Doug Ellin

Doug Ellin
Ellin in 2009
Born	Douglas Reed Ellin (1968-04-06) April 6, 1968 Merrick, New York, United States
Occupation(s)	Screenwriter, producer, director
Spouse	Melissa Dana Hecht (1996–2009)

Douglas Reed "Doug" Ellin (born April 6, 1968) is an American screenwriter and director, known best for creating the HBO television series Entourage. Ellin also served as executive producer and head writer for the series, and wrote, directed and produced its 2015 film adaptation. He attended Tulane University.

Life and career

Ellin was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of June and Marvin Ellin.

Before producing and writing for Entourage, Ellin served as a staff writer for Life with Bonnie, which starred Bonnie Hunt. The series ran from 2003-2004. Ellin has also written screenplays for two films, Kissing a Fool and Phat Beach. He moved to Los Angeles in the early 90's to be a stand-up comedian and soon got a job in the mail room at New Line Cinema. It was there where he befriended film producer Mike DeLuca who funded Ellin's first short film The Pitch, starring then unknown actor David Schwimmer. That short film got Ellin accepted to the American Film Institute, where he graduated from in 1994. In 1996, he directed the independent comedy film Phat Beach. The film was made on a very low budget, and Ellin has called it "Probably the worst movie ever made". Two years later, Ellin made another independent comedy film Kissing a Fool, starring David Schwimmer, who was now known due to his role on Friends which was in its fourth season.

Kissing a Fool was sold for distribution and Ellin subsequently sold a few screenplays to Miramax. One, The Pledge was never produced although Ellin was paid seven figures for the script and was set to direct. He sold another unproduced screenplay for mid-six figures.

Ellin's real success came in 2004 with Entourage. The HBO show ran for eight seasons and Ellin made an eight-figure pact with HBO to continue producing television.

Additionally, Ellin serves on the board of the Greenwich International Film Festival.

Ellin wrote and directed the 2015 film adaptation of Entourage.

Awards and nominations

Ellin has been nominated for three Emmy Awards, four Writers Guild of America Awards, three PGA Awards and a BAFTA, and has won a BAFTA and a PGA award.

Personal life

Ellin married Melissa Dana Hecht in 1996 and together have two kids. The two divorced in 2009. Ellin has said the character of Ari Gold's wife in Entourage was based on Hecht.

Ellin dated Maddie Diehl and proposed to her in 2014, but the couple broke up in March 2016. They have reconciled and the marriage is back on.

Filmography

Writer

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	The Waiter	Writer	Independent film
1993	The Pitch	Writer	Credited as Douglas Ellin
1996	Phat Beach	Screenwriter
1998	Kissing A Fool	Screenwriter
2002–2004	Life With Bonnie	Staff Writer	Number of written episodes unknown
2004–2011	Entourage	Head Writer	Also Creator
2015	Entourage	Screenwriter
2016	Bad Santa 2	Screenwriter

Producer

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004–2011	Entourage	Executive Producer	96 Episodes

Actor

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	The Pitch	Unknown	Credited as Douglas Ellin
1998	Kissing A Fool	Bartender/Springer guest
2004–2011	Entourage	Doug/Director	3 Episodes guest star

Director

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	The Waiter		Independent (Indie) film
1993	The Pitch		Credited as Douglas Ellin
1996	Phat Beach
1998	Kissing A Fool
2015	Entourage

External links

• Doug Ellin at IMDb