Bio

Kathleen McGhee-Anderson, is a writer of television, stage and screen, who earned a BA from Spelman College and an MFA from Columbia University’s School of the Arts in Film. Most recently, McGhee-Anderson has written a six-hour mini-series, Madiba, The Nelson Mandela Story for BET NET starring Lawrence Fishburne.  In her career she has written feature films for Columbia Pictures, Paramount Motion Pictures, Bruckheimer Films, and Twentieth Century Fox Films. Jersey Films/Sony produced her film, “Sunset Park,” and the movie “The Color of Courage,” dealing her grandparent’s landmark Supreme Court Housing battle, produced by Studios USA. She has developed and sold long-form, mini-series, and pilots to NBC, Fox, CBS, ABC, USA, BET NET, Showtime, PBS, TV-ONE and UP TV.  Her TV drama, “The Story of Blind Tom” (PBS,) garnered the first of several NAACP Image Awards, and the Ruby Slipper Award for Children’s Programming.

An early career as a film editor for ABC affiliates in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, California, was cut short when her writing was brought to attention of Michael Landon. Episodes of “Little House on The Prairie” and numerous sitcom assignments followed, including “Benson,” “Webster,” “Charles In Charge,” “Gimme A Break,” “Amen,” “227,” “The Cosby Show,” among others.

Dramatic television credits include “The Fosters,” “Touched by an Angel,” “413 Hope Street,” “South Central,” and “Any Day Now.” She was the Executive Producer of the fifth season of “Soul Food,” (Showtime,) and for four seasons was the Executive Producer /Showrunner of the critically acclaimed series, “Lincoln Heights,” (ABC/Family,) which garnered the NAACP Image Award for Best Drama, as well as the Gabriel Award for Best Entertainment in 2008.

McGhee-Anderson’s theater work has been developed and produced in conjunction with The Arena Stage, The Mark Taper Forum, The Crossroads Theater Company, The Vineyard Playhouse, The Harold Prince Music Theater and The Juilliard School in repertory. Her plays, “Jump at the Sun” and “Mothers,” (commissioned by Bill Cosby,) were produced by LA Theater Works, broadcast on National Public Radio and taught in secondary school throughout the country. She has twice been selected as a Eugene O’Neill Playwright by the prestigious Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut.

McGhee-Anderson has received numerous awards, nominations, and grants and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Spelman College, for her achievements in the entertainment industry as a writer, producer and playwright. She is currently at work on a children’s musical, “The Princess of 57th Street. Kathleen lives in Venice, California and Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts.

Curriculum Vitae

EDUCATION
Spelman College – BA (English – cum laude) -1972 – Columbia University – MFA (Film Directing-Scholarship&Criticism) – 1974
Spelman College – Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts – 2005

PROFESSIONAL
Film Editor – ABC/WMAL – WASHINGTON, DC. – 1974-1976
Assn’t Professor – Howard University Film Department – (School of Communications) – WASHINGTON, D.C. – 1976-1977
Film Editor – KABC – LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – 1978-1980
Instructor – The New School for Drama – NEW YORK, NEW YORK – 2005-2006

TV/FILM CREDITS
(Television Comedy)
The Righteous Apples PBS
Benson ABC TV
Webster
Charles in Charge
Bustin’ Loose
227 NBC TV
Gimme A Break
Amen NBC TV
Moe’s World; Fox TV (unproduced)
The Cosby Show; NBC
The Wee People Pilot; NBC (animation, unproduced)

(Television Drama)
Little House on the Prairie
Touched By an Angel
The Education of Matt Waters
The Women of Brewster Place
Rectitatif; PBS
Les Femmes Pilot, NBC, (unproduced)
Smoky; NBC pilot (unproduced)
413 Hope Street
South Central
Homeroom; ABC Family, unproduced
Stacy Riley Pilot; ABC Studios, (unproduced)

Any Day Now (Consulting Producer)
Soul Food (Executive Producer/Show Runner
Lincoln Heights (Executive Producer/Show Runner)

(Long Form/Dramatic Television)
The Amistad Incident – PBS (co-written, unproduced)
The Story of Blind Tom – KCET/PBS
Jump at the Sun! – PBS (unproduced)
Heatwave Pt Two – TNT (unproduced)
Heaven -The Story of Harlem – NBC (2 pts) (unproduced)
The Myrtle P. Rumph Story – (Showtime) (unproduced)
A Matter of Truth – (CBS) (unproduced)
The Color of Courage –Studios USA
Why We Sing- BET NET
Swing – TV ONE
Dear Viola – E-One

(Feature Films/Screenplays)
The Best Intentions – Columbia Pictures (unproduced)
Esther – Caravan Films/Disney (unproduced)
Rocking the Babies – Buckheimer Films (unproduced)
Sunset Park – Jersey Films/Tri-Star
The Beautiful Life – Paramount Studios (unproduced)
The A Phillip Randolph Story – Twentieth Century Fox (unproduced)

THEATER CREDITS – (abbreviated)
Oak and Ivy (Crossroads Theater Company, Arena Stage, Howard University, Karamu Theater, Bushfire Theater, etc.)
Jump at the Sun! (Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, LA Theater Works)
Venice (Mark Taper Forum-New Works Festival, Juilliard Repertory, Crossroads Theatre Company, Bushfire Theatre, Pacific Resident Theater
Mothers – commissioned by Bill Cosby (Crossroads Theater, LA Theater Works)
5 Mojo Secrets – Athena Works, Crossroads Theater New Works Festival, Vineyard Playhouse)
The Paw Paw Patch (commissioned by Arena Stage)
The Irresistible Death Club (Ensemble Theater Festival New York, Crossroads Theater Genesis Festival)
Quindaro (commissioned by University of Missouri/Kansas), UMKC Theater
A Shift In Gravity – The Vineyard Playhouse Theater Festival
Me and Mrs. Jones (co-written) The Harold Prince Musical Theater
The Princess of 57th Street, (a musical commissioned by For Colored Girls Productions)

Bio-American-Theater-Magazine