Ellen Jens
{{Short description|Dutch television director and producer (1940–2023)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2023}}
Ellen Jens (6 October 1940 – 17 November 2023) was a Dutch television director and producer, best known for her collaboration with Wim T. Schippers on VPRO television. She produced and directed a large number of other television shows, especially on literature and art, and was referred to as a "television legend".
Early life and career
Ellen Jens was born in Wassenaar on 6 October 1940.[https://images.nrc.nl/GOLMQuLU4gFTQnhDyChW9DMysNw=/x/filters:no_upscale():format(jpeg):fill(f8f8f8,true)/s3/nrchub/clippings/NH/20231118/522-advertisement-265263_1318241_jens01-54eaa9.png Death notice] {{in lang|nl}} In the early 1970s Jens was a "scriptgirl" working for the VPRO. Starting in 1972 she began working with Wim T. Schippers, producing his shows from 1972 (De Fred Hachéshow) to 1994 (We zijn weer thuis);{{cite book|last1=Heytze|first1=Ingmar|last2=Tuinman|first2=Vrouwkje|title=Verdomd Interessant, Maar Gaat U Verder: De Taal van Wim T. Schippers|year=2000|publisher=Sdu|location=The Hague|isbn=9057970775|language=Dutch|page=59}} on many of the shows she is credited as a director and writer as well.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0421297/|title=Ellen Jens|work=Internet Movie Database|accessdate=27 August 2013}}
Jens produced and directed Hier is Adriaan van Dis, the talk show hosted by Adriaan van Dis (which ran from 1983 to 1992),{{cite news|url=http://broadcastmagazine.nl/vara-neemt-afscheid-van-studio-plantage/|title=VARA neemt afscheid van Studio Plantage|date=23 July 2012|work=Broadcast Magazine|language=Dutch|accessdate=27 August 2013}} and was the producer of the long-running VPRO TV show Jiskefet{{cite web|url=http://www.hollanddoc.nl/live/60-jaar-documentaire--de-keuze-van-ellen-jens.html|title=60 jaar documentaire: De keuze van Ellen Jens|date=4 August 2011|publisher=Holland Doc|language=Dutch|accessdate=20 August 2013}} and the Schippers series on popular science Flogiston.{{cite book|last=Kubbinga|first=Henk|title=De molecularisering van het wereldbeeld|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VtPn3671mHgC&pg=PR20|accessdate=20 August 2013|publisher=Verloren|isbn=9789065507310|page=20}} For presenter Hanneke Groenteman, she produced the talk show on art De Plantage,{{cite news|url=http://www.ed.nl/extra/cultuur/hanneke-groenteman-ik-zag-er-uit-als-n-soort-spongebob-1.2177388|title=Hanneke Groenteman: 'Ik zag er uit als 'n soort Spongebob'|date=9 April 2009|work=Eindhovens Dagblad|language=Dutch|accessdate=20 August 2013}} from 1994 to 2001.{{cite news|url=http://www.trouw.nl/tr/nl/5009/Archief/archief/article/detail/2521944/2000/03/31/Kunst-op-tv-sneuvelt-door-slijtage-bij-makers.dhtml|title=Kunst op tv sneuvelt door slijtage bij makers|date=31 March 2000|work=Trouw|language=Dutch|accessdate=27 August 2013}} From 2005 onwards she produced the TV show VPRO Boeken,{{cite web|url=http://boeken.vpro.nl/televisie.html|title=Boeken - televisie|publisher=VPRO|language=Dutch|accessdate=27 August 2013}} a program on literature hosted by Wim Brands, for which she also designed the set (modeled on the set for De Plantage, taped in the Studio Plantage in Artis, in turn modeled on her own house); she was picked (as a "television legend") for her experience with literature, based in part on her work with Adriaan van Dis.
Personal life
In the early 1970s she dated Hugo Claus, at the time when he promoted his novel Het jaar van de kreeft; Claus and Jens were photographed together as part of a campaign to promote the book, which had Claus's love life as its main topic.{{cite book|last=Meijer|first=Ischa|editor=Connie Palmen|title=De interviewer en de schrijvers |url=http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/meij012inte04_01/meij012inte04_01_0012.php|year=2003|publisher=Prometheus|location=Amsterdam}} She lived with Wim T. Schippers in the 1970s and 1980s{{cite news|url=http://weblogs.nrc.nl/dag/2008/04/22/van-dis/ |title=Dag: Van Dis |last=Abrahams |first=Frits |date=22 April 2008 |work=NRC Handelsblad |language=Dutch |accessdate=27 August 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141012224439/http://weblogs.nrc.nl/dag/2008/04/22/van-dis/ |archivedate=12 October 2014 }}{{cite book|last1=Heytze|first1=Ingmar|last2=Tuinman|first2=Vrouwkje|title=Verdomd Interessant, Maar Gaat U Verder: De Taal van Wim T. Schippers|year=2000|publisher=Sdu|location=The Hague|isbn=9057970775|page=59}} and later married him.{{cite news|url=http://www.volkskrant.nl/vk/nl/2844/Archief/archief/article/detail/3260888/2012/05/25/Boeken-kijk-je-zo.dhtml|title=Boeken kijk je zo|last=Helder|first=Carel|date=25 May 2012|work=de Volkskrant|language=Dutch|accessdate=27 August 2013}}
Jens died in Amsterdam on 17 November 2023, at the age of 83.
Select filmography
Entries marked with an asterisk are with Wim T. Schippers
- Zomergasten{{cite news|url=http://www.vn.nl/Archief/Samenleving/Artikel-Samenleving/Anil-Ramdas-kleine-professor-uit-Nickerie.htm|title=Anil Ramdas, kleine professor uit Nickerie|last=Verbraak|first=Coen|work=Vrij Nederland|language=Dutch|accessdate=27 August 2013}}
- Flogiston*
- We zijn weer thuis* (47 episodes, 1989–1994)
- De bruine jurk* (TV play, 1988)
- Sans Rancune* (TV play, 1987)
- Going to the Dogs* (TV production, 1986)
- Plafond over de vloer* (9 episodes, 1986)
- Opzoek naar Yolanda* (6 episodes, 1984)
- De lachende scheerkwast* (12 episodes, 1981–1982)
- Ramp Ahead* (TV movie, 1980)
- De dans der vierkanten waarin opgenomen Elly, of het beroemde stuk* (TV production of Holland Festival opening, 1980)
- VerhagenCadabra (5 episodes, 1979)
- Het is weer zo laat!* (10 episodes, 1978)
- Cross Now* (1977)
- Ninette de Valois (mag ik mijn grijze mapje terug)* (1976)
- Grote Genade* (1976)
- Echo's uit het alpendal* (1976)
- De ondergang van de Onan* (1976)
- Volk en vaderliefde* (1975)
- Het grote gebeuren (1975)
- Van Oekel's Discohoek* (1974)
- Barend is weer bezig* (5 episodes, 1972–1973)
- De Fred Haché Show* (1972)
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
{{commons category|Ellen Jens}}
- {{IMDb name|0421297}}
- {{discogs artist|Ellen Jens}}
{{Wim T. Schippers}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jens, Ellen}}
Category:Dutch television directors
Category:Dutch television producers
Category:Dutch television show creators
Category:Dutch women satirists
Category:Dutch satirical television show creators
Category:Women television directors
Category:Dutch women television producers
Category:20th-century Dutch women