Jane Anderson

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Jane Anderson
Occupation(s)Playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker, actress
Years active1982–present

Jane Anderson is an American playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker, and actress. She wrote and directed the feature film The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (2005), and wrote the film It Could Happen to You (1994), starring Nicolas Cage. She won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for her work on the miniseries Olive Kitteridge (2014).

Contents

Career

Jane Anderson got her start as an actress, before getting her first writing job as a writer and consultant on the sitcom The Facts of Life (on which she had also appeared). She followed this up by creating the short-lived sitcom Raising Miranda , which was cancelled in its first season. She then had several other TV series gigs, and wrote her first play, The Baby Dance (1989).

Her first film experience was writing the 1993 HBO film The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom , starring Holly Hunter; the film was critically acclaimed, and TV critics Matt Zoller Seitz and Alan Sepinwall in their 2016 book TV (The Book) named it the 2nd greatest American TV movie of all time, behind Steven Spielberg's Duel . [1] She later wrote and directed several other critically acclaimed television movies, including The Baby Dance (1998), based on her play and starring Stockard Channing and Laura Dern; When Billie Beat Bobby (2001) starring Holly Hunter and Ron Silver; and Normal (2003), based on her play Looking for Normal and starring Jessica Lange and Tom Wilkinson. She also wrote the segment "1961" of the 2000 HBO film If These Walls Could Talk 2 , which won Vanessa Redgrave an Emmy Award for her portrayal of an elderly lesbian prevented from hospital visitation with her dying long-time companion.

She became a writer for the AMC television drama Mad Men for the show's second season in 2008. She was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Dramatic Series for her work on the second season. [2]

In 2015, Anderson wrote the documentary Packed in a Trunk: The Lost Art of Edith Lake Wilkinson about her great aunt, Edith Lake Wilkinson, a lesbian and painter who was institutionalized in the 1920s and spent the rest of her life in an asylum for the mentally ill. [3] Anderson cites Wilkinson as an inspiration for her own drawing. [3]

In 2017, Anderson wrote the Glenn Close-starring The Wife .

Works and performances

Film

YearTitleDirectorWriterProducerNotes
1994 It Could Happen to You NoYesNo
1995 How to Make an American Quilt NoYesNo
2005 The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio YesYesNo
2015 Packed in a Trunk: The Lost Art of Edith Lake Wilkinson NoYesYesDocumentary
2017 The Wife NoYesNo

Television

YearTitleWriterProducerNotes
1986 The Facts of Life YesNoEpisodes "The Apartment", "Ready or Not" and "Write and Wrong"
1988 Raising Miranda YesYesEpisodes "Black Monday" and "Home for the Holidays"
1989 The Wonder Years YesNoEpisode "How I'm Spending My Summer Vacation"
1991 The Hidden Room YesNoEpisodes "Dream Child" and "A Type of Love Story"
2008 Mad Men YesYesEpisode "The Gold Violin"
2014 Olive Kitteridge YesYesMiniseries

TV movies

YearTitleDirectorWriterNotes
1993 The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom NoYes
1998 The Baby Dance YesYes
2000 If These Walls Could Talk 2 YesYesSegment "1961"
2001 When Billie Beat Bobby YesYes
2003 Normal YesYes

Plays

Other credits

YearTitleRoleNotes
1985–86 The Facts of Life Program consultant5 episodes
1986 Who's the Boss? Episode "Charmed Lives"
1989 The Wonder Years Executive story editor7 episodes

Acting roles

YearTitleRoleNotes
1978The Billy Crystal Comedy HourRegular performerTV series
1978 Girlfriends Omega ReceptionistFilm
1984P.O.P.Dana McNeilTV film
1984 E/R Mrs. Grettie"Only a Nurse"
1985 The Facts of Life Karen"We Get Letters"

Awards and nominations

See also

References

  1. ↑ Sepinwall, Alan; Seitz, Matt Zoller (September 2016). TV (The Book): Two Experts Pick the Greatest American Shows of All Time (1st ed.). New York, NY: Grand Central Publishing. p. 372. ISBN   9781455588190.
  2. 1 2 "2009 Writers Guild Awards Television, Radio, News, Promotional Writing, and Graphic Animation Nominees Announced". WGA. 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-12-12. Retrieved 2008-12-12.
  3. 1 2 "A Heartfelt Documentary Unpacks the Work of a Forgotten Lesbian Artist | Bitch Media". Bitch Media. Retrieved 2016-11-03.
  4. ↑ Hirschorn, Joel (April 15, 2001). "Looking for Normal". Variety.
  5. ↑ Guthmann, Edward (October 29, 2008). "Jane Anderson's 'Quality of Life' at ACT". San Francisco Chronicle.
  6. ↑ Fernandez, Maria Elena (March 6, 2011). "Jane Anderson explores sexual conflict in 'The Escort'". Los Angeles Times.
  7. ↑ Grigware, Don (May 7, 2018). "Interview: Playwright Jane Anderson Discusses the Relevance of THE BABY DANCE: MIXED a the Rubicon". Broadway World.
  8. ↑ "Past Recipients". Archived from the original on 2011-08-30. Retrieved 2011-05-09.
  9. ↑ "Brown, Guirgis, Letscher, Metcalf, et al. Win LADCC Awards". 18 March 2008. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  10. ↑ "2008 Ovation Award Winners Announced" . Retrieved 18 October 2015.
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