Survivor, 2016-Present
• Army Wives, 2007, 2008-2013
• In Justice, 2006
• Alias, 2005
• Line of Fire, 2003-2005
• Mister Sterling, 2003
• Going to California, 2001
• Early Edition, 1996-1999
• Picket Fences, 1995-1996
• Northern Exposure, 1991-1995
• Outpost, 1989
• Intrigue, 1988
• Hill Street Blues, 1986-1987
• Remington Steele, 1983-1986

Awards

Writers Guild of America

• Morgan Cox Award; “to that member whose vital ideas, continuing efforts, and personal sacrifice best exemplify the ideal of service to the Guild.” 2015

Army Wives

• Inspire Award; Donate Life Hollywood; for stories that “entertain, enlighten, and inspire about organ and tissue donation.” 2010
• Sentinel for Health Award; University of Southern California & Centers for Disease Control and Protection; “for exemplary achievements of television storylines that inform, educate and motivate viewers to make choices for healthier and safer lives.” 2010
• Voice Award, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services); “to increase public understanding and acceptance of people in recovery from mental health and substance abuse problems.” 2010

Northern Exposure

• Jewish Televimage Award, Best Episode - Drama, Shofar So Good, 1995
• Emmy Nomination, Outstanding Drama Series, 1994
• Environmental Media Award, 1993
• Emmy Nomination, Outstanding Drama Series, 1993
• Emmy Nomination Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Drama Series, Kaddish for Uncle Manny], 1993
• Television Critics Association Award, Program of the Year, 1992
• Golden Globe Award, Best Television Series - Drama, 1992
• Emmy Nomination, Outstanding Drama Series, 1992
• Emmy Nomination Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Drama Series, Democracy in America, 1992
• Golden Globe Award, Best Television Series - Drama, 1991

Hill Street Blues

• People’s Choice Award, Favorite TV Dramatic Program, 1987

Remington Steele

• Edgar Allan Poe Special Award, Mystery Writers of America, Altered Steele, 1984

Personal

Melvoin and his wife, Martha Hartnett Melvoin, a former photojournalist for the Los Angeles Times, were married in 1984, live in Los Angeles, CA and have two sons, Nick and Charlie.

References

External links

• http://www.showbizzle.com/inside-the-bizzle/profiles/jeff-melvoin
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXcKZ9zIPyw
• Jeff Melvoin on IMDb