Who is Jeffrey Alan Schechter (and why does he think he can beat up my story?)


Jeffrey Alan SchechterJeffrey Alan Schechter
 has been beating up stories for over twenty years. He is a WGA, WGC, Emmy, and BAFTA nominated writer, a Gemini award winning producer, director, a million dollar spec screenplay writer, and the developer of the storytelling muscle that is Mariner Software’s CONTOUR story development program, formerly The TotallyWrite Development Suite.

Jeff’s first credits were in action films such as BLOODSPORT II, THE TOWER, and STREETKNIGHT. Turning to his love of family films, Jeff sold his spec screenplay LITTLE BIG FOOT to Working Title Films and then did a rewrite on THE AMAZING PANDA ADVENTURE for Warner Brothers which led to him working on DENNIS THE MENACE STRIKES AGAIN.

Jeff followed this with another rewrite, this time for Warner Brothers’ IT TAKES TWO. Following this, Jeff’s spec screenplay STANLEY’S CUP was bought by Walt Disney Pictures in a deal worth over a million dollars.

Jeff next rewrote I’LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS for the Walt Disney Company and wrote the TV movie BRINK! For the Disney Channel and for which he was nominated for the Writer’s Guild of America Award for Outstanding Television writing. Jeff also wrote THE OTHER ME for the Disney Channel as well as BEETHOVEN’S 3RD for Universal Studios.

In television, Jeff has written and executive story edited dozens of episodes for series such as THE FAMOUS JETT JACKSON, ANIMORPHS, MARTIN MYSTERY, TOTALLY SPIES, TEAM GALAXY, GET ED, FREEFONIX, DI-GATA DEFENDERS, HOT WHEELS BATTLE FORCE 5, and JANE AND THE DRAGON. He’s written both DTV productions for the Care Bears; JOURNEY TO JOKE-A-LOT and THE BIG WISH MOVIE, the latter for which he was nominated for a 2005 Writer’s Guild of Canada Award.

Jeff was an executive story editor and director on the Hit Discovery Kids/NBC series STRANGE DAYS AT BLAKE HOLSEY HIGH (aka BLACK HOLE HIGH) for which his work was nominated for two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing (in 2004 and 2005) as well as a BAFTA Award for Best International Series. His TV movie OUT OF THE WOODS premiered on the Hallmark channel in 2006.

Jeff has co-created the TV series THE AVERAGE JEFF’S GUIDE TO CANADA for Global TV, I AM NOT X-OG for the Family Channel, IN MAYA’S OPINION for FRESH TV/YTV, and OVERRULED! for Shaftesbury Entertainment/The Family Channel which premiered in September, 2009 and ran for 3 seasons, and for which he won the Gemini Award for producing.  He co-wrote the recent hockey film BREAKAWAY and the 4-hour miniseries EXPLODING SUN for Muse/Sonar Entertainment, and his film THE HUNTERS will premiere on the Hallmark Channel in October, 2013.

In publishing, Jeff is a cofounder of the award winning ebook publisher PadWorx Digital Media, and his book “My Story Can Beat Up Your Story!” was published by Michael Wiese books in March 2011.

Jeff is hip-deep in several other screenplays, television series, books projects, and software ventures.

In his spare time he’s married and has 4 kids.