Ellen Sandler

Ellen Sandler was nominated for an Emmy as a Co-Executive Producer of Everybody Loves Raymond. She has created over 20 pilots for ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox Family, Oxygen and the Disney Channel and has consulted internationally on pilots for the ABC Australia; the CBC Canada; Media Marketing, Dubai; and MediaCorp, Singapore. A writer/producer on more than a dozen prime time TV shows, she is the author of The TV Writer’s Workbook (Bantam/Dell).

Ellen is also a playwright and director. Her most recent theatrical project was her adaptation of N.Y. Times food writer Mimi Sheraton’s book, The Bialy Eaters, which starred Tony winner, Tovah Feldshuh. Her play Jewish Roots was produced at the Hudson Theatre in Los Angeles and later performed as a fund raiser for the WGA starring Fran Drescher. How’d It Go? two interelated comedies which she co-wrote and directed, starred Megan Mullally at the HBO/Warner Bros. Workspace and were subsequently developed as a pilot for the Oxygen Network. 

Both a teacher and a consultant, Ellen provides script development and career coaching for professionals and emerging writers in the entertainment industry, as well as writing workshops and seminars at conferences and universities both in the US and abroad. She teaches Comedy Writing for the UCLA Extension Writer’s Program, and Television Writing for Playwrights at The Herbert Berghof Playwrights Foundation in New York. She has been a guest lecturer at many colleges and universities, including NYU, Marymount Manhattan College, The New School, and USC. She is a judge for American Comedy Awards which airs on MTV.

Ellen is a member of the Writers Guild of America and The Dramatists Guild. She holds a BS from Syracuse University, and an MFA from The American Film Institute.