Ilene Chaiken (born June 30, 1957) is an American television producer, director, writer, and founder of Little Chicken Productions. Chaiken is best known as being a co-creator, writer and executive producer on the television series ''

The L Word ''The L Word'' is a television drama that aired on Showtime from January 18, 2004 to March 8, 2009. The series follows the lives of a group of lesbian and bisexual women who live in West Hollywood, California. The premise originated with Ilene ...

'', and was recently an executive producer on ''

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

'', ''The Handmaid's Tale'', and '' Law & Order: Organized Crime''.

Early life and education

Chaiken was born in

Elkins Park, Pennsylvania Elkins Park is an unincorporated community in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It is split between Cheltenham and Abington Townships in the northern suburbs outside of Philadelphia, which it borders along Cheltenham Avenue roughly from Cent ...

to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family. She studied at the

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...

and graduated with an undergraduate degree in graphic design in 1979.

Career

She began her career as an agent trainee for

Creative Artists Agency Creative Artists Agency LLC (CAA) is an American talent and sports agency based in Los Angeles, California. It is regarded as an influential company in the talent agency business and manages numerous clients. In March 2016, CAA had 1,800 emplo ...

, and as an executive for

Aaron Spelling Aaron Spelling (April 22, 1923 June 23, 2006) was an American film and television producer and occasional actor. His productions included the TV series ''Family'' (1976–1980), '' Charlie's Angels'' (1976–1981), ''The Love Boat'' (1977–1986 ...

and

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

Entertainment. In 1988, she was the coordinating producer for the ''

Fresh Prince of Bel Air ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' is an American television sitcom created by Andy and Susan Borowitz for NBC. It aired from September 10, 1990, to May 20, 1996. The series stars Will Smith as a fictionalized version of himself, a street-smart ...

'' and the associate producer for '' Satisfaction.'' She then wrote the screenplay ''

Barb Wire Barb Wire may refer to: * Barb wire, a fencing material * Barb Wire (character), a comic book superhero published by Dark Horse Comics * ''Barb Wire'' (1996 film), starring Pamela Anderson, based on the comic book * ''Barb Wire'' (pinball), pinb ...

'' (1996), and the television films ''

Dirty Pictures ''Dirty Pictures'' is a 2000 American docudrama television film directed by Frank Pierson, written by Ilene Chaiken, and starring James Woods, Craig T. Nelson, and Diana Scarwid. The film focuses on the 1990 trial of Cincinnati Contemporary Arts ...

'' (2000), and ''Damaged Care'' (2002). ''Dirty Pictures'' won the Golden Globe for Best Miniseries or Television Film in 2000. Chaiken co-created ''

'' in 2004, inspired largely by her own experiences as a

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

. Her first romance with another woman, which ended in heartbreak when the woman revealed she had a long-distance girlfriend, served as a loose inspiration for the relationship of the characters

Marina Ferrer This list of ''The L Word'' characters is sorted by last name (where possible), and includes both major and minor characters from the American drama ''The L Word''. A * Felicity Adams: Lesbian, portrayed by Latarsha Rose. ''Generation Q'' ** Ex ...

and

Jenny Schecter Jennifer "Jenny" Diane Schecter is a fictional character from the American Showtime television drama series ''The L Word'', played by Mia Kirshner. Jenny debuted on-screen during the pilot episode and remained until the series' final episode. Je ...

. In 2007, she and a group of women in the entertainment and tech industries launched a social networking site called OurChart for lesbians and their friends. OurChart was online until 2008, when it was shutdown. At that time, a spin-off show of ''The L Word'' entitled ''The Farm'' was in development and two pilots were being written by Chaiken, although Showtime never bought the series. Chaiken produced a documentary for

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

in 2014 titles '' L Word Mississippi: Hate the Sin.'' The film focused on multiple lesbian women, telling their experiences of being gay in the

Deep South The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion in the Southern United States. The term was first used to describe the states most dependent on plantations and slavery prior to the American Civil War. Following the war ...

. During this time, Chaiken was also a showrunner on ABC's '' The Black Box,'' which was cancelled after one season''.'' Chaiken is credited with first developing the TV adaptation of ''

The Handmaid's Tale ''The Handmaid's Tale'' is a futuristic dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood and published in 1985. It is set in a near-future New England in a patriarchal, totalitarian theonomic state known as the Republic of Gilead, which h ...

,'' which became a successful

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...

original show. Chaiken left the project during development to become the show-runner on Fox's ''

,'' but was still credited as an executive producer. In January 2019, Showtime announced that it had ordered a full season of the sequel to ''The L Word.'' The show aired December 8, 2019, titled '' The L Word: Generation Q'', and picks up where the original series ended, set ten years later. More recently, her company, Little Chicken Productions, signed an overall deal with

Universal Television Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Universal Studio Group, a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It serves as the network television production arm of NBC; a predeces ...

. In 2020, Chaiken co-created the show '' Law & Order: Organized Crime'', a spin-off of the long-running series ''

Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering on ...

.'' The following year, she worked as a writer and showrunner for the series, but was replaced by Barry O'Brien part-way through production of the second season.

Personal life

Chaiken has been married to LouAnne Brickhouse, a former executive at

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

, since 2013. They live in the

Laurel Canyon Laurel Canyon is a mountainous neighborhood in the Hollywood Hills region of the Santa Monica Mountains, within the Hollywood Hills West district of Los Angeles, California. The main thoroughfare of Laurel Canyon Boulevard connects the neighb ...

area of the

Hollywood Hills The Hollywood Hills are a residential neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Geography The Hollywood Hills straddle the Cahuenga Pass within the Santa Monica Mountains. The neighborhood touches Studio City, Univer ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and have nurtured more than 100 species of birds and other

fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zoo ...

, which they document regularly on an

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

account. Chaiken is co-parent to twin daughters Tallulah and Augusta with her former partner, English architect Miggi Hood.

Filmography

Television

Awards

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chaiken, Ilene 1957 births Living people 20th-century American screenwriters 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American screenwriters 21st-century American women writers American television directors American television writers American women screenwriters American LGBT screenwriters Lesbian artists American lesbian writers LGBT television directors Lesbian screenwriters Showrunners American women television directors American women television producers American women television writers Jewish American screenwriters Lesbian Jews LGBT people from California Screenwriters from California Television producers from California People from Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles LGBT people from Pennsylvania Television producers from Pennsylvania People from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Rhode Island School of Design alumni Empire (2015 TV series) Screenwriters from Pennsylvania