Women Behind the Scenes Spotlight: Jill Blotevogel

Today’s Women Behind the Scenes spotlight is shone on Producer and Writer Jill Blotevogel.

Jill was born and raised in a small Midwestern town full of what she calls “quirky characters and crazy traditions”; but since 1997, she has been a Los Angeles-based television writer.

As she tells it, she got her first break in television by writing a “woman-in-jeopardy” TV film, the 1998 made-for-TV movie called Someone to Love Me, which starred Jessica Bowman (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman), Scott Foley (The Unit and True Blood) and TV’s own Wonder Woman herself Lynda Carter. That same year she was a part of the writing staff for the short-lived 1998 TV series To Have & To Hold that starred Moira Kelly (One Tree Hill) and Jason Beghe (Californication).

Over the next few years, she wrote the made-for-TV movie Personally Yours (2000) that starred Valerie Bertinelli and Jeffrey Nordling; worked on the writing staffs for the TV shows Crossing Jordan (2001) and The Twilight Zone (2002) and Stephen King’s Dead Zone (2003-2004). She also wrote the screenplay for the 2002 animated film Cinderella II: Dreams Come True.

She continued working in television by being a Story Editor and Writer for the 2004 short-lived series LAX and worked for a short time for Stargate: Atlantis (2004-2005). The next year she was a Writer and Executive Story Editor for the short-lived series Invasion.

In 2007, she wrote the teleplay for the Syfy mini-series Tin Man that starred Zoe Deschanel (New Girl), Neal McDonough (Justified) and Alan Cumming (The Good Wife) as well as the 2007 made-for-TV movie Love Is a Four Letter Word, starring Teri Polo and Robert Mailhouse. She also worked as a Writer and Co-Producer for the short-lived TV series Moonlight that starred Alex O’Loughlin (Hawaii Five-0).

The next year she wrote the acclaimed Hallmark Hall of Fame movie The Russell Girl that starred Amber Tamblyn (Joan of Arcadia and House), Paul Wesley (The Vampire Diaries), Henry Czerny (Revenge), Tim DeKay (White Collar) and Jennifer Ehle (A Gifted Man).

She was a Writer and Producer for the 2009 short-lived thriller series Harper’s Island and has most recently worked as a Writer and Supervising Producer for the popular Syfy series Eureka. Last year, she adapted the Iris Johansen novel The Killing Game into a made-for-TV movie for Lifetime, which starred Laura Prepon (That 70’s Show), singer-actress Naomi Judd and Ty Olsson and Kavan Smith (both of Eureka). It was also during this time that Jill became a mother.

Jill admits that the biggest influences on her as a writer were Rod Serling, Alfred Bester, Jim Thompson, Vladimir Nabokov and Stephen King. You can follow Jill Blotevogel on Twitter @jebdexter.