Amy Holden Jones is an American screenwriter and film director best known for creating the
FOX
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
medical drama ''
The Resident''. She has edited various films and later began directing and writing. She currently works in television.
Early life and education
Jones was born on September 17, 1955 and grew up in
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
. She lived in
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...
during her high school years. She was interested in photography and wanted to study alongside
Minor White who was teaching at
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
at the time. Jones attended
Wellesley College in
Wellesley, Massachusetts
Wellesley () is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Wellesley is part of Greater Boston. The population was 29,550 at the time of the 2020 census. Wellesley College, Babson College, and a campus of Massachusetts Bay Communit ...
, majoring in
art history
Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...
, so she could also take
film studies
Film studies is an academic discipline that deals with various theoretical, historical, and critical approaches to cinema as an art form and a medium. It is sometimes subsumed within media studies and is often compared to television studies.
...
courses at nearby
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...
.
Career
Editor (1976–1981)
Jones broke onto the festival circuit when she won first place at the
American Film Institute National Student Festival, where
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, inclu ...
was a judge, for her short documentary film ''A Weekend Home'' (1975). A year later Jones was struggling to make ends meet living in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
due to a lack of funding for documentaries. After she read an article about
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, inclu ...
beginning to produce another film, she reached out and called him asking "Do you remember this film? Would you advise me to move to New York?". Five days later he called her back and offered her a job as his assistant during the production of
Taxi Driver
''Taxi Driver'' is a 1976 American film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Paul Schrader, and starring Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, Peter Boyle, Leonard Harris, and Albert Brooks. Set in a decaying ...
. It was there that she met her husband
cinematographer Michael Chapman. Martin Scorsese told Jones she was “too good to be an assistant” and got her in contact with film producer
Roger Corman
Roger William Corman (born April 5, 1926) is an American film director, producer, and actor. He has been called "The Pope of Pop Cinema" and is known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film. Many of Corman's films are based on works t ...
.
She went on to work for Corman editing Joe Dante's first film, ''
Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood Boulevard is a major east–west street in Los Angeles, California. It begins in the east at Sunset Boulevard in the Los Feliz district and proceeds to the west as a major thoroughfare through Little Armenia and Thai Town, Hollywoo ...
'', when she was 22 years old. She edited ''
American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince'' for Scorsese, ''
Corvette Summer
''Corvette Summer'' is a 1978 American adventure comedy film directed by Matthew Robbins. It was Mark Hamill's first screen appearance after the unexpected success of '' Star Wars'' the previous year. Hamill stars as a California teenager who he ...
'' for MGM, and ''
Second-Hand Hearts
''Second-Hand Hearts'' is a 1981 American comedy film directed by Hal Ashby from a screenplay by Charles Eastman. A shorter version of this screenplay, under its original intended title ''The Hamster of Happiness'', was written by Eastman for t ...
'' for Hal Ashby. Despite the film ''
Second-Hand Hearts
''Second-Hand Hearts'' is a 1981 American comedy film directed by Hal Ashby from a screenplay by Charles Eastman. A shorter version of this screenplay, under its original intended title ''The Hamster of Happiness'', was written by Eastman for t ...
'' being critically panned Jones learned a lot about editing from
Hal Ashby
William Hal Ashby (September 2, 1929 – December 27, 1988) was an American film director and editor associated with the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking.
Before his career as a director Ashby edited films for Norman Jewison, notably ''The R ...
as he was an editing genius.
''The Slumber Party Massacre'' (1982–1983)
After editing these films, Jones realized that she did not want to spend the rest of her life editing; she was frustrated with the fact that an editor can dramatically improve a film, however, it is not their film. Jones felt that she was being typed as a film editor. She was scheduled to edit
Steven Spielberg’s ''
E.T'', however, it was being continuously pushed back due to ''
Poltergeist'' going over schedule. At this point she made a decision she has called crazy herself and decided to walk away from ''
E.T'' to direct her own film.
Jones promised herself she would only continue to be a film editor if she could not make her own movie. Ultimatum in mind, she approached Roger Corman about directing, asking “What would I have to do to become a director?” Corman professed that her documentary work did not show him enough of what he wanted, insisting “You have to show me that you can do what I do.” Having not written for the screen before, Jones went searching for an existing script. After scouring Corman’s library of scrapped scripts, Jones took special notice of
Rita Mae Brown’s “Don’t Open the Door”. Jones was especially enthralled with the eight page prologue which included the holy trifecta of exploitation storytelling: a dialogue scene, a suspense scene, and an action scene.
After rewriting some of the scenes, Jones got together a group of short ends from prior shooting projects. Her husband, a cinematographer, took behind the camera and her neighbor was a sound technician. Jones committed herself to special effects, and she cast students from the
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
theater department to act in the film. Over three days, Jones and her team shot the first eight pages on 35mm film. Jones edited the short on
Joe Dante’s
Moviola
A Moviola () is a device that allows a film editor to view a film while editing. It was the first machine for motion picture editing when it was invented by Iwan Serrurier in 1924.
History
Iwan Serrurier's original 1917 concept for the Moviola ...
after hours while he was editing ''
The Howling
''The Howling'' is a 1977 horror novel by Gary Brandner. It was the inspiration for the movie ''The Howling'' (1981), although the plot of the movie was only vaguely similar to that of the book.
Brandner published two sequels to the novel, '' T ...
''. Dante also assisted Jones with temporary music cues.
Jones dropped off the nine-minute reel for Corman, confident that its three-part structure would convince him that she could fulfill all of the tropes which make up an exploitation movie. Impressed by her limited budget of just $2,000, Corman granted Jones a mere $200,000 to direct a feature length version of the script, of which Jones had not read past the first eight pages. With her tight budget as a roadmap, Jones utilized her skills acquired as a film editor and documentary filmmaker to do an intensive rewriting of the script. But, before sitting in the director’s chair, Jones underwent acting lessons with blacklisted actor
Jeff Corey, a condition of all directors who worked for Corman. The shoot took 38 days across a school and two houses that were all side by side.
None of the original short made it into the final cut of ''
The Slumber Party Massacre'', because none of the actors were part of the
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...
(SAG). But, as Jones noted, it was not needed.
''Love Letters'' and Writing Breakthrough (1983–1993)
''Love Letters'' (1983)
Jones wanted to continue to direct, however, she struggled to find any opportunities because at the time women were not typically allowed to direct films. When pushed by Roger Corman to direct her second feature, yet another exploitation film, Jones convinced Corman to aim for the
art house market instead. She insisted, having been a distributor of
Truffaut and
Fellini
Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and most i ...
films, that Corman had an already impressive art house distribution network. Plus, given the rise of
home video
Home video is prerecorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD, Blu-ray and streaming me ...
in the mid-80s, Jones eventually convinced Corman making a film both in the art house outlet and on home video would make back the money spent. After Jones’s
spec script
A spec script, also known as a speculative screenplay, is a non-commissioned and unsolicited screenplay. It is usually written by a screenwriter who hopes to have the script optioned and eventually purchased by a producer, production company, or ...
for ''
Love Letters
A love letter is an expression of love in written form. However delivered, the letter may be anything from a short and simple message of love to a lengthy explanation and description of feelings.
History
One of the oldest references to a l ...
'' impressed Corman, he was on board.
Jones credits a lot of the idea behind ''Love Letters'' to her, at the time, long-distance relationship with her husband. Given that she was on the West coast, and he was on the East, letters were their primary form of communication. Jones wondered what effect those letters would have on her young daughter. Simultaneously, Jones had become fixated on
Alan Parker’s 1982 family drama, ''
Shoot the Moon
''Shoot the Moon'' is a 1982 American drama film directed by Alan Parker, and written by Bo Goldman. It stars Albert Finney, Diane Keaton, Karen Allen, Peter Weller and Dana Hill. Set in Marin County, California, the film follows George (Finney ...
'', about the traumas of a married man in an affair. Citing it as a male character she had seen a zillion times, Jones wondered what a film from the other woman’s point of view would be like. By conjoining this concept with that of her daughter stumbling upon her and her husband’s letters, ''Love Letters'' was born.
When writing the script, Jones made sure the story took place in a limited number of locations for the sake of saving money and time. Jones utilized her own house as the main location of the film.
Amy Madigan
Amy Marie Madigan (born September 11, 1950) is an American actress. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1985 film '' Twice in a Lifetime''. Her other film credits include '' Love Child'' (1982), ''Places ...
was in mind for the main role during the writing process, but
Meg Tilly
Meg Tilly (born Margaret Elizabeth Chan on February 14, 1960) is an American-Canadian actress and writer.
