Margaret Murphy is a three–time Emmy winning producer/writer/director/editor. Her work covers the areas of News, Documentary, Sports, and Children’s programming as well as dramatic features.
She most recently served as Co–Producer with Director Lilly Rivlin on the multiple award winning independent feature documentary “Grace Paley: Collected Shorts”, a biography of the noted short story writer, poet, activist and teacher. www.gracepaleythefilm.com
Ms. Murphy was also a Script Consultant on the 2008 Japanese feature documentary “Hannari–Modern Geisha”, Sakura Productions. She was Consulting Producer for the hour–long documentary “Can You Hear Me?” the story of Israeli and Palestinian women in the Middle East peace movement narrated by Debra Winger. Selected screenings: 2007 Denver Film Festival, Brooklyn Museum, United Nations. Lilly Rivlin Productions.
From 2006 to 2007 she was a producer and writer for the pilot of the NBC on line Educational Initiative Project, NBC LEARN.
Between 2003 and 2006, she was a freelance producer and writer for CBS NEWS PRODUCTIONS. Her programs include hours for TV Land, Discovery, the History Channel and A&E.
From 2002 to 2003 she was Supervising Editor on the feature film “Proud” starring Ossie Davis for Hilfiger Entertainment: Rochester Film Festival 2004 (Premiere), Tribeca Film Festival 2005. Distributed by Castle Hill and Lion’s Gate.
From 1997 to 2002, Ms. Murphy produced and wrote the ABC/LIFETIME documentaries “BREAKING THE CHAIN” which focused on women in prison and their children and “DEVIL’S DIET” with supermodels Christie Brinkley and Emme. She also produced and wrote many A&E “Biography” hours including Julia Child, Johnny Cash, Bill Gates, Andy Garcia, Regis Philbin, Claus von Bulow, Burt Reynolds, Tony Randall, Barbara Bush, Vanna White, Ivana Trump, David Koresh, Dame Edna/Barry Humphries, James Beard, Osama bin Laden and “The Biography of the Year – Rudy Giuliani”.
In 2002, she produced a half hour special for ABC Sports on Olympic figure skating champion Sarah Hughes hosted by Jim McKay. She won her first NATIONAL EMMY AWARD as an Olympic Unit film editor for ABC Sports. In 1995, 1996 and 1997, Ms. Murphy was producer and writer for the TURNER SPORTS network specials featuring the Women’s Sports Foundation’s Hall of Fame Awards. In 1995, she produced and wrote an hour–long special on three champions of figure skating – Dorothy Hamill, Kristi Yamaguchi and Nancy Kerrigan for the ABC SPORTS/NIKE “PASSION TO PLAY” series hosted by Donna de Varona.
From 1992 to 1995, she was a producer on the original staff of DATELINE NBC where she produced and wrote more than twenty major features and profiles including Bill Murray, Dolly Parton, Sandra Bernhard, Raul Julia, Andre Agassi, Lily Tomlin and Simon and Garfunkel, a profile of “Seinfeld” with the entire cast as well as two exclusive stories on Nancy Kerrigan and the events surrounding the attack on the figure skater before the 1994 Olympics and her return from the Games.
From 1990 to 1992, she was a producer for ABC NEWS’ NIGHTLINE where she won a NATIONAL EMMY AWARD for the program’s coverage of the Gulf War. Her feature stories for NIGHTLINE include The Jeffrey Dahmer Murders, The Zodiac Killer, X Rated Movies, Yosemite at 100 with Robert Redford, Sneaker Wars, The Invasion of Panama and Tornados (Emmy Nomination).
Between 1987 and 1990, she was a partner in Belzberg/Murphy Productions, which developed reality-based material for motion pictures and television including the CBS television movie “Unforgivable”. She also developed the story and was Associate Producer for the 1988 CBS TV movie “Christmas Comes to Willow Creek”.
From 1986 to 1987, she was a producer and writer for the ABC NEWS documentary series OUR WORLD. In 1985, she won a NATIONAL EMMY AWARD for her profile of Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s career as an aviator for the PBS series, SMITHSONIAN WORLD an honor she shared with historian David McCullough.
Ms. Murphy began her career at Sesame Street producing many original film segments for the show. She went on to co–create, produce and edit the pilot for ABC’s Emmy and Peabody Award winning children’s series “Animals, Animals, Animals”. In 1982, she received a “VIDEO OF THE YEAR” GRAMMY AWARD NOMINATION for “Fun and Games”, an interactive videodisc for children she produced, directed, wrote and edited for MCA UNIVERSAL/SCHOLASTIC PRODUCTIONS.. Her independent documentaries including “They Are Their Own Gifts” have been honored at the New York Film Festival, Edinburgh, Berlin, Chicago and Houston. She was named to the list of “100 Outstanding Irish Americans of 2008” by Irish America Magazine.
Fordham University, BS in English
Brooklyn College Television Center, Master’s Program
The Neighborhood Playhouse |
