Douglas Reed Ellin (born ) is an American screenwriter and

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

and TV director, known best for creating the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

television series '' Entourage''. Ellin also served as

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...

, director,

head writer A head writer is a person who oversees the team of writers on a television or radio series. The title is common in the soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio ...

and supporting actor for the series, and wrote, directed and produced its 2015

film adaptation A film adaptation transfers the details or story of an existing source text, such as a novel, into a feature film. This transfer can involve adapting most details of the source text closely, including characters or plot points, or the original sou ...

Early life and education

Ellin was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York City, the son of June and Marvin Ellin. He is Jewish. Ellin grew up in

Merrick, New York Merrick is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. , the population was 20,130. Geography According to the United States Census Bu ...

, attending John F. Kennedy High School before graduating from

Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...

in 1990.

Career

Before producing and writing for '' Entourage'', Ellin served as a staff writer for '' Life with Bonnie'', which starred

Bonnie Hunt Bonnie Lynn Hunt (born September 22, 1961) is an American actress and comedian. Her film roles include ''Rain Man'', ''Beethoven (film), Beethoven'', ''Beethoven's 2nd (film), Beethoven's 2nd'', ''Jumanji'', ''Jerry Maguire'', ''The Green Mile ( ...

. 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 Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

in the early 1990s to be a stand-up comedian and soon got a job in the mail room at

New Line Cinema New Line Productions, Inc., Trade name, doing business as New Line Cinema, is an American film production, film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, a division of the Major film studios, ...

. It was there where he befriended film producer

Michael De Luca Michael De Luca (born August 13, 1965) is an American film studio executive, film producer and screenwriter. He is also the former president of production at both New Line Cinema and DreamWorks. De Luca has been nominated for three Academy Aw ...

who funded Ellin's first short film ''The Pitch'', starring then unknown actor

David Schwimmer David Lawrence Schwimmer (born November 2, 1966) is an American actor, director, and producer. He gained worldwide recognition for portraying Ross Geller in the sitcom '' Friends'', for which he received a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Pri ...

. 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

, who was now known due to his role on ''

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane (producer), David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting List of Friends episodes, ten seasons. With an ensemble cast ...

'' which was in its fourth season. '' Kissing a Fool'' was sold for distribution and Ellin subsequently sold a few screenplays to

Miramax Miramax, LLC, formerly known as Miramax Films, is an American independent film and television production and distribution company owned by beIN Media Group and Paramount Global. Based in Los Angeles, California, it was founded on December 19, ...

. 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

of ''Entourage''.

Personal life

Ellin married Melissa Dana Hecht in 1996 and together have two children. 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. He married Andrea Adler in September 2017 and filed for divorce in April 2018.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ellin, Doug 1968 births AFI Conservatory alumni American male screenwriters Television producers from New York City American television writers BAFTA winners (people) Living people Tulane University alumni American showrunners Writers from Brooklyn Screenwriters from New York City People from Merrick, New York American male television writers John F. Kennedy High School (Bellmore, New York) alumni