Biography
Lin Oliver's career is devoted to the creation of quality entertainment programming aimed primarily at the family audience. After a nine year tenure as Senior Vice President of Television and Home Video at MCA/Universal, Oliver set up her production company at TriStar Pictures where she wrote, developed and produced family features under a three year exclusive deal. Following that, Oliver took her company independent and established offices on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles. The company has rapidly evolved a significant slate of family entertainment projects spanning feature films, television movies, series television and direct to video. Lin Oliver Productions has completed its second year under contract to Hallmark Entertainment, producing high quality family movies and mini-series for television. Most of Oliver's productions are based on children's books of stature and reputation. As co-founder and Executive Director of The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, an organization whose 15,000 members include all the leaders in children's publishing, Oliver has unique understanding of and access to the world of children's books and its most respected creators. Oliver just completed production of a feature length animated version of E.B. White's classic novel, THE TRUMPET OF THE SWAN for Columbia TriStar Home Video. The film was released theatrically in May, 2001 and features the voice talents of Jason Alexander, Mary Steenburgen, Reese Witherspoon and Carol Burnett. The premiere video release was August of 2001. Oliver's latest family film for television aired on Showtime Family Films and was titled FINDING BUCK McHENRY. The film, starring Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, has garnered numerous awards including the Parent's Choice Gold Medal, the Cine Golden Eagle Award and a nomination for the NAACP Image Award and the Emmy. In addition, Oliver is writing and producing two films for Showtime Family Originals including A CHRISTMAS FOR FORT ZACK (in association with Hallmark Entertainment) and ALIENS ATE MY HOMEWORK (in association with Kushner Locke) based on the best selling children's book by Bruce Coville. Oliver created and executive produces the currently-running animated children's series CORDUROY, produced in association with Nelvana. The prestigious series, based on the classic children's book character, airs on PBS in its weekly Saturday morning children's block. Since setting up her production company, Oliver has written and produced a film for Scottish Television and Hallmark Entertainment called THE SECRET OF THE RUBY RING. Another family film, LARAMIE, is a co-production with TF ONE French television. She also wrote and produced four animated specials based on CORDUROY for Viacom Productions, which launched the current PBS series.
Oliver has also written THOROUGHBRED ADVENTURES, a pilot for Saban Entertainment/Fox Kids; CHEECH THE SCHOOL BUS DRIVER for CBS Network; HANDS ON, a reality pilot for Crayola/Hallmark; and developed three features with Kennedy-Marshall Productions. Oliver is a consultant to Learning Curve International, a distributor of high end toys and educational products, where she has created a media and publishing imprint. She has written and produced a series of six award-winning books, audio tapes and videos based on the famous Lionel Model Trains brand, called The Great Railway Adventures. Prior to her current slate of projects, Oliver was under a two year producing deal at Universal where she created and was Executive Producer of Harry and the Hendersons, a co-production of Amblin, Universal and Fox Television. A seventy-two episode order was completed and aired weekly on Fox stations. In addition to executive producing the series, Oliver scripted roughly one-third of the episodes. The series was three times nominated for the Environmental Media Award and received the 1991 Youth in Film Award. Previously, Oliver spent nine years as an executive at MCA, serving as Senior Vice President of MCA Television and as Vice President in charge of programs for MCA Home Video. At MCA-TV, she was responsible for the development and production of all programming for first-run syndication, basic cable and children's programs. There, she launched two long-running family series (OUT OF THIS WORLD, LASSIE and MY SECRET IDENTITY) and also worked closely with Stephen Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment. At MCA Home Video, Oliver developed and produced 25 titles of original programming, including several interactive laserdiscs that garnered Grammy nominations for Best Children's Video. Lin Oliver is co-founder and Executive Director of The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. This is a national organization comprised of over 15,000 members who write, illustrate, edit, and agent children's books. As an author she has published numerous books for children with Harcourt Brace, Warner Books, Harper Collins and LCI. Oliver holds a B.A. degree from U.C. Berkeley, a Masters in Educational Psychology from U.C.L.A. and has completed her course work and exams for a Doctorate in Educational Psychology from U.C.L.A. One fine day, she'll finish her dissertation.
