TV Writer and Producer/Entrepreneur/Consultant
maxine@maxinelapiduss.com

A skillful, award winning TV writer and producer, with unique and unparalleled experience as a marketing and branding executive and consultant, coupled with shrewd salesmanship and managerial skills. A valuable, dedicated, highly motivated addition to any team.

As a TV producer and writer, Maxine has created, developed, written, packaged and produced programming for network and cable television for the past 18 years. Her work includes:

Currently in Development on several comedy, variety and reality projects:

BOY MEETS GIRL -- a comedic drama with actress Jane Lynch
THE MODERN LIFE -- an animated series with actress Lisa Kudrow who also voices several characters
THE FAME GAME -- a game/variety show
Past Series and Pilots:
SITUATION: COMEDY -- BRAVO -- On Air Host and Producer, 13 episodes, 2005
STEPHEN'S LIFE (PILOT) -- NBC -- Exec. Producer (EP), 2005 (Produced)
THE MISSING LINK (PILOT) -- NBC -- EP, 2005 (Produced)
IN THE MIX (PILOT) -- ABC/WBTV -- EP/Writer, 2004
HOMEGIRL (PILOT) -- OXYGEN -- EP/Writer/Director, 2003 (Produced)
DHARMA & GREG -- ABC -- Consulting Producer/Writer, 2001-2002
ELLEN (final season) -- ABC -- Consulting Producer/Writer, 1998-99
DOIN' LIFE (PILOT) -- CBS -- EP/Writer, 1999 (Presentation)
BROTHERS & SISTERS (PILOT) -- NBC -- EP/Writer, 1999 (Produced)
ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS (PILOT) -- NBC -- EP/Co-Writer, 1998
DOWN TO EARTH (PILOT) -- CBS -- EP, 1999
FOXWORTHY -- NBC -- EP/Writer, 1996-1997
HAPPY HOUR (PILOT) -- 20th TV -- EP/Writer, 1996
THE CREW -- FOX -- Co-EP/Writer, 1993-1994
HOME IMPROVEMENT -- ABC -- Co-EP/Writer, 1992-1993
ROSEANNE -- ABC -- Producer/Writer, 1990-1992
BABY TALK -- CBS -- Producer/Writer, 1990
DEAR JOHN -- NBC -- Story Editor/Writer, 1988-1989
Overall Producing and Writing deals:
Warner Brothers
SONY
20th Century Fox TV
Viacom/Big Ticket Television

STEELTOWN ENTERTAINMENT (2003-present)

In 2003 Maxine co-founded Steeltown Entertainment, a production company whose mission is to reinvigorate and aid in bringing film and TV production back to Pittsburgh, her hometown.

Steeltown's efforts have resulted in: securing the production of The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, (scheduled for release in 2008); introducing producer Bernie Goldman to the director George Romero which resulted in their collaboration on the mega-hit remake Dawn of the Dead (2006); and most recently, a Producer credit for finding funding and the crew for the recently released R. L. Stine's The Haunting Hour (2007).
Steeltown continues to galvanize ex-patriot film and TV professionals from Pittsburgh, like Oscar-winning director Rob Marshall (Chicago) and Mega-Producer John Wells (ER) to mentor local students through screenwriting workshops and internships.
Maxine co-produced a live Entertainment Summit in Pittsburgh in 2004, and wrote, executive produced, and hosted Steeltown Presents, a one-hour TV special for public television station WQED, featuring Q and A with Steeltown's board of film and TV luminaries. The show was nominated for an Emmy.

VOXXY.com (1999-2002)

In 1999 Maxine Co-founded and was Co-CEO of Voxxy, a highly acclaimed, award winning interactive broadband network for teen girls.

Maxine raised the 1st and 2nd rounds of financing (2M) from individuals in entertainment and media.
Pursued and contracted Jennifer Aniston to be the spokesperson for the company. Estimated at $20M worth of publicity, including magazine and TV exposure, for no cash payment.
Recruited an impressive list of celebrities to star in shows, do live chats for the network, and sit on the Board of Directors and Advisory Board including: Melissa Etheridge, Billie Jean King, Kathy Najimy, Shirley Manson, Caroline Rhea.
Recruited A-list show runners
Oversaw content creation including:
JenXX -- Jennifer Aniston's broadband series.
That's What Friends Are For -- an interactive game show.
Home Ecch! -- An interactive renovation and design show for teens.
Original music videos, streaming media, contests, interactive games, e-commerce and live chats.
Created and supervised content + advertising "advertainment" for entertainment companies, record labels, and advertisers, including the launch of a site for a co-branded cell phone from Motorola and Hard Candy.
Created new deal formats and oversaw negotiations for talent and business development deals.

Maxine Lapiduss Entertainment (MLE) a TV and web production company, assists companies and individuals in their branding by creating and producing marketing and promotional materials for their products.

