Biografia
Jane Startz, an award-winning producer, is president of Jane Startz Productions, Inc. (JSP), a New York-based film and production company that acquires, develops, and produces high-quality intellectual properties across multiple media platforms.
Her notable credits include major theatrical films such as Ella Enchanted, Tuck Everlasting, The Indian In The Cupboard, The Mighty, and The Baby-Sitters' Club.
Startz also developed and executive produced the internationally successful television series Charles In Charge (126 episodes) and the multi-Emmy Award-winning series The Magic School Bus, which became a major franchise and holds the record as the longest-running science series in broadcast history. She has produced over 50 award-winning television adaptations of popular children's and young adult novels for networks including HBO, CBS, ABC, FOX, PBS, and NBC.
Prior to founding her independent company in 1997, Startz co-founded Scholastic Productions, the film and TV division of Scholastic Inc., where she served as creative head and Executive Vice President. Under her leadership, Scholastic Productions became a leading provider of family entertainment worldwide.
In April 2015, A&E/Lifetime Movies premiered two films executive produced by Startz: If There Be Thorns and Seeds of Yesterday, sequels to the V.C. Andrews novel-based Flowers in the Attic, which was the most viewed cable TV movie in 2014 since 2012. In March 2015, she began production on another V.C. Andrews novel adaptation, My Sweet Audrina, the author's most successful standalone title.
Other book-based projects Startz is producing include the New York Times bestselling trilogy The School for Good and Evil with Joe Roth for Universal Pictures; Hell or High Water in partnership with Zoe Saldana for Lionsgate TV and Televisa; The Aviator's Wife, produced with and starring Jennifer Garner; Lord of the Nutcracker Men, adapted by Oscar-nominated writer David Magee; Stolen, in partnership with Ryan Kwanten; The Ultra Violets for Amazon Studios; Einstein: The World's Smallest Stallion; Llama Llama with Genius Entertainment; Otis with 9 Story Media Group; and The Extincts with Moonbot Studios.
Startz created the Disney Press book series Amigas Inc. and is collaborating with Jennifer Lopez and her company, Nuyorican Productions, to produce a television adaptation.
She recently sold the high-concept book series Gabby Duran and the Unsittables to Disney/Hyperion. The series follows a 12-year-old girl who becomes the galaxy’s top babysitter, working for an agency catering to alien children. The live-action adaptation is currently airing on The Disney Channel.
Her company has partnered with Penguin Young Readers on a memoir about Unlocking the Truth, a celebrated 13-year-old heavy metal band, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Charisse Jones. Additionally, Startz teamed award-winning YA author Elise Allen with Disney star Bella Thorne to create the Autumn Falls series, published by Random House in 2015.
Currently, Startz serves as a film, branding, and media consultant for Penguin Group and UK-based publisher The Chicken House.
She is also a founding partner and co-creator of Ridemakerz, a chain of interactive stores and an online destination where customers design and customize their own cars. Build-a-Bear is the financial partner in this venture. Ridemakerz vehicles are available in over 1,500 Toys R Us stores, Disney World and Disneyland flagship stores, Ridemakerz flagship locations in Branson, Missouri, and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, as well as at FAO Schwarz.
Startz is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and The Producers Guild. She has received over 50 major awards for children's and family programming, including two Golden Globe nominations, six Emmys, ten Emmy nominations, two ACE Awards, a Broadcast Film Critics Association nomination for Best Family Film, Parents' Choice Gold Awards, a Leo Award for Best Children's Program, and an Action for Children's Television Award.
Currently, Startz and her company are producing a wide range of film and television projects, including the 2014 Emmy Award-winning adaptation of Christopher Pike’s bestselling book series Spooksville. The show aired 22 episodes in 2013-2014 on the Hub Network, becoming one of its top-rated and most acclaimed series. It received the most Young Actor Awards nominations on television, won a Parents' Choice Award, an Emmy Award, and the 2014 Leo Award for Best Original Children's Program and Best Performance in a Children's Program.
