Jackie Zabel
Contributing Writer
(Read Jackie’s collected posts)
As a writer/producer, Jackie Zabel has won multiple awards for her work both nationally and internationally.
Pandemic, a Hallmark Channel mini-series co-written with her husband Bryce, aired as a “special event†picture. It is a medical thriller, taking advantage of her background in health issues, dating back to her work as a medical producer for KCBS-TV in Los Angeles. For this script, she won the 2008 WGA Award for writing a “Best Long form Original.†The award is listed as a company milestone for Hallmark. In April 2009, she co-wrote another Hallmark project — a movie of the week, Chasing a Dream, starring Treat Williams as the reluctant dad/coach to a son who wants to break the four-minute mile in high school.
Her book, The Hollywood Cookbook: Cooking for Causes, was published in late 2006 and won the Gourmand Award as “Best Fundraising Cookbook in the World.” It was carried in national chains such as Barnes & Noble and Borders and on HSN. The book features themed meals from twenty different celebrities who each named their favorite charities. It features stars such as Ron Howard, Michael J. Fox, Anne Hathaway, James Denton, Jane Kacmarek, and others, plus celebrity chefs such as Wolfgang Puck and Mario Batali.
Going back to her journalistic roots, Jackie is producing two documentaries. Misty tells the story of the brave fighter pilot squadron in Vietnam, men who flew dangerous missions on a daily basis. She is also Executive Producer on 13 Families: Life After Columbine — a documentary that examines the lives of the families who lost loved ones during the Colorado massacre in 1999.
In 2001, Jackie shared story credit on the Disney summer release, Atlantis: The Lost Empire. She’s also written television episodes, Movies of the Week, and optioned both television and feature material to Nickelodeon, Warner Brothers, and Universal.
Jackie also was instrumental in the University of Oregonʼs successful “Lights, Camera, Oregon!†campaign kick-off event where she served as a producer and also co-wrote the script for the eveningʼs festivities. Many of the eveningʼs special touches were the result of her observations of event planning from attending multiple awards, including the Oscars, Emmys, Grammys, etc. The campaign surpassed its goal to raise 800 million dollars for the university.
Jackieʼs career started in local news, writing and producing. She graduated with a masters’ degree in broadcast journalism from USC, and additionally, has two undergraduate degrees in journalism and psychology from the University of Texas, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa.