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]

Jeff Melvoin
Melvin in 2012
Melvin in 2012
BornBoston, Massachusetts, U.S.
OccupationScreenwriter, producer, teacher, journalist
Alma materHarvard University
Years active1983–present
SpouseMartha Melvoin
Children2, including Nick

Melvoin is 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.

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.[3]

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.[4]

Career

Journalism

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.[5]

Television
Melvoin speaking to Joint Base Lewis-McChord Army spouses in 2012.

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.[6] In 1986, Melvoin became co-executive producer on the final season of the NBC police drama, Hill Street Blues, also produced by MTM.[6]

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.[7] 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 drama series, Picket Fences, produced by 20th Century Fox Television for CBS. It marked Melvoin’s first showrunner position.[8] 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.[9]

In 2001, he was executive producer on the Showtime drama, Going to California, produced by Columbia TriStar Television, which lasted one season.[10]

In 2003, he was executive producer on the ABC drama Line of Fire, produced by Touchstone Television. The FBI drama ran for 13 episodes.[11] 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.[12]

Following that, Melvoin became executive producer on In Justice, a short-lived ABC series from The Good Wife creators Robert and Michelle King.[13]

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.[14] 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 the showrunner for ABC's Designated Survivor.[15] He handled the second half of season 1 and stayed on as an executive producer for season 2.[16] In 2019, Melvoin was hired as an executive producer for season three of BBC America's Killing Eve.

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 Lena Waithe, Tanya Saracho, Kenya Barris, Courtney Kemp Agboh, Matt Nix, Veena Sud, Gloria Calderon Kellett, and Aaron Korsh, among many others, who in the program’s first seventeen years have gone on to create, co-create or executive-produce over 150 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]

Melvoin has taught at Harvard, USC School of Cinematic Arts, UCLA, and the Sundance Institute.[6] Additionally, in 2004, Melvoin co-authored a WGA booklet, Writing for Episodic TV, which is still in print.

Filmography
Production Tenure Network
Remington Steele 1983-1986 NBC
Hill Street Blues 1986-1987 NBC
Intrigue 1988 CBS
CBS Summer Playhouse: Outpost 1989 CBS
Northern Exposure 1991-1995 CBS
Picket Fences 1995-1996 CBS
Early Edition 1996-1999 CBS
Going to California 2001 Showtime
Mister Sterling 2003 NBC
Line of Fire 2003-2005 ABC
Alias 2005 ABC
In Justice 2006 ABC
Army Wives 2007, 2008-2013 Disney–ABC Domestic Television
Designated Survivor 2016–18 Disney–ABC Domestic Television/Netflix
Killing Eve 2019-2020 BBC America

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 for Daytime Drama; University of Southern California & Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; "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

Hill Street Blues

Remington Steele

Personal life

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

References
  1. “TV Writer-Producer Jeff Melvoin to Receive WGAW's Morgan Cox Award for Guild Service"
  2. "Secrets Of TV Showrunners Boot Camp". "Deadline", August 27, 2010 by The Deadline Team
  3. "Highland Park Exceeds The Talent Quota". ‘Chicago Tribune’, July 13, 1997 by Jodie Jacobs
  4. "Jeff Melvoin '75". ‘Harvarwood’, October 2007 by Kim Bendheim
  5. "LIKE IT OR NOT, NEW CHIEF REALLY SHOOK THINGS UP". Deadline, By Scott D. Pierce, Feb. 16 1996
  6. "Writers Guild Honors ‘Army Wives’ Exec Producer Jeff Melvoin". "Variety", December 10, 2014 by Dave McNary
  7. “An Interview with Jeff Melvoin, Executive Producer on ARMY WIVES"
  8. "'PICKET FENCES' IN DISREPAIR". New York Daily News, November 10, 1995 by David Bianculli
  9. "Fall TV preview: Saturday's returning shows". Entertainment Weekly, September 11, 1998
  10. GOING TO CALIFORNIA: LONG TRIP, BUT WORTH IT. New York Daily News, August 8, 2001 by Eric Mink
  11. "TELEVISION REVIEW 'Line's' parallel worlds". Los Angeles Times, December 2, 2003 by Carina Chocano
  12. "Yet More of One Face in Season 4 of 'Alias'". New York Times, January 5, 2005 by Virginia Heffernan
  13. "A Mission to Free the Innocent and Expose the Guilty". "New York Times", DEC. 30, 2005 by Alessandra Stanley
  14. “Military TV: Showrunner Jeff Melvoin - Deadline.com"
  15. "‘Designated Survivor’ Taps New Showrunner As Jon Harmon Feldman Exits". "'Deadline.com', DEC. 4, 2016 by Ross A. Lincoln
  16. "‘Designated Survivor’: Keith Eisner Set As Showrunner, Pending Season 2 Renewal". "'Deadline.com', May 2, 2017 by Nellie Andreeva
  17. "Next Stop: Running the Show". "Emmy Magazine", October 15, 2015 by Libby Slate
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