Deborah Amelon

Deborah Amelon

69 · Born: Oct 14, 1955

Personal Details

BornOct 14, 1955

Biography

Here is the rewritten text in a longer format with new lines:

Deborah Amelon is an Emmy and ACE award-nominated writer, a New York Times bestselling author, and an international award-winning filmmaker with both producing and directing credits.

She has written for various production companies, including ABC-TV, CBS-TV, NBCUniversal, Showtime, Paramount, Disney, Warner Bros., Savoy, Rastar, Mind's Eye Entertainment, the CBC, CTV, ITC Entertainment, Jaffe/Braunstein, Zev Braun Productions, and many others.

Her credits include numerous movies for television, series, and theatrical features, such as EXIT TO EDEN, TRICKS, THE LAST SHOT, HUNGER POINT, WHEN HE WAS SAM, THE OTHER LOVER, NASH BRIDGES, PARENT TRAP II and III, and CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL.

Amelon adapted the Anne Rice novel EXIT TO EDEN for Director Garry Marshall and wrote TRAVELING SALES LADY for Garry Marshall and legendary producer Ray Stark.

She won the Samuel Goldwyn Award for her screenplay of TRICKS, which went on to become a theatrical release starring Mimi Rogers and Tyne Daly. It was produced by Showtime to rave reviews for capturing the underbelly of Las Vegas.

Ms. Amelon won the prestigious International CINE Golden Eagle Award for both writing and directing THE LAST SHOT, which was also a finalist in the Oscar Short Film Category, and starred Garry Marshall and Adam Baldwin.

She directed the pilot of CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL, starring Meredith Baxter-Birney, and was the series' showrunner, producing 122 of the stories and directing eight of the stories. She worked with many well-known and esteemed actors on the show, including Martin Sheen, Gary Cole, Charles Durning, Jack Lemmon, Teri Garr, and Rod Steiger.

In 2005, Amelon was honored by the Writer's Guild of America for her original ABC teleplay, KATIE'S CHOICE, as Best Unproduced by publishing it in their member journal, "Written By."

She wrote the original screenplay, ROPE DANCIN', commissioned by 21st Century Film Corporation, with Director Martha Coolidge, and CUTTING EDGE, commissioned by Century Park Pictures, about a figure skater who overcomes obstacles to compete in the sport.

Amelon has worked with numerous directors, including Garry Marshall, Martha Coolidge, Nicholas Meyer, Joan Micklin Silver, and Penny Marshall, and producers such as Academy Award winner Wendy Finerman, Academy Award winner Steve Tisch, Emmy winner Orly Adelson, and prolific television producers Frank Von Zerneck, Robert Sertner, and Howard Braunstein.

At CBS, she developed, researched, and wrote the historical project, ROCKET WOMEN, about the female pilots known as the Mercury 13, who were tested to become astronauts in 1961.

Her film adaptation of the Jillian Medoff novel, HUNGER POINT, was produced by Lifetime and Jaffe/Braunstein, starring Christina Hendricks and Barbara Hershey. The movie received stellar reviews in the Hollywood Reporter and the Los Angeles Times, spotlighting Amelon's writing as "something extraordinary" and became the highest-rated movie in its debut month.

A dual American and Canadian citizen, Amelon wrote the teleplay, TARNISHED GOLD, for CTV, the story of Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, the Canadian Pair Team awarded the second Gold Medal in the Salt Lake Olympic judging scandal.

She wrote an adaptation of the famous book, SMART WOMEN, FOOLISH CHOICES, for ABC-TV with Academy Award-winning producers Steve Tisch and Wendy Finerman.

Amelon has also written year-long bibles for three CBS soap operas, which sent their daytime ratings to the top one, two, and three, and were Emmy-nominated.

She worked closely with Emmy award-winning actor, Joe Mantegna, on her screenplay, the thriller NO ONE WAS WATCHING. She adapted the romantic comedy, OUT OF THE BLUE from the Laura Castora novel, A NEW LU.

