Donald James MacHale (born March 11, 1955) is an American writer, director, and executive producer. He has been affiliated with shows such as ''

Are You Afraid of the Dark? ''Are You Afraid of the Dark?'' is a horror anthology television series. The original series aired on Nickelodeon from 1992 to 1996; the pilot episode aired respectively on YTV and Nickelodeon in 1990 and 1991. It led to two revival series, w ...

'', ''

Flight 29 Down ''Flight 29 Down'' is an American adventure comedy-drama television series about a group of teenagers who are stranded on an island. It was produced by Discovery Kids. The show was created by Stan Rogow (''Lizzie McGuire'', ''Darcy's Wild Life'') ...

'' and ''Seasonal Differences''. MacHale is also the author of the popular young adult book series, ''

Pendragon Pendragon or ( wlm, pen dreic, ''pen dragon''; composed of Welsh , 'head, chief, top' and / ''dragon'', 'dragon; warrior'; borrowed from the Latin word , plural , 'dragon , br, Penn Aerouant) literally means 'chief dragon' or 'head dragon', but ...

'' and '' Morpheus Road''.

Early life

MacHale was born on March 11, 1955, in

Port Chester, New York Port Chester is a administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the largest part of the town of Rye (town), New York, Rye in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County by populat ...

and grew up in

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich (, ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the town had a total population of 63,518. The largest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast (Conne ...

where he had several jobs including collecting eggs at a poultry farm, engraving sports trophies, and washing dishes in a steakhouse. In school he played football and ran track. It was while attending Western Junior High School that he and friends began making video productions that ranged from short documentaries to a feature-length Marx Brothers comedy. Upon graduation from

Greenwich High School Greenwich High School is a four-year public high school in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States. The school is part of the Greenwich Public Schools system and serves roughly 2,700 students. It offers over 295 courses and a wide variety of co-cu ...

, MacHale attended

Villanova University Villanova University is a Private university, private Catholic church, Roman Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinians in 1842 and named after Thomas of Villanova, Sa ...

for three semesters, then transferred to

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

where he graduated with a BFA in

film production Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, casti ...

Awards

MacHale won the

CableACE Award The CableACE Award (earlier known as the ACE Awards; ACE was an acronym for "Award for Cable Excellence") is a defunct award that was given by what was then the National Cable Television Association from 1978 to 1997 to honor excellence in Amer ...

for his series ''

Chris Cross Chris Cross (born Christopher Thomas Allen, 14 July 1952, Tottenham, London) is an English musician, best known as the bass guitarist in the new wave band Ultravox. Biography Early years Cross went to Belmont Secondary Modern School, ...

'' and the

Gemini Award The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in the United States ...

for ''Are You Afraid of the Dark?'' He received a

Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America is the joint efforts of two different US labor unions representing TV and film writers: * The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), headquartered in New York City and affiliated with the AFL–CIO * The Writers Guil ...

award as well as a second WGA nomination for his work on the TV series ''

''. He received a

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Directors Guild in 1936, the group merge ...

award nomination for his work on the TV series ''Flight 29 Down''.

Works

* ''

ABC Afterschool Special ''ABC Afterschool Special'' is an American television anthology series that aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from October 4, 1972, to January 23, 1997, usually in the late afternoon on weekdays. Most episodes were dramatically presen ...

'' (Multiple episodes of the TV Series) * ''

'' (TV Series) * '' Tower of Terror'' (Movie) * ''

'' (TV Series) * ''Seasonal Differences'' (Episode of the Afterschool Special TV Series) * ''

Ghostwriter A ghostwriter is hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are officially credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often h ...

'' (Pilot episodes of the TV series) * ''

Encyclopedia Brown ''Encyclopedia Brown'' is a series of books featuring the adventures of boy detective Leroy Brown, nicknamed "Encyclopedia" for his intelligence and range of knowledge. The series of 29 children's novels was written (one co-written) by Donald ...

'' (TV Series) * ''

: Journal of an Adventure Through Time and Space'' (Book Series) * ''

East of the Sun and West of the Moon "East of the Sun and West of the Moon" ( no, Østenfor sol og vestenfor måne) is a Norwegian fairy tale. It was included by Andrew Lang in ''The Blue Fairy Book'' (1890). "East of the Sun and West of the Moon" was collected by Peter Christen A ...

'' (Penned Adaptation) * ''

'' (TV Series) * ''The Guide to the Territories of Halla'', (2005): provides information about

The Pendragon Adventure ''Pendragon: Journal of an Adventure through Time and Space'', commonly known as ''Pendragon'', is a series of ten young-adult science fiction and fantasy novels by American author D. J. MacHale, published from 2002 to 2009. The series chroni ...

book series up to book five, Black Water including the era, land mass, events, currency, and recreation. * '' Morpheus Road'' (Book Series) * ''The Monster Princess'' (Picture Book) * ''The SYLO Chronicles (book series) SYLO, STORM, and STRIKE'' * ''The Library'' (book series) Curse of the Boggin; Black Moon Rising; The Oracle of Doom * '' Voyagers'' (1st book of the series) * ''The Equinox Curiosity Shop'' (Audible Original audio book) * ''Trinity'' (Novel featured in the

TV series)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Machale, D. J. 1956 births Alumni of the University of London American male writers American television directors American television producers Living people Writers from Greenwich, Connecticut Writers Guild of America Award winners Greenwich High School alumni Tisch School of the Arts alumni