HRTV - Horse Racing Television (2006-present)
Advises HRTV on repurposing and selling the thousands of hours of racing and human interest footage they own.
Acts as an outside production arm of HRTV, conceiving and packaging series based on the world of horse racing, for sale to networks, cable, and the web.
Created a half hour comedy on how to bet on horse racing for distribution at Santa Anita Race Track, other race tracks owned by Magna Corp., and in the pay-per-view market in hotels around the country.

FOR INDIVIDUAL CLIENTS: (2005-present)
Creates powerful EPK's (electronic press kits) for authors to use as promotional material. Authors include: Hillary Carlip (Queen of the Oddballs -- HarperCollins) and Tania Katan (My One Night Stand with Cancer -- Alyson Press).
Consults with artists like Allee Willis (composer of the hit Broadway Musical The Color Purple), musicians Wendy and Lisa, film director Lisa Cholodenko, and production company Greenie Films on growing their business, investments, and getting their message out through innovative websites and promotional events.
Serves on the board of advisors for Carnegie Mellon University Masters of Entertainment Industry Management degree program, and helped develop its curriculum.
Pennsylvania Governor's Conference on Women
Women in the Arts
Writers Guild of America -- Gay Caucus
TV Sitcom Writing Class -- USC and UCLA
Department of Fine Arts -- University of Pittsburgh

Writing all formats of TV, movie, and web scripts from 2 minute mobisodes to feature films.
Taking an artistic vision and translating it into sales and dollars.
20 + years of hands-on producing hugely successful half hour sitcoms, reality TV, and theatre with A-list companies and studios in Hollywood.
Assisting companies in repurposing their existing products and selling them in new and previously untapped revenue streams.
Writing complex business plans for entertainment and web content companies including projections of revenue streams, and working closely with CFOs on financial projections.
The ability to manage people, personalities, expectations, and bottom lines, thereby completing projects successfully, on time, and on budget.
Inventive marketing skills, and an acute awareness of the vital role of showmanship and salesmanship in business.
Long term relationships with A-level agents, managers, artists, writers, actors, directors, publicists, content developers, and animators that can translate into any number of creative and financial successes.
A highly motivated entrepreneurial spirit whose purpose is to add harmony and bring success to the team.
Golden Globe winner -- Roseanne
Emmy Nominations -- Roseanne, (best comedy series) Home Improvement, (best comedy series), Ellen (3 Emmy nominations), Steeltown Presents (best local special)
People's Choice Award -- Home Improvement
Ace Award Winner -- FREE TO LAUGH special -- SHOWTIME (EP/Head Writer)
Bandie Broadband Award for VOXXY in the category "Newest New Thing"
Multiple Ovation Award nominations (Los Angeles version of the Obie for theatre)

14 Dramalogue Awards (Los Angeles Theatre Award for excellence)

Maxine is an award winning TV writer/producer, Entrepreneur, marketing and branding executive, and consultant. She began her career as a stand up comedienne and singer at age 14. After receiving her BFA from Carnegie Mellon University, she moved to New York joining the burgeoning comedy club scene and became a regular at legendary nightclubs The Improv, Catch a Rising Star and The Bottom Line, also headlining at comedy and rock venues throughout the country. Soon Maxine shifted her focus to writing sitcoms, quickly rising to Producer, then Executive Producer on some of the most successful comedies of all time including: the final season of Ellen (three Emmy nominations), Roseanne, (Emmy nomination as Best Comedy Series and a Golden Globe award the years Maxine was there), Home Improvement (People's Choice Award for Best Comedy Series), Dharma and Greg, and Situation: Comedy (on BRAVO), a series Maxine hosted and produced with Sean Hayes (Will and Grace) about how to make a sitcom.

As a TV executive and show runner, Maxine developed her managerial skills by supervising writing staffs, and overseeing production crews, casting, editing, sound mixing, sweetening, and merchandising. She honed her sales pitches selling storylines and pilots to network and studio heads.

In 1999, Maxine took a break from her lucrative overall deal with SONY to co-found VOXXY.com, the acclaimed interactive web and TV content company aimed at teenage girls. VOXXY was one of the big Hollywood players in the creative content space on the web during the days of the dot com boom.

As Co-CEO of VOXXY, Maxine wrote the company's initial business plans, raising the first 2 rounds of financing (2M), and created cutting edge content deals with some of Hollywood's top writers, producers, and stars. Maxine convinced Jennifer Aniston to act as the company's spokesperson for free, as well as star in her own broadband show which garnered Voxxy massive press in every major magazine, newspaper, and on countless TV shows. Maxine also forged advertising and marketing deals with companies like Motorola and Hard Candy creating branded "advertainment" to reach their desired market.

Though ahead of its time (and the technology), everything Voxxy preached, broadcast, and produced -- including its fresh interactive website (winner of the Bandie Broadband Award for innovation as the "Newest New Thing"), community-based viral marketing, social networking sites, and broadband series -- is now prevalent on the web.

Maxine continues to blend her business acumen and artistic vision to write and produce content for TV and the web. She also consults with companies and entertainment professionals, assisting them in content development, branding, marketing and promotion.