For her role in the 1985 film ''Agnes of God'', she won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting A ...
was Jones’s first choice when casting. After her falling out,
Jamie Lee Curtis
Jamie Lee Curtis (born November 22, 1958) is an American actress, producer, children's author, and activist. She came to prominence with her portrayal of Lt. Barbara Duran on the ABC sitcom '' Operation Petticoat'' (1977–78). In 1978, she m ...
fell in love with the script and assumed the role, much to Jones’s pleasure.
James Keach
James Keach (born December 7, 1947) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the younger brother of actor Stacy Keach Jr. and son of actor Stacy Keach Sr.
Early life and education
Keach was born in Savannah, Georgia, the son of Mary Cain ( ...
was a late replacement after the first choice for the role, of whom Jones has never publicly disclosed, dropped out seven days before shooting.
Jones credits the screenplays of
Harold Pinter as her main source of inspiration for the film’s flashback structure.
''Mystic Pizza'' (1988), ''Maid to Order'' (1987), and ''Indecent Proposal'' (1993)
Jones’s coming-of-age classic ''
Mystic Pizza'' is inspired by Mystic Pizza Shack in
Mystic, Connecticut
Mystic is a village and census-designated place (CDP) in Groton, Connecticut, Groton and Stonington, Connecticut, United States.
Historically, Mystic was a significant Connecticut seaport with more than 600 ships built over 135 years starting in ...
. Jones envisioned ''Mystic Pizza'' to be her ''
Diner'', a 1982 bromantic comedy film by
Barry Levinson
Barry Lee Levinson (born April 6, 1942) is an American filmmaker, comedian and actor. Levinson's best-known works are mid-budget comedy drama and drama films such as '' Diner'' (1982); ''The Natural'' (1984); '' Good Morning, Vietnam'' (1987); ...
, citing it as the female version of that film. She had expected to direct it and wrote it for herself to direct.
The film was optioned by
Samuel Goldwyn Jr.
Samuel John Goldwyn Jr. (September 7, 1926 – January 9, 2015) was an American film producer.
Early life
Samuel Goldwyn Jr. was born on September 7, 1926, in Los Angeles, California, the son of actress Frances Howard (born Frances Howard McL ...
who held onto it for years claiming that his $5,000 option gave him the rights to it for the rest of her life. As she dealt with this situation she rewrote and directed ''
Maid to Order
''Maid to Order'' is a 1987 American comedy/fantasy film. It is a variation on the Cinderella formula, where the fairy godmother is not the means to a better life for the heroine, but rather the nemesis. Rather than doing so out of malice, thoug ...
'' and again was offered nothing while her apprentice editors were getting the chance to direct due to them being men. Eventually
Samuel Goldwyn Jr.
Samuel John Goldwyn Jr. (September 7, 1926 – January 9, 2015) was an American film producer.
Early life
Samuel Goldwyn Jr. was born on September 7, 1926, in Los Angeles, California, the son of actress Frances Howard (born Frances Howard McL ...
made ''
Mystic Pizza'' with a male director, however, her version received high praise for its spectacular dialogue, and she began to receive offers as a screenwriter since at the time women were allowed to write films, not direct.
Her next big writing offer was for ''
Indecent Proposal
''Indecent Proposal'' is a 1993 American erotic drama film directed by Adrian Lyne and written by Amy Holden Jones. It is based on the 1988 novel by Jack Engelhard, in which a couple's marriage is disrupted by a stranger's offer of a million d ...
'' based on the novel by
Jack Engelhard
Jack may refer to:
Places
* Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community
* Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community
* Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA
People and fictional characters
* Jack (given name), a male given name, ...
, which made Jones a big-name screenwriter.
Television work
Eventually Jones began being interesting in television and pitched a show titled ''
The Seventeenth Floor'' to
ABC,
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
, and
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
who all wanted to buy it, however, she ended up writing the script for
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
. Next, Jones wrote a pilot for the WB during its brand switch to
the CW
''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...
about
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...
, entitled "HMS". Although it was shot, it did not get picked up, even in light of it testing higher than any other show CW had. After this she worked on the short lived show ''
Black Box
In science, computing, and engineering, a black box is a system which can be viewed in terms of its inputs and outputs (or transfer characteristics), without any knowledge of its internal workings. Its implementation is "opaque" (black). The te ...
