Jeff Melvoin · Showrunner

MY SHOWRUNNING CAREER

My journey through Hollywood is a tale of passion, CURIOSITY, AND creativity.

From an early age, I was drawn to television. When I was six years old, I asked to be excused from the dinner table early on Tuesday nights so I could watch Sea Hunt, starring Lloyd Bridges. In high school, I fell in love with theater, thanks to the best drama teacher I’ve ever known. In college, I continued to pursue theater as an extracurricular passion while studying American history and literature, writing a thesis on American detective fiction. Upon graduation, I knew I wanted to write for show business, but felt the need for more worldly experience. So, I became a journalist for seven years, the last five as a TIME Magazine correspondent in New York, Boston, and Los Angeles, where I jumped ship at the age of 30 to start my television career as a staff writer on the light-hearted detective series Remington Steele.

Since then, I’ve worked on over a dozen series, acting as showrunner on eight of them. In all, I’ve helped write and produce some 470 hours of primetime television. It hasn’t all been smooth or easy——you learn as much from your disappointments as your successes, but overall, I’ve been privileged to work on shows that mattered to me.  As I make clear in my book, I’ve tried to avoid material for which I have no passion. The work is too hard if you don’t believe in it.

I won an Emmy and two Golden Globes for my work on Northern Exposure and have received numerous other recognitions through the years, beginning with an Edgar Award nomination for my first episode of TV ever produced on Remington Steele. Most recently, I was nominated for an Emmy as an executive producer on season three of Killing Eve. I won't lie——awards are nice, but it’s the experiences along the way that matter most.

What I truly treasure is the lifetime’s education I’ve received from scores of talented people——writers, producers, actors, directors, department heads, even some executives, all reflected in my book. As Tennyson wrote, “I am part of all that I have met.” And the journey continues.

Curiosity and passion have always driven my career. After my first month as a Time correspondent in New York, covering a wide range of stories, my bureau chief, a tart-tongued individual not given to flattery, said bluntly, “You’ve got a broad back, Melvoin.” I did. And do. Though there are successful television writers who stick to a particular genre, too many things interest me to specialize, which explains why I’ve been part of series as different as Killing Eve, Army Wives, Designated Survivor, and Northern Exposure. The common denominators have been characters and themes that captured my imagination, sparking stories I wanted to hear, stories I wanted to tell. As a writer, you have to believe that if something grabs you, it will grab the audience, too.

Beyond writing and producing, I've devoted considerable time to mentoring the next generation of storytellers, here and abroad. Not only do I enjoy giving back, but I get a lot out of meeting new people and learning from them. I began teaching in the 1990s at UCLA Extension, the university’s adult education program, and have never stopped.

In 2005, with help from writer-producer John Wells (then President of the Writers Guild of America) and other colleagues, I launched the WGA’S Showrunner Training Program, a six-week master class for emerging writer-producers . It succeeded beyond all expectations and is now entering its 19th year. In February, 2015, I had the honor of receiving the Morgan Cox Award, the WGA’s highest recognition for Guild service. In making the announcement, Guild President Chris 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.” 

Over the last three decades, I’ve taught semester courses at Harvard, UCLA, and USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and conducted seminars for the Sundance Institute, the European Showrunners Program (through the International Film School of Cologne), the Writers Guild of Great Britain, Screen Ireland, the Australian Writers Guild, Boulevard des Series (a collaboration of the Writers Guild Foundation and the French government), the m2 Film Lab in Turkey, Chapman University, Oxford Brookes University, Northwestern University, and Savannah College of Design. Additionally, I’ve spoken at conferences in Toronto, Mexico City, London, and various locations around the United States.

It’s been my privilege to both witness and participate in the last four decades of television, a tumultuous span in which the stable solar system of broadcast networks exploded, sending fragments of the sun hurtling to the far ends of the universe, each producing its own mini-solar system with corresponding gravitational pull. It’s an exciting, bewildering, challenging time, and I’m eager to help others navigate the changing constellations.

As a writer, consultant, mentor, and speaker, my goal is to give creatives the tools and perspective to become inspiring leaders, marshalling individuals into teams that can make dreams a reality. At least on television.