Anders, Allison 1954-

PERSONAL

Full name, Mary Allison Anders; born November 16, 1954, in Ashland, KY; daughter of Rachel Anders (a secretary and songwriter); father, a bartender; children: Tiffany, Devon, Reuben Goodbear. Education: University of California, Los Angeles, degree in film (summa cum laude); attended community college.

Addresses:

Agent—United Talent Agency, 9560 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 500, Beverly Hills, CA 90212.

Career:

Director and writer. Sundance Film Festival, member of dramatic jury, 1994; Samuel Goldwyn Writing Award, judge. Worked as a waitress and bartender and held other jobs.

Member:

Directors Guild of America, Writers Guild of America, West.

Awards, Honors:

Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting, Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, 1986; Samuel Goldwyn Writing Award, First Prize, 1986; Independent Spirit Award nomination (with others), best first feature, Independent Feature Project/West, 1989, for Border Radio; New York Film Critics Circle Award, best new director, Critics Award, Deauville Film Festival, Grand Jury Prize nomination, dramatic category, Sundance Film Festival, and Golden Berlin Bear nomination, Berlin International Film Festival, all 1992, and Independent Spirit Award nominations, best director and best screenplay, 1993, all for Gas Food Lodging; MacArthur Foundation grant ("genius" grant), 1995; Golden Spike nomination, Valladolid International Film Festival, 1996, for Grace of My Heart; Directors Week Award (with Kurt Voss), best screenplay, Fantasporto, 2000, for Sugar Town; Copper Wing Tribute Award, Phoenix Film Festival, 2001; Spirit of Silver Lake Award, Los Angeles Silver Lake Film Festival, 2002; Edgar Award nomination (with Voss), best television feature or miniseries, Mystery Writers of America, 2002, for Things behind the Sun.

CREDITS

Film Director:

(With Kurt Voss and Dean Lent) Border Radio, Strand Releasing/International Film Marketing, 1987.

Gas Food Lodging, IRS Releasing, 1992.

Mi vida loca (also known as My Crazy Life), Sony Pictures Classics, 1994.

"Strange Brew" (some sources cite "The Missing Ingredient"), Four Rooms (also known as Four Rooms and a Hotel, Grand Hotel, and Groom Service), Miramax, 1995.

Grace of My Heart, Gramercy Pictures, 1996.

Sugar Town (also known as Untitled Anders-Voss Project), October Films, 1999.

Film Executive Producer:

Lover Girl (also known as Lover Girls), Bedford Entertainment, 1997.

The Pacific and Eddy, Westlake Entertainment Group, 2007.

Unicorns (also known as Even Unicorns Need to Breathe), c. 2008.

Film Work; Other:

Production assistant, Paris, Texas, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1984.

Worked on other projects.

Film Appearances:

Herself, Welcome to Hollywood, Phaedra Cinema/PM Entertainment Group/Sunland Entertainment, c. 1998.

Herself, Olive Thomas: The Most Beautiful Girl in the World (documentary; also known as Olive Thomas: Everybody's Sweetheart), Timeline Films, 2003.

Herself, This Film Is Not Yet Rated (documentary), IFC Films, 2006.

Herself, Pass! Screenwriters on Surviving Hollywood Rejection (documentary), Grand River Films/Jade Tiger Productions, 2008.

Television Director; Movies:

Things behind the Sun, Showtime, 2001.

Television Director; Episodic:

"The Caste System," Sex and the City (also known as Sex & the City, Sex and the Big City, O sexo e a cidade, Seks i grad, Sex og singelliv, Sexo en la ciudad, Sexo en Nueva York, Sinkkuelaemaeae, and Szex es New York), HBO, 1999.

"La Douleur Exquise!," Sex and the City (also known as Sex & the City, Sex and the Big City, O sexo e a cidade, Seks i grad, Sex og singelliv, Sexo en la ciudad, Sexo en Nueva York, Sinkkuelaemaeae, and Szex es New York), HBO, 1999.

