Pamela Gray

Last updated
Pamela Gray
Born1956 (age 66–67)
New York City, New York
NationalityAmerican
EducationM.A. Boston University
OccupationScreenwriter

Pamela Gray (born 1956) is an American screenwriter.

Contents

Biography

Gray was raised in a Jewish family in New York City, the daughter of a salesman and a schoolteacher. [1] She earned an M.A. in poetry from Boston University after which she spent several years teaching. [2] While living in Oakland, she wrote a script for a play that had a successful run. [2] She then moved to Los Angeles and enrolled in UCLA's screenwriting program (where she studied under Lew Hunter) during which she interned with the producer of Star Trek: The Next Generation . [2]

Career

During Gray's internship at Star Trek, she re-wrote an episode (Violations) which was used. [2]

In 1992, she wrote The Blouse Man (retitled A Walk on the Moon ) based on her experiences vacationing in the Catskills for which she won the Samuel Goldwyn Writing Award. [2] The script was not initially purchased until it was seen by actor Tony Goldwyn who was given the script by his agency, Creative Artists Agency. [1] They tried to recruit David Seltzer as director but failed and they then agreed to let Goldwyn direct. [1] This began a longtime collaboration between Gray as writer and Goldwyn as director. [3]

A Walk on the Moon was later adapted into a play and produced at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. In a 2018 interview with Taylor Steinbeck, Gray reflected on the teenage zeitgeist the story represents:

The 1960s was an era similar to today when teenagers had a stake in what was happening politically. I’ve heard young gun control activists from Parkland, Florida, saying, “People of our age group haven’t had a voice since the ’60s.” Just like the kids of today, the kids in the ’60s didn’t trust their government, but they didn’t believe they were powerless. In Moon, Alison says that Woodstock is going to end the war in Vietnam. There was this belief in the power of youth. [4]

Gray then signed with Miramax and wrote Music of the Heart , a fictional story about the life of violin teacher Roberta Guaspari directed by Wes Craven and starring Meryl Streep. [2] Gray went on to write Conviction (2010), which starred Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. It tells the real-life story of Betty Anne Waters, who tries to get her brother's life sentence overturned. [5] In a 2010 interview with FF2 Media's Jan Lisa Huttner, Tony Goldwyn commented on Betty Anne Waters's character:

You know Betty Anne's great survival skill—I realized getting to know her—her great survival skill is her understanding of what it means to love another person. That, to me, is her great heroism and the source of her courage and her strength. Betty Anne, because she just impulsively and instinctively loves the people in her life, she has this network of people that adore her. [6]

Gray's film Megan Leavey (2017) tells the true story of a young woman (played by Kate Mara) who joins the Marines to escape her small New York town, and forms a bond with a combat dog named Rex. [7] [8] The film received positive reviews with 87% on Rotten Tomatoes. [9]

For television, Gray wrote episodes for Once and Again in 1999 and for The Divide in 2014. [10]

Related Research Articles

Gloria Rose "Barbara" Turner was an American screenwriter and actress. One of her daughters is the actress Jennifer Jason Leigh.

<i>A Walk on the Moon</i> 1999 film by Tony Goldwyn

A Walk on the Moon is a 1999 drama film starring Diane Lane, Viggo Mortensen, Liev Schreiber and Anna Paquin. The film, which was set against the backdrop of the Woodstock festival of 1969 and the United States's Moon landing of that year, was distributed by Miramax Films. Directed by Tony Goldwyn in his directorial debut, the fim was acclaimed on release. Diane Lane earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead for her performance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Goldwyn</span> American actor and director

Anthony Howard Goldwyn is an American actor, singer, producer, director, and political activist. He made his debut appearing as Darren in the slasher film Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986), and had his breakthrough for starring as Carl Bruner in the fantasy thriller film Ghost (1990), which earned him a nomination for the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor. He went on to star as Harold Nixon in the biographical film Nixon (1995), which earned him a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination, and as Neil Armstrong in the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon (1998).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaylen Ross</span> American actress

Gaylen Ross is an American director, writer, producer and actress, best known for playing Francine Parker in the 1978 horror film Dawn of the Dead and also noted for directing the 2008 documentary Killing Kasztner.

Kasi Lemmons is an American film director, screenwriter, and actress. She made her directorial debut with Eve's Bayou (1997), followed by Talk to Me (2007), Black Nativity (2013), Harriet (2019), and Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (2022). She also directed the Netflix limited series Self Made (2020), and an episode of ABC's Women of the Movement (2022).

<i>First Impressions</i> (musical) 1959 Broadway musical

First Impressions is a Broadway musical with music and lyrics by George Weiss, Bo Goldman, and Glenn Paxton, and book by Abe Burrows, who also directed the musical. It is based on Helen Jerome's 1935 stage adaptation of Jane Austen's 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Yordan</span> American screenwriter

Philip Yordan was an American screenwriter of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s who produced several films. He acted as a front for blacklisted writers although his use of surrogate screenwriters predates the McCarthy era. His actual contributions to the scripts he is credited with writing is controversial and he was known to some as a credit-grabber. Born to Polish immigrants, he earned degrees from both University of Illinois and Chicago-Kent College of Law.

