Melisa Wallack

{{Infobox writer  | name = Melisa Wallack | honorific_prefix = | honorific_suffix = | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | pseudonym = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1968}} | birth_place = Wayzata, Minnesota, U.S. | death_date =  | death_place = | resting_place = | occupation = Screenwriter, film director | language = | nationality = American | ethnicity = | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = Skidmore College | period = | genre =  | subject =  | movement = | notableworks =  | spouse = Bernie Goldmann<ref name=variety /> | partner =  | children = | relatives = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | years_active = | module = | website = | portaldisp =  }} '''Melisa Wallack''' is an American screenwriter and film director. Wallack and fellow screenwriter Craig Borten were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the 2013 film ''Dallas Buyers Club''.

== Life and career == Wallack was born in Wayzata, Minnesota,<ref name=variety /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mprnews.org/story/2013/11/08/arts/dallas-buyers-club|title=The Minnesota writer behind the Cowboy of 'Dallas Buyers Club'|first=Euan|last=Kerr|date=November 8, 2013|accessdate=October 18, 2014|work=Minnesota Public Radio News}}</ref> a small town outside Minneapolis.<ref name=lat>{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/la-xpm-2013-dec-23-la-et-mn-writing-dallas-buyers-club-story.html|title=Spirit of champions drove the 'Dallas Buyers Club' script|date=December 23, 2013|access-date=October 18, 2013|first1=Craig|last1=Borten|first2=Melisa|last2=Wallack|work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> She is one of six children.<ref name=lat /> She attended The Breck School and Skidmore College, earning a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Bachelor of Science in business.<ref name=focus>{{cite web|url=http://www.focusfeatures.com/dallas_buyers_club/castncrew?member=melisa_wallack|title=Melisa Wallack|publisher=Focus Features|accessdate=September 6, 2014|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141018201305/http://www.focusfeatures.com/dallas_buyers_club/castncrew?member=melisa_wallack|archivedate=October 18, 2014}}</ref>

After college, she returned to Minneapolis, in 1993 where she joined her sister Andrea Wallack in establishing a national presence for NightOwl Discovery, a company specializing in data discovery, governance and compliance for heavily regulated industries. When the company expanded to the West Coast in 1995, Wallack moved to Los Angeles and, after "meeting a lot of writers", decided to become a screenwriter herself.<ref name=variety>{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2005/more/news/melisa-wallack-1117924606/|title=Melisa Wallack|first=Matthew|last=Ross|work=Variety|date=June 16, 2005|accessdate=September 6, 2014}}</ref><ref name=tcm>{{cite web|url=http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/11038716|0/Melisa-Wallack/|title=Melisa Wallack|publisher=Turner Classic Movies|accessdate=September 6, 2014}}{{dead link|date=December 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> She partnered with Craig Borten to write the screenplay for ''Dallas Buyers Club'', which was based on the true story of AIDS activist Ron Woodruff.<ref name=variety /> Although Wallack and Borten sold the script in the 1990s, the film did not enter production for several years and was released in 2013, almost 20 years after it had been written.<ref name=tcm /> ''Dallas Buyers Club'' received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay for Wallack and Borten.<ref name=tcm />

After selling the script for ''Dallas Buyers Club'', Wallack was named one of ''Variety'' magazine's "10 screenwriters to watch" in 2005.<ref name=variety /> Her first feature film to be produced was ''Meet Bill'', which Wallack wrote and directed with her husband, Bernie Goldmann, and which was released in 2007.<ref name=tcm /> She created the story for the 2012 film ''Mirror Mirror'', an adaptation of the Snow White fairy tale starring Julia Roberts.<ref name=focus />

Wallack's future projects include the screenplay of ''Emily the Strange''<ref name=focus /> and a rewrite of ''The Last Witch Hunter''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://movies.yahoo.com/news/dallas-buyers-club-melisa-wallack-polish-vin-diesel-184944135.html|title='Dallas Buyers Club's Melisa Wallack To Polish Vin Diesel's 'Last Witch Hunter'|publisher=Yahoo! Movies|date=March 31, 2014|first=Jen|last=Yamato|accessdate=September 6, 2014}}</ref>

In 2021, an article by AIDS activist Peter Staley described Wallack as an AIDS denialist and detailed the experience of attempting to remove more than 30 inaccurate claims about AIDS from her original script for ''Dallas Buyers Club''.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Staley |first1=Peter |title=The Controversy Behind the Scenes of Dallas Buyers Club |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2021/09/the-controversy-behind-the-scenes-of-dallas-buyers-club |website=vanityfair.com |publisher=Vanity Fair` |access-date=1 October 2021}}</ref>

== Writing credits== '''Film''' {| class="wikitable" ! Year ! Title ! Notes |- | 2007 | ''Meet Bill'' | Also co-directed with Bernie Goldmann |- | 2012 | ''Mirror Mirror'' | Story only |- | 2013 | ''Dallas Buyers Club'' | Nominated- Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay |- | 2020 | ''Raymond'' | Short film |}

'''Television''' {| class="wikitable" ! Year ! Title ! Notes |- | 2014 | ''Believe'' | Episode "Prodigy" |- | 2016 | ''Invisible'' | 5 episodes (Also executive producer) |}

== References == {{reflist}}

== External links == *{{IMDb name|2214893}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wallack, Melisa}} Category:American women screenwriters Category:Living people Category:Writers from Minneapolis Category:Skidmore College alumni Category:1968 births Category:People from Wayzata, Minnesota Category:Screenwriters from Minnesota

Melisa Wallack

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