"The Big Time," Sex and the City (also known as Sex & the City, Sex and the Big City, O sexo e a cidade, Seks i grad, Sex og singelliv, Sexo en la ciudad, Sexo en Nueva York, Sinkkuelaemaeae, and Szex es New York), HBO, 2000.

"Boys on the Side," Grosse Pointe (also known as Starlets), The WB, 2000.

"Drama Queens," Sex and the City (also known as Sex & the City, Sex and the Big City, O sexo e a cidade, Seks i grad, Sex og singelliv, Sexo en la ciudad, Sexo en Nueva York, Sinkkuelaemaeae, and Szex es New York), HBO, 2000.

"Star Wars," Grosse Pointe (also known as Starlets), The WB, 2000.

"Volunteers," Cold Case (also known as Anexihniastes ypothesis, Caso abierto, Cold case—affaires classees, Cold Case—Kein Opfer ist je vergessen, Doegloett aktak, Kalla spaar, Todistettavasti syyllinen, and Victimes du passe), CBS, 2004.

"Last Dance," The L Word (also known as Earthlings), Showtime, 2006.

"Power Shift," Men in Trees (also known as A ferfi fan terem and Teoria miehistae), ABC, 2006.

"What about First Steps …," What about Brian, ABC, 2006.

"What about True Confessions?," What about Brian, ABC, 2006.

Television Appearances; Specials:

Herself, Independent Spirit: Close Up, Bravo, 1993.

Herself, Indie Sex: Taboos, Independent Film Channel, 2001.

Herself, Sundance 20 (also known as Sundance20), Sundance Channel, 2002.

Herself, Brilliant but Cancelled: Pilot Season, Trio, 2003.

Herself, In the Company of Women, Independent Film Channel, 2004.

Herself, Wanderlust, Independent Film Channel, 2006.

Television Appearances; Awards Presentations:

(Uncredited) Presenter, The 2001 IFP/West Independent Spirit Awards, Independent Film Channel, 2001.

Television Appearances; Episodic:

Herself, Intimate Portrait: Ally Sheedy, Lifetime, 1999.

Herself, "The Monster That Ate Hollywood," Frontline, PBS, 2001.

Herself, Intimate Portrait: Rosanna Arquette, Lifetime, 2003.

Appeared in other programs, including Independent View, PBS.

Television Work; Pilots:

Executive producer, director, and costume designer, In the Echo, CBS, 2002.

RECORDINGS

Videos:

Herself, The Making of "Border Radio" (short), Criterion Collection, 2007.

WRITINGS

Screenplays:

(With Kurt Voss and Dean Lent) Border Radio, Strand Releasing/International Film Marketing, 1987.

Gas Food Lodging (based on the novel Don't Look and It Won't Hurt by Richard Peck), IRS Releasing, 1992.

Mi vida loca (also known as My Crazy Life), Sony Pictures Classics, 1994.

"Strange Brew" (some sources cite "The Missing Ingredient "), Four Rooms (also known as Four Rooms and a Hotel, Grand Hotel, and Groom Service), Miramax, 1995.

Grace of My Heart, Gramercy Pictures, 1996.

(With Voss) Sugar Town (also known as Untitled Anders-Voss Project), October Films, 1999.

Author of other scripts, including City at Peace, MTV Films; Groupies (based on a story by Gene Simmons), New Line Cinema; House of Forgetting (based on a novel by Benjamin Saenz); Paul Is Dead; and Boxcar Children (based on the stories).

Teleplays:

(With Kurt Voss) Things behind the Sun (television movie), Showtime, 2001.

Author of other projects, including a pilot for American Movie Classics.

Nonfiction:

"Cut to the Grace" (postproduction diary), published in Premiere, October, 1996, pp. 49-50, 52-53, 55.

OTHER SOURCES

Periodicals:

Elle, July, 1996.

Entertainment Weekly, August 21, 1992, p. 39; July 22, 1994, pp. 27-29.

Interview, September, 1996.

New York Times, July 26, 1992.

NME, February 22, 1997, p. 25.

Premiere, Volume 5, issue 2, 1997, pp. 38-43; October, 1998, pp. 82-90.