Ivy Meeropol is a director and producer of documentaries for film and television, known for Indian Point and Heir to an Execution. She is the daughter of Michael Meeropol and Ann Karus Meeropol and granddaughter of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, and adoptive granddaughter of Abel Meeropol, author of "Strange Fruit" and "The House I Live In". A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, she served as a legislative aide to Congressman Harry Johnston (D-Florida).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diablo Cody</span> American writer and producer

Brook Maurio, known professionally by the pen name Diablo Cody, is an American writer and producer. She gained recognition for her candid blog and subsequent memoir, Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper (2005). Cody received critical acclaim for her screenwriting debut film, Juno (2007), winning the Academy Award, and the BAFTA Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aline Brosh McKenna</span> American screenwriter, producer, and director

Aline Brosh McKenna is an American screenwriter, producer and director. Her credits include writing The Devil Wears Prada (2006), 27 Dresses (2008), Morning Glory (2010), We Bought a Zoo (2011) and co-creating The CW's Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

Pamela Wallace is an American screenwriter and author. She won an Oscar for co-writing the screenplay for the movie Witness. Wallace has also written 25 romance novels, under her own name and the pseudonyms Pamela Simpson and Dianne King.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lizzy Weiss</span> American screenwriter

Lizzy Weiss is an American screenwriter, television producer and television writer.

<i>The Wayward Bus</i> (film) 1957 film directed by Victor Vicas

The Wayward Bus is a 1957 American drama film directed by Victor Vicas and starring Joan Collins, Jayne Mansfield, Dan Dailey and Rick Jason. Released by 20th Century Fox, the film was based on the 1947 novel of the same name by John Steinbeck.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aviva Kempner</span> American filmmaker (born 1946)

Aviva Kempner is a German-born American filmmaker. Her documentaries investigate non-stereotypical images of Jews in history and focus on the untold stories of Jewish people. She is most well known for The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg.

<i>Conviction</i> (2010 film) 2010 American film

Conviction is a 2010 American biographical legal drama film directed by Tony Goldwyn, written by Pamela Gray, and starring Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell. The film premiered on September 11, 2010, at the Toronto International Film Festival and was released in the US on October 15, 2010.

Anne Marie Mumolo is an American actress, screenwriter, comedian, and producer, best known for co-writing the 2011 film Bridesmaids with Kristen Wiig, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award and a BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay. She and Wiig also co-wrote the screenplay and played leading roles for the 2021 comedy film Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar. She has also appeared in films such as This Is 40 (2012), Afternoon Delight (2013), The Boss (2016), Bad Moms (2016), Queenpins (2020), and Confess, Fletch (2022).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Larysa Kondracki</span> Canadian film director and screenwriter

Larysa Kondracki is a Canadian producer, director and screenwriter. Her debut feature film, The Whistleblower, was released in 2011 and received nominations for six Genies at the 32nd Genie Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. She has received international accolades for reporting true stories of victims of trafficking in the former Yugoslavia.

<i>Megan Leavey</i> (film) 2017 American film

Megan Leavey is a 2017 American biographical drama film directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite and written by Pamela Gray, Annie Mumolo, and Tim Lovestedt, based on the true events about a young female Marine named Megan Leavey and a combat dog named Rex. The film stars Kate Mara as the titular character, with Edie Falco, Common, Ramón Rodríguez, and Tom Felton in supporting roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Megan Leavey</span> American Marine Corps

Corporal Megan Leavey is a United States Marine Corps Veteran who served as a Military Police K9 handler.

Pamela Katz is an American screenwriter and novelist best known for her collaborations with director Margarethe von Trotta, including Rosenstrasse and Hannah Arendt.

References

  1. 1 2 3 The Catskills Institute: "Screening the Bungalows - An Interview with Pamela Gray, Screenwriter of "A Walk on the Moon" by Phil Brown from In the Mountains #8 October 1999
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Variety Magazine: "Pamela Gray" By Saul Rubin September 15, 1999
  3. ↑ Gold, Sylviane (1999-03-28). "FILM; A Goldwyn on the Way Up in the Family Business". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-04-27.
  4. ↑ Steinbeck, Taylor (June 1, 2018). "Writing from Memory: An Interview with A Walk on the Moon Book Writer Pamela Gray". American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  5. ↑ "Conviction". IMDB. 2010. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  6. ↑ Huttner, Jan Lisa (October 28, 2010). "Jan Chats About Conviction with Director Tony Goldwyn and Screenwriter Pamela Gray". FF2 Media. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  7. ↑ Deadline: "‘Megan Leavey’ Co-Writer Pamela Gray Signs With Gersh" by Anita Busch June 19, 2017
  8. ↑ Baker, Martha K. "'Megan Leavey' teaches about a dog's life". KDHX. Retrieved 2020-04-27.
  9. ↑ "Megan Leavy". Rotten Tomatoes. 2017. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  10. ↑ "Pamela Gray". IMDb. Retrieved 2020-04-27.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.