She authored Dorothy Hamill's story, A SKATING LIFE, which soared onto the NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LIST, just four days after publication in October 2007. This National Bestseller debuted in paperback in October 2008. The book has become an academic favorite among high school English teachers, appearing on several national "most recommended lists."

Amelon has also written the screenplay, THE FRUITS OF VICTORY, working with legend Tommy Lasorda and sixteen baseball players on the story of the American Gold Medal win in baseball at the Sydney Summer Olympics.

She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in English Literature from UCLA and went on to earn an MFA from UCLA's School of Film and Television. Before college and after graduating high school early, she skated with Shipstad and Johnson's ICE FOLL

Career

{"id":84634,"title":"Hunger Point","year":"2003","job":"Writer","permalink":"https:\/\/streambutter.com\/us\/movie\/hunger-point","type":"movie","srcset":{"1x":"https:\/\/img.streambutter.com\/img\/90x135\/thumbs\/movie_84634.jpg","2x":"https:\/\/img.streambutter.com\/img\/180x270\/thumbs\/movie_84634.jpg"},"released":1}
2003
{"id":56555,"title":"Tricks","year":"1997","job":"Writer","permalink":"https:\/\/streambutter.com\/us\/movie\/tricks","type":"movie","srcset":{"1x":"https:\/\/img.streambutter.com\/img\/90x135\/thumbs\/movie_56555.jpg","2x":"https:\/\/img.streambutter.com\/img\/180x270\/thumbs\/movie_56555.jpg"},"released":1}
1997
Tricks
Tricks as Writer
{"id":7423,"title":"Exit to Eden","year":"1994","job":"Screenplay","permalink":"https:\/\/streambutter.com\/us\/movie\/exit-to-eden","type":"movie","srcset":{"1x":"https:\/\/img.streambutter.com\/img\/90x135\/thumbs\/movie_7423.jpg","2x":"https:\/\/img.streambutter.com\/img\/180x270\/thumbs\/movie_7423.jpg"},"released":1}
1994
Exit to Eden
Exit to Eden as Screenplay
{"id":60599,"title":"Parent Trap III","year":"1989","job":"Screenplay","permalink":"https:\/\/streambutter.com\/us\/movie\/parent-trap-iii","type":"movie","srcset":{"1x":"https:\/\/img.streambutter.com\/img\/90x135\/thumbs\/movie_60599.jpg","2x":"https:\/\/img.streambutter.com\/img\/180x270\/thumbs\/movie_60599.jpg"},"released":1}
1989
Parent Trap III
Parent Trap III as Screenplay
{"id":161824,"title":"The Other Lover","year":"1985","job":"Story","permalink":"https:\/\/streambutter.com\/us\/movie\/the-other-lover","type":"movie","srcset":{"1x":"https:\/\/img.streambutter.com\/img\/90x135\/thumbs\/movie_161824.jpg","2x":"https:\/\/img.streambutter.com\/img\/180x270\/thumbs\/movie_161824.jpg"},"released":1}
1985
{"id":63322,"title":"The Vals","year":"1982","job":"Writer","permalink":"https:\/\/streambutter.com\/us\/movie\/the-vals","type":"movie","srcset":{"1x":"https:\/\/img.streambutter.com\/img\/90x135\/thumbs\/movie_63322.jpg","2x":"https:\/\/img.streambutter.com\/img\/180x270\/thumbs\/movie_63322.jpg"},"released":1}
1982
The Vals
The Vals as Writer
{"id":158817,"title":"The Last Shot","year":"1993","job":"Director, Writer","permalink":"https:\/\/streambutter.com\/us\/movie\/the-last-shot-1993","type":"movie","srcset":{"1x":"https:\/\/img.streambutter.com\/img\/90x135\/thumbs\/movie_158817.jpg","2x":"https:\/\/img.streambutter.com\/img\/180x270\/thumbs\/movie_158817.jpg"},"released":1}
1993
The Last Shot
The Last Shot as Director, Writer