Hall, Karen 1956- (Karen L. Hall)

views updated

Hall, Karen 1956- (Karen L. Hall)

PERSONAL:

Born June 2, 1956, in Chatham, VA; daughter of Ervis and Flo Hall; married Chris Walker; children: Christine, Brian, Julianna, Caleb. Education: College of William and Mary, B.A., 1978; University of Virginia, M.F.A., 1979. Religion: Catholic.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Orlando, FL. E-mail— khall356@earthlink.net.

CAREER:

Screenwriter and producer. Production coordinator for Silkwood, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1983, and Tough Enough, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1983; thirtysomething, American Broadcasting Company (ABC), assistant to producer, 1987-88; Grace under Fire, ABC, creative consultant, 1994; Roseanne, ABC, creative consultant, 1994-95.

MEMBER:

Act One Screenwriting Program, Humanitas Foundation (member of board of trustees), Foundation for All God's Children (founder and president).

AWARDS, HONORS:

Humanitas Award, 1982, for "Where There's a Will There's a War" episode of M*A*S*H, 1983, for "Who Knew?" episode of M*A*S*H, and 1994, for "White Men Can't Kiss" episode of Roseanne; Writers Guild of America Award, 1984, for "Grace under Pressure" episode of Hill Street Blues; Women in Film Luminas Award and Scott Newman Drug Prevention Award, both 1985, both for Toughlove; Prism Award, 2000, for an episode of Judging Amy; seven Emmy Award nominations; four Writers' Guild of America Award nominations.

WRITINGS:

TELEVISION SERIES

Eight Is Enough, American Broadcasting Company (ABC), 1977.

(As Karen L. Hall) M*A*S*H, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), 1983.

Hill Street Blues, National Broadcasting Company (NBC), 1983-84.

(And supervising producer) Moonlighting, American Broadcasting Company (ABC), 1986-87.

Northern Exposure, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), 1990.

Quantum Leap, National Broadcasting Company (NBC), 1990.

I'll Fly Away, National Broadcasting Company (NBC), 1992.

Cupid, American Broadcasting Company (ABC), 1998.

(And creative consultant) Judging Amy, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), 2000-04.

Third Watch, National Broadcasting Company (NBC), 2005.

Jericho, CBS, 2007.

TELEVISION FILMS

Maximum Security, Home Box Office (HBO), 1984.

Toughlove, Fries Entertainment, 1985.

The Betty Ford Story, American Broadcasting Company (ABC), 1987.

(And supervising producer) The Women of Brewster Place, American Broadcasting Company (ABC), 1989.

Darkness before Dawn, National Broadcasting Company (NBC), 1993.

OTHER

Dark Debts (novel), Random House (New York, NY), 1996.

Author of Some Have Hats Web log, located at http:// somehavehats.typepad.com. Contributor to periodicals, including Cosmopolitan, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Los Angeles Herald Examiner.

ADAPTATIONS:

Paramount has purchased the film rights to Dark Debts.

SIDELIGHTS:

Karen Hall is a respected screenwriter who has penned episodes for such acclaimed television series as Northern Exposure, I'll Fly Away, and Judging Amy. She has been nominated for several Emmy Awards, including her work on the gritty police drama Hill Street Blues and the witty detective show Moonlighting, and garnered a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for her contribution to "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen," the final episode of the groundbreaking comedy M*A*S*H, one of the highest-rated episodes in television history.

In her novel Dark Debts, Hall "pricks the reader's attention with many thorny philosophical issues about the nature of evil and the need for ritual in religion," observed a critic in Publishers Weekly. The work concerns journalist Randa Phillips, whose lover, novelist Cameron Murphy, commits murder and then suicide, perhaps the result of a family curse. Randa later meets and falls for Cameron's older brother, Jack, who soon exhibits symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia and may be possessed by demons. Randa seeks help from Father Michael McKinney, a renegade Jesuit priest who harbors secrets of his own. Though Entertainment Weekly reviewer Gene Lyons remarked that Dark Debts "masquerades as a deeply insightful inquiry into the existence of evil and the nature of faith," Booklist contributor Donna Seaman stated that "Hall should be applauded for writing genuinely entertaining commercial fiction grounded in serious thought."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, June 1, 1996, Donna Seaman, review of Dark Debts, p. 1629.

Entertainment Weekly, August 9, 1996, Gene Lyons, review of Dark Debts, p. 51; June 27, 1997, review of Dark Debts, p. 112.

Glamour, August 1, 1996, Sara Nelson, review of Dark Debts, p. 68.

Library Journal, July 1, 1996, Keddy Ann Outlaw, review of Dark Debts, p. 160; November 1, 1996, review of Dark Debts, p. 120; March 15, 1997, review of Dark Debts, p. 42.

Publishers Weekly, June 24, 1996, review of Dark Debts, p. 45; May 12, 1997, review of Dark Debts, p. 74.