Paul Elliott
Plays by Paul Elliott
About Paul Elliott
Paul Elliott
How did one become a writer? I'm not sure. I always felt my writing began as a fluke.While I pursuing an acting/directing career, I took a summer to write three plays which were subsequently published by Samuel French (The Legacy, and Perspective) and Dramatic Publishing (Ledge, Ledger and the Legend).
That led to writing screenplays which were also optioned and/or produced: Singapore Plus (HBO/ Francis Ford Coppola), House That Half Jack Built (CBS) Fangs (MM Productions), Maelstrom Complex (MM&D), Dial Tones (Robert Aldrich Prod. VITT), Night Screams (ABA
Wanting more control over my productions, I wrote, produced and/or directed for television over 50 shows from syndicated musical variety series to network musical variety specials.
Then two things happened. Musical variety died and I turned 45 that magical age in television where age matters. So I moved on to writing/ producing/ directing live stage shows for theme parks like Disneyland, Disney World, EuroDisney, AstroWorld, Boblo Island and Sanrio Puroland in Japan.
From there it seemed a natural step into corporate productions and I produced and directed everything from multimillion dollar press launches for companies like HP, Microsoft, MCA/Universal, Disney and Buena Vista to huge week long events for companies like Shaklee, Merle Norman, MONY, AXA Financial, AMD, Countrywide, United Airlines, Cookie Lee, Baxter Healthcare, Toshiba, FreeLife, RadioShack and Neutrogena.
But I never lost that dream of writing for the stage again. The challenges were money and time. I was paid well to be on the road or in production 48 weeks a year. Still, I started snatching moments to write and fell back into it as if I'd never done anything else. So I gave notice at my company and a year and a half later finally stepped away completely to return to writing full time.
Since my retirement, my first play, Finding the Burnett Heart, premiered at the Detroit Rep Theatre in 2009 before enjoying two six week runs in Hollywood. Since then, Dramatic Publishing has helped keep my plays moving around the world. --
Ledge, Ledger and Legend,
The Door ,
Mind Games ,
Exit Laughing (a 2014 AACT award winner ), Making Sweet Tea and Other Secrets (a 2017 AACT award winner ),
Cries in the Night, a ghost story for the stage (2019).
Other plays include:
Stolen Moments (a West Hollywood Gay Playfest Winner) and
The Legend of Tom Dooley (2015 winner of the TNT Play and Musical Festival)
Paul Elliott -
Paul@paulelliottwriter.com