• Welcome

    Below are brief intros to my current projects

    And some info about me

  • All Projects Written by Jeffrey Abelson

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    My Road Is Crossed

    A Magically Real Miniseries about Blues Legend Robert Johnson

    The untold story of the ultimate musical genius, and ultimate victim of love

     

    Universally acclaimed as the greatest bluesman of all time, Robert Johnson burned hot and died young at 27. One of the first inductees into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame along with Chuck Berry, James Brown, and Elvis -- his impact on all forms of popular music is immeasurable.


    But aside from the spooky fairy tale about a crossroads deal-with-the-devil -- little was ever known about his life, and who this mysterious young man actually was -- until now. After a decade of deep research, the fascinating hidden story of this unique Black musical icon arrives in the form of a screenplay for a 4-part miniseries.

     

    Here's a website with full project details, and a 6-minute video.

     

    Screenplay available on request.

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    BackLash

    A high stakes political thriller -- featuring a new kind of female action hero

     

    The first woman to shatter the military brass ceiling and become a top tier special ops team leader has grown deeply conflicted about our endless military entanglements around the world -- so she resigns at 36 to help her Senator sister run for president.

     

    But on her first day of work in D.C., she finds her sister dead under mysterious circumstances, thrusting our ambivalent soldier back into battle in a bare knuckle search for the truth as she unravels a sinister multinational conspiracy threatening countless innocent lives -- and the fate of democracy itself.

     

    Here's a website with a story overview.

     

    Screenplay available on request.

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    False Notes

    Musical Morality Tales for the Post-Truth Era

     

    A bold new anthology series that will feature high stakes cautionary tales in a unique way -- as each episode will be inspired and driven by one of the greatest songs in rock & roll history.

     

    Intense 60-minute dramas with socially-relevant themes -- with the Title Song woven in and out of the narrative in novel ways, and with stories and conflicts ultimately resolved in thought-provoking twist endings that are further amplified by one last clever or ironic use of the song.

     

    All brought to the screen by prominent, music-savvy writers and directors -- four of whom have already expressed interest in taking on an episode apiece. As have several major recording artists, music producers, publishers, and industry figures.

     

    A dozen story treatments have been written by project creator Jeffrey Abelson as samples of the possibilities -- and available on request.

     

    Here's a Pitch Deck -- with full project details.

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    The MVM Story

    How Music-Videos for Movies All Began

     

    Jeffrey is currently producing a podcast series about the birth of videos for movies, a format he pioneered and popularized back in MTV's heyday.

     

    It's an untold and hilarious origin story from the people who were actually there -- featuring rollicking conversations with key creative crew members, and various special guest recording artists, movie directors, and record producers.

     

    Think of it as -- "Song Exploder" meets MTV at the Movies.

     

    A project website will go live upon the release of the series. Meanwhile, here's a temp site for the Phil Collins "Against All Odds" episode, featuring director Taylor Hackford and others -- along with some info about the overall series.

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    Projects In Progress

    Two additional feature film screenplays, and two documentary projects.

     

  • About Jeff

     

    I've always loved music-driven dramas that push the stylistic envelope.

     

    I'm also crazy about political thrillers that make you think.

     

    So I recently wrote a script in each genre -- one as a 4-part miniseries, the other as a feature film.

     

    I've also developed a TV anthology series that combines all my narrative interests in a socially relevant, song-driven dramatic format. For that project, I've written a dozen stories, and generated interest from an array of prominent writers, directors, and musical artists.

     

    Previously, I wrote and developed music-driven movie and TV projects with artists ranging from Dylan to Diddy, which I set up at HBO, Showtime, The Disney Channel, and elsewhere.

     

    I've also written, produced, and edited several documentary feature films including -- Drawing Fire, a PBS film about Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist Paul Conrad (narrated by Tom Brokaw, hosted by Terrence Howard) -- and the multiple award-winning Klunkerz, about the music-crazy hippie/athletes who invented the mountain bike back in the 1970's, and turned it into a billion dollar business and an Olympic sport.

     

    I started my career producing, writing, and editing over 50 high profile music-videos -- specializing in those tied into major movies (from Ghostbusters to Terminator-2), resulting in eight #1 MTV hits -- setting numerous creative trends, and establishing these dual-use videos as a staple of the emerging art form. I also directed some of those videos as well, including the chart-topping Ronstadt/Ingram song from Spielberg's American Tail -- and the Guns N' Roses smash from Terminator 2 (MTV's #1 Video of the Year).

     

    While pioneering this hybrid movie/music-video format, I worked in close collaboration with major feature film directors -- producing videos for Taylor Hackford, Brian DePalma, Ivan Reitman, Garry Marshall, Tobe Hooper, among others -- featuring artists like Billy Idol, Phil Collins, Guns N' Roses, Alice Cooper, Linda Ronstadt, and many more.

     

    My other big passion is to use creative media to spark new ways of thinking about active citizenship in America -- which I do through my non-profit, non-partisan Song Of A Citizen project -- a collaboration of prominent thinkers and artists developing innovative films and web videos about what it really means to be a fully engaged and effective citizen in modern times, and why it matters.