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Ellen Kesend
Ellen Kesend began her writing career as a Hollywood screenwriter. After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College, she joined Cinema Engagé, a film collective in New York, and worked...view moreEllen Kesend began her writing career as a Hollywood screenwriter. After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College, she joined Cinema Engagé, a film collective in New York, and worked in all aspects of production. When she started writing screenplays, she moved to LA to attend UCLA’s Graduate Screenwriting program and was awarded the prestigious Jack Nicholson Scholarship for Best Screenwriter and/or Playwright. Her screenplay CONVICTIONS led to a career writing features and long-form TV for top producers, studios, and networks, including Paramount, Warner Brothers, Disney, NBC and HBO.
Ellen co-produced and co-wrote an independent feature, IN 'N' OUT, a Mexican-US co-production, and co-produced the award-winning human rights documentary KIMJONGILIA, which premiered at Sundance.
A movie idea morphed into THE JOHNNY MOSS ROOM. The novel has been optioned by an Academy Award-nominated producer. It is featured as Best of the Library Writers Project by Portland, Oregon’s Multnomah County Library, rated the Number 2 library in the U.S.
Ellen has taught Screenwriting at the Evergreen State College in Washington, San Francisco’s Academy of Arts University, and privately. She and her family now live in Portland, Oregon, where she is working on a memoir, plays, and essays.view less