Audrey Ann Wells (''née'' Lederer; January 25, 1960 – October 4, 2018) was an American screenwriter, film director, and producer. Her 1999 film ''

Guinevere Guinevere ( ; cy, Gwenhwyfar ; br, Gwenivar, kw, Gwynnever), also often written in Modern English as Guenevere or Guenever, was, according to Arthurian legend, an early-medieval queen of Great Britain and the wife of King Arthur. First me ...

'' won the

Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award Waldo Miller Salt (October 18, 1914 – March 7, 1987) was an American screenwriter who won Academy Awards for both ''Midnight Cowboy'' and '' Coming Home''. Early life and career Salt was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Winifred (n ...

Early life

Wells was born in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for "Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, to Austrian-American psychiatrist Wolfgang Lederer and Romanian-American psychologist Alexandra Botwin Lederer; her parents fled World War II-era Europe. She had Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jewish ancestry.

Career

Wells worked as a disc jockey at San Francisco jazz radio station KJAZ FM. She graduated from U.C. Berkeley and

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

. She wrote a number of successful screenplays and directed three for which she had created the script. Her works were primarily comedies and

romance film Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

s. Among her films are ''

The Truth About Cats & Dogs ''The Truth About Cats & Dogs'' is a 1996 American romantic comedy film directed by Michael Lehmann and written by Audrey Wells. It stars Janeane Garofalo, Uma Thurman, Ben Chaplin and Jamie Foxx. The story is a modern reinterpretation of the 1897 ...

'' (1996) and ''

Under the Tuscan Sun ''Under the Tuscan Sun'' is a 2003 American romantic comedy-drama film written, produced, and directed by Audrey Wells and starring Diane Lane. Based on Frances Mayes' 1996 memoir of the same name, the film is about a recently divorced writer w ...

'' (2003), both of which she also produced. Her 1999 film ''

'' won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the Sundance Film Festival. Wells also co-wrote the script for the comedy '' The Game Plan''.

Death

Wells died of cancer on October 4, 2018. The film '' The Hate U Give'', for which she wrote the screenplay, was released the next day. She is survived by her husband and daughter. She also wrote the screenplay for the 2020

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

/ Pearl Studio animated feature '' Over the Moon'', which was dedicated to her memory.

Filmography

* ''

'' (1996), writer/executive producer * '' George of the Jungle'' (1997), co-screenwriter * ''

'' (1999), writer/director (feature directorial debut) * '' Disney's The Kid'' (2000), writer * ''

'' (2003), screen story writer/screenwriter/director/producer * '' Shall We Dance?'' (2004), screenwriter * '' The Game Plan'' (2007), co-story writer * ''The Fugees'' (2012), director * '' A Dog's Purpose'' (2017), co-screenwriter * '' The Hate U Give'' (2018), screenwriter (film released posthumously) * '' Abominable'' (2019), Additional screenplay materal with Irena Brigull and William Davies (film released posthumously) * '' Over the Moon'' (2020), writer (film released posthumously) - The film was dedicated to her memory.

References

External links