Biography
Robert Eisele's screenplay for the movie, "The Great Debaters", was directed by Denzel Washington, who also played the starring role. His script won the Writers Guild of America's Paul Selvin Award. The film was a Golden Globe Best Picture Nominee and won the Image Award for Best Picture, The Christopher Award, and the Producers Guild Stanley Kramer Award, among other honors.
Eisele was co-show runner of the "Alma" Award-winning Showtime series, "Resurrection Blvd.", the first American series starring an all Latino cast. One of the episodes he wrote, "Nino del Polvo," garnered Eisele a Writers Guild Award nomination.
His screenplay "Hurricane Season" was filmed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and starred Forest Whitaker and Taraji Henson. He also did an uncredited production rewrite of the Academy Award Best Picture nominee, RAY, for Taylor Hackford.
Eisele's credits as a writer-producer in television films include his WGA Award nominated scripts for Showtime's "Last Light", starring Kiefer Sutherland and Forest Whitaker, and USA's "Lily in Winter", starring Natalie Cole and directed by Academy Award winner Delbert Mann. That teleplay was also nominated for a PEN Literary Award. His ESPN movie, "3: The Dale Earnhardt Story", was the second highest-rated TV film of its year.
Earlier in his career, Eisele wrote and produced the acclaimed series, "The Equalizer". One of his "Cagney & Lacey" episodes, "Ordinary Hero," won the Humanitas Prize and caught the attention of Michael Mann, who hired Eisele to work on the writing staff of his groundbreaking series, "Crime Story".
Robert Eisele has received overall television writing/producing deals at Warner Brothers, Universal and Paramount. He had two pilot presentations produced (notably "Darkman" at Universal with Sam Raimi), as well as the award-nominated television films mentioned earlier. At Universal, Eisele wrote and produced the first TV movies with Asian-American leads, "Vanishing Son". These films spawned a one hour series for which he wrote the pilot.
Eisele's writing career began as a playwright. He won a playwriting fellowship at American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, where he was privileged to meet Tennessee Williams, a major influence on his writing. Eisele's plays have been produced in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Louisville, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia and New York City.
Before establishing himself as a film and television writer, Eisele taught playwriting, screenwriting and acting at Rio Hondo College. He received his B.A. in Film and his M.F.A. in Theatre Arts, Playwriting Specialization, at U.C.L.A.
Eisele's most important productions were in collaboration with his wife, Diana, a professional dancer and educator. Their son, Nick, and daughter, Marissa, are now the second generation of Eiseles working in the entertainment industry.