'' which was still early in her television career and as such, she still had a lot to learn.
Jones equates the show’s plunder to summer shows not doing as well as they once did, and the fact the show wasn't filmed at its home studio, ABC Studios.
Jones is featured in the first chapter of Julie MacLusky's book ''Is There Life After Film School?'' as well as in ''The First Time I Got Paid for It'' by Peter Lefcourt and Laura J. Shapiro.
Jones is one of the creators of the acclaimed medical drama ''
The Resident'' which premiered in 2018 and is still airing. ''
The Resident'' is a response of sorts to other medical dramas on television that she claims she got tired of watching because they are all too similar and recycle the same plot lines.
She is known for accusing other medical dramas of copying ''The Resident'', such as ''
Grey's Anatomy
''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series that premiered on March 27, 2005, on ABC as a mid-season replacement. The series focuses on the lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings as they develop into s ...
'' and ''
New Amsterdam''. In 2019, she signed a new overall deal with
20th Century Fox TV
20th Television (formerly 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Century-Fox Television, and TCF Television Productions, Inc.) is an American television production company that is a division of Disney Television Studios, part of The Walt Disney Comp ...
. Jonnie Davis, President of Creative Affairs, said about Jones, “She’s brimming with ideas, and we’re excited to have her continued services on our series as well as her development. She’s an important voice.” Coming from her deal with 20th Century Fox, she is potentially going to be working as co-writer and co-executive producer for a new crime drama at
ABC. She is notably not fond of actress
Susan Sarandon
Susan Abigail Sarandon (; née Tomalin; born October 4, 1946) is an American actorMcCabe, Bruce"Susan Sarandon, the 'actor'" ''Boston Globe''. April 17, 1981. Retrieved January 21, 2021. and activist. She is the recipient of various accolades, ...
.
Filmography
Awards and nominations
Jones established herself in the documentary scene by winning First Place at the
AFI National Student Film Festival for her short documentary film ''A Weekend Home'' in 1975. Later on in her career, she would win the
Golden Raspberry Award
The Golden Raspberry Awards (also known as the Razzies and Razzie Awards) is a parody award show honoring the worst of cinematic under-achievements. Co-founded by UCLA film graduates and film industry veterans John J. B. Wilson and Mo Murphy, ...
for Worst Screenplay for ''
Indecent Proposal
''Indecent Proposal'' is a 1993 American erotic drama film directed by Adrian Lyne and written by Amy Holden Jones. It is based on the 1988 novel by Jack Engelhard, in which a couple's marriage is disrupted by a stranger's offer of a million d ...
'' in 1994. In 2019, Jones would win a Sentinel Award for
''The Resident'' Episode 220 “If Not Now, When?” alongside co-writers
Tianna Majumdar-Langham and
Chris Bessounian.
Bibliography and further reading
Allen, C. (Host). (2019, May 7). Amy Holden Jones, Screenwriter, Mystic Pizza, Beethoven, Indecent Proposal (No. 49)
udio Podcast Episode In ''The Writer Experience''. Flickering Myth.
Broyles, Lindsey. “Female Authorship in the Slumber Party Massacre Trilogy,” BA diss., (University of New Mexico, 2016).
Collum, Jason Paul. “SLEEPLESS NIGHTS: Revisiting The Slumber Party Massacre 'Don't Open the Door', Directed and Written by Jason Paul Collum (2010: Shout! Factory and B+BOY Productions) DVD.
Maclay, Willow C. “Lined Lips and Spiked Bats: Amy Holden Jones and the Women of 'The Slumber Party Massacre',” Notebook, November 11, 2019.
Newman, Kim. “The Slumber Party Massacre,” ''Monthly Film Bulletin'', January 1, 1983.
References
External links
*
Amy Holden Jonesat
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
The Relic- early draft
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Amy Holden
1955 births
20th-century American screenwriters
21st-century American screenwriters
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American women writers
Screenwriters from Massachusetts
Living people
American women film directors
American television producers
American women television producers
American film producers
American television writers
American film editors
American women screenwriters
American women television writers
American women film producers
American women film editors
Film directors from Florida
Screenwriters from Florida