Joan Meyerson has an extensive, award-winning career as a writer, producer, and director of documentaries and television programs.
One of her first Associate Producer credits was for the Academy Award-nominated documentary Say Goodbye. She has also been honored with two Writers Guild of America Awards for Outstanding Script (nominated for a third). Other awards include the Cine Golden Eagle, Chris Plaque (Columbus Film Festival), Blue Ribbon (American Film and Video Festival), and Bronze medal (New York Film Festival).
Born in Los Angeles, Joan Meyerson graduated from the University of California at Berkeley. She also studied at the University of Mexico and the Sorbonne in Paris. Returning home, she began graduate school back at Berkeley.
She found a summer job back in LA as an Associate Producer on a TV Talk Show. She met and booked everyone from Phyllis Diller to Ronald Reagan. It was exciting stuff, dealing with the drama of real events, far from her student life in the musty library stacks. At the end of the summer, she applied for an honorary leave of absence from Berkeley.
She has yet to return.
Her love of documentaries, television, and writing all came together at David L. Wolper Productions. Among her many Wolper credits were the Academy Award-nominated Say Goodbye and the series Legends, Icons & Superstars of the 20th Century.
Her credits evolved and diversified:
-- Children’s programming: a CBS pilot, TV animation, live-action, and interactive game scripts.
-- French Television: programs about California that reflected the Golden State's reputation as a brave and entertaining new frontier.
-- Broadcast and cable TV: Meyerson produced, directed and wrote multiple episodes of the series ZooLife with Jack Hanna, The Hunt for Amazing Treasures, Painting with Elke Sommer, and Things That Go Bump.
-- Psychology Today magazine: she wrote, produced, and directed one of the top-selling management films of its year.
-- PBS: Meyerson's writing credits ranged from the special Michiyo and Kelly: A Quest for Education, to Japan: Memoirs of a Secret Empire and the top-rated miniseries Walking the Bible, based on the New York Times best-seller of the same name.
-- National Memorial Day Concert: One of PBS’ top rated shows,honored with two Writers Guild of America Awards for her scripts, she worked extensively with vets and military families, sharing their stories as portrayed by such distinguished actors as Laurence Fishburne, Dianne Wiest, Gary Sinise, Joe Mantegna, and Blythe Danner.
Her work has taken her on location throughout the U.S. and to Japan, Iwo Jima, Vietnam, Mexico, Guatemala, England,and the Netherlands.
Meyerson is a long-time member of the Writers Guild of America West, served five terms on its Board of Directors, and was nominated to run for President of the Guild in 2015, honored to have such supporters as Larry Wilmore ("The Daily Show"), Melissa Rosenberg ("Twilight," "Jessica Jones") Winnie Holzman ("Wicked"), and Robin Schiff ("Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion").
Meyerson is a former board member of Women in Film, the International Documentary Association, and a member of the Directors Guild of America.
Meyerson has been a guest lecturer at UCLA and USC on the art and craft of writing documentaries and has moderated numerous panels representing the WGA, Writers Guild Foundation, and the International Documentary Association. She is married to attorney Mark Meyerson, formerly Senior Vice President, Legal Affairs, at Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. They live in Valley Village, with their Miniature Schnauzer, Jazz.