Ann Peacock

{{Short description|South African screenwriter}}

{{Use South African English|date=July 2024}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}

Ann Peacock is a South African-born screenwriter based in the United States. After teaching Law in her native South Africa, she moved to the United States and started a screenwriting career at after doing an Extension Course in screenwriting at the University of California, Los Angeles. She has received awards and nominations for her works A Lesson Before Dying (1999), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), and The First Grader (2015).

Biography

Peacock was born in 1951 and raised in South Africa.{{Cite web |title=Ann Peacock (The Scriptwriter) - Crew |url=http://www.thefirstgrader-themovie.com/crew/ann-peacock-the-scriptwriter.html |access-date=2024-07-15 |website=The First Grader |language=en}} She was educated at the University of Cape Town, where she obtained her law degree, and taught in the faculty of Law.{{Cite news |last=Harris |first=Dana |date=2002-07-26 |title=Peacock pegged to pen 'Lion' |url=https://variety.com/2002/film/markets-festivals/peacock-pegged-to-pen-lion-1117870283/ |access-date=2024-07-15 |work=Variety |language=en-US}}

Her screenwriting career began after she moved to the United States, writing her first screenplay June the 16th as a screenwriting student inspired by a family experience with internal resistance to apartheid. She wrote the HBO film A Lesson Before Dying (1999), for which she won the 1999 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. In 2000, she adapted the Langston Hughes short story Cora Unashamed into a TV movie of the same name for PBS' The American Collection. In July 2002, Walden Media hired Peacock as the screenwriter for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, for which she was later nominated for the 2006 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form).

Her screenwriting credits also include In My Comedy (2004), Pictures of Hollis Woods (2007), Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (2008), Nights in Rodanthe (2008), and The Killing Room (2009) She won the 2012 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture for her screenplay The First Grader. In 2015, she adapted Alice Hoffman's book The Dovekeepers into a television miniseries of the same name for CBS.

She has a son who was engaged in the anti-apartheid movement.

Filmography (as screenwriter)

class="wikitable"
Year

! Title

! class="unsortable" | {{Abbr|Ref.|Reference(s)}}

1999A Lesson Before Dying
2000Cora Unashamed{{Cite news |last=Salamon |first=Julie |date=2000-10-25 |title=TELEVISION REVIEW; A Woman Long Dutiful, At Last Able to Speak Out |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/25/arts/television-review-a-woman-long-dutiful-at-last-able-to-speak-out.html |access-date=2024-07-15 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}
2004In My Country{{Cite news |last=Ebert |first=Roger |date=2005-03-31 |title='Country' tale doesn't quite ring true |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/in-my-country-2005 |access-date=2024-07-15 |work=Roger Ebert |language=en}}
2005The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
2007Pictures of Hollis Woods (with Camille Thomasson and Daniel Petrie Jr.){{Cite web |title=Pictures of Hollis Woods |url=https://www.tvguide.com/movies/pictures-of-hollis-woods/cast/2030350428/ |access-date=2024-07-15 |website=TVGuide.com |language=en}}
2008Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
2008Nights in Rodanthe{{Cite news |last=Heydenrich |first=Adle |date=2011-05-05 |title=Made in South Africa |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/made-south-africa-184676/ |access-date=2024-07-15 |work=Hollywood Reporter |language=en-US}}
2009The Killing Room (with Gus Krieger){{Cite web |title=The Killing Room |url=https://campfire.us/the-killing-room |access-date=2024-07-15 |website=Campfire |language=en-US}}
2011The First Grader{{Cite news |last=Scott |first=A. O. |date=2011-05-12 |title='The First Grader,' Justin Chadwick's Tale of Kenyan Culture |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/13/movies/the-first-grader-justin-chadwicks-tale-of-kenyan-culture-review.html |access-date=2024-07-15 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}
2015The Dovekeepers{{Cite news |last=de Moraes |first=Lisa |date=2014-01-22 |title=Ann Peacock To Adapt 'The Dovekeepers' For CBS Event Series From Mark Burnett, Roma Downey |url=https://deadline.com/2014/01/the-dovekeepers-ann-peacock-cbs-mark-burnett-roma-downey-669454/ |access-date=2024-07-15 |work=Deadline Hollywood |language=en-US}}

Awards

class="wikitable sortable"

!Year

!Title

!Award

!Result

!Ref.

1999

| A Lesson Before Dying

|Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries or a Movie

|{{Won}}

|{{Cite web |title=Outstanding Writing In A Miniseries Or A Special Nominees / Winners 1999 |url=https://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/1999/outstanding-writing-in-a-miniseries-or-a-special |access-date=2024-07-15 |website=Television Academy |language=en}}

2006

|The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

|Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form)

|{{Nominated}}

|{{cite web |url=http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2006-hugo-awards/ |title=2006 Hugo Awards |date=25 July 2007 |publisher=World Science Fiction Society |access-date=2010-04-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110507164808/http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2006-hugo-awards/ |archive-date=2011-05-07 |url-status=live}}

2012

|The First Grader

|NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture

|{{Won}}

|{{Cite news |last=Staff |date=2012-02-17 |title=NAACP Image Award Winners Include 'The Help,' Stars Octavia Spencer, Viola Davis |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/naacp-image-awards-winners-nominees-the-help-whitney-houston-292489/ |access-date=2024-07-15 |work=Hollywood Reporter |language=en-US}}

References