Marilyn Mallory

BIO
I was born in Drumright, Oklahoma, which is not close to anything. My family moved to Whittier, CA when I was twelve. In high school, I took courses on journalism and wrote a fashion column under my own name and a funny column under a man’s name. It was the funny column that won the prize. I also won a full tuition scholarship to Stanford University, where I got a BA in Spanish.

In 1967, I entered an extremely strict religious cloister of nuns in Italy, and lasted 17 months there. From there I studied theology at the Catholic University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands, where I got a Bachelors of Divinity, a Licentiate in Theology (MA), and a doctorate in theology (STD). I married my professor of church history (an ex-priest) and ended up living in Holland for 15 years. My dissertation on an empirical study I did on Carmelite nuns and friars, to test the theories of John of the Cross about prayer, won a Dutch prize, which paid for its publication and distribution.

I returned to America in 1983, after my divorce. I felt like Rip Van Winkel awakening to a very different America than the one I had left. In 1993, I left the Catholic Church and became a Presbyterian. Subsequently I got a Master of Divinity at a Presbyterian seminary near San Francisco. In my last year there, the seminary let me study screenwriting at a nearby college for credit. The committee, which screens candidates for the ministry, said they couldn't picture me as a pastor. About that time, I heard Toni Morrison say on the radio that the Episcopal Church was just about to ordain her to the ministry when a little inner voice told her that that wasn’t right for her because she was a writer. I knew exactly how that felt. I did not pursue the ministry any further after graduation from seminary, and I felt a great weight lift off my shoulders.

Since then I have written 6 screen plays. My first script about those nuns in Italy placed among the next 10% in the Nicholl fellowship contest in 2001. In 2003, “The Sunshine Blond” was among the top 20% in the Nicholl Fellowship contest, out of over 6000 scripts. My script “The Sunshine Blond” was among the 10 runner-ups in the Scriptapalooza contest in 2006, out of 3600 scripts. My script about those nuns placed in the semi-finals in the Kairos Prize contest (2006), for spiritually uplifting screenplays. I have been a script reader for the Kairos Prize contest in 2007 and 2008, doing coverage on about half of the scripts submitted. I have used that experience to write How to Write a Christian Script, a brief excerpt of which will appear in Creative Screenwriting in the autumn. The well-known script consultant, Linda Seger, will write the foreword. Waiting to hear back from a publisher. The Alameda Writers Group has been very helpful in getting my scripts in shape for competition.

CONTACT THE WRITER
Email Marilyn Mallory or call 818/567-0338.