‘DEBBIE MACOMBER’S CEDAR COVE’ – Season 3
PRODUCTION BIOS
DAN WIGUTOW (Executive Producer) – Dan Wigutow is best known for his award-winning true crime mini-series, which include “Fatal Vision,” “Blind Faith,” “The Hunt for the Unicorn Killer,” “In a Child’s Name” and “In the Best of Families.” He currently serves as executive producer on Hallmark Channel’s first-ever scripted series “Cedar Cove,” starring Andie MacDowell and based on the bestselling books by Debbie Macomber. Wigutow has also served as executive producer on several Hallmark Channel Original Movies including “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” starring Henry Winkler, “Debbie Macomber’s Mrs. Miracle” and “Debbie Macomber’s Call Me Mrs. Miracle,” both starring Doris Roberts.
His first feature film was the critically acclaimed suspense thriller “Last Embrace,” directed by Jonathan Demme. Wigutow’s subsequent feature film credits include “The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper,” starring Robert Duvall and Treat Williams and “Heaven Help Us,” starring Andrew McCarthy, Mary Stuart Masterson and Donald Sutherland.
Wigutow’s transition into television film production came in 1984 with NBC’s highly rated, Emmy® award-winning mini-series “Fatal Vision,” based on the best-seller by Joe McGinniss, starring Karl Malden and Eva Marie Saint. Wigutow was also the executive producer for NBC’s Emmy®-nominated mini-series “Blind Faith.”
Additional television credits include HBO’s “Judgment,” starring Keith Carradine and Blythe Danner and winner of the Writers Guild Award for Best TV Drama, the Emmy® and Golden Globe®-nominated CBS mini-series “In a Child’s Name,” based on the book by Peter Maas and starring Valerie Bertinelli and Louise Fletcher, Peter Benchley’s “The Beast,” one of the highest- rated mini-series on NBC starring William Petersen, “Brave New World,” an NBC movie starring Leonard Nimoy and Peter Gallagher, “The Hunt for the Unicorn Killer,” a true story about fugitive Ira Einhorn, starring Tom Skerritt and Naomi Watts, as well as the critically acclaimed CBS mini-series “In the Best of Families,” starring Kelly McGillis, Harry Hamlin and Keith Carradine.
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SUE TENNEY (Executive Producer/ Show Runner) - Sue Tenney, a television writer and executive producer (“7th Heaven,” “Life is Wild,” “The Exes”) and has developed a multitude of dramas and comedies with several prominent Hollywood production companies (ACME Productions (US), Davis Entertainment, Zipline Productions), as well as with many high-profile independent producers (Michael Edelstein – “Desperate Housewives,” Jeffrey Kramer – “The Practice,” Jonathan Prince – “The Cleaner”). Additionally, she has sold pilots to The WB, The CW and Lifetime networks. In her prolific career thus far, Tenney has produced close to 200 hours of network television, personally penning over 60 scripts.
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RON FRENCH (Executive Producer) - A very prolific television producer, Ron French has worked with every major Hollywood studio - Fox, NBC Universal, Warner Bros., MGM and Disney. Graduating from Wilfred Laurier University, French has spent his career in the film and television industry as a producer, production manager and assistant director. His company, Unity Pictures Group develops, finances and executive produces TV series and MOW's such as Hallmark Channel's first-ever original television series, the family-friendly “Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove.” French’s other work includes "The Killing", “Battlestar Galactica,” “Stargate SG1” and Fox Network's upcoming "Wayward Pines."
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Stephen Harmaty (Executive Producer) - Stephen Harmaty is responsible for all development and business affairs activities at Unity Pictures, which includes acquiring, developing, packaging and securing financing for the company's growing slate of feature film and television projects for Canadian, US and international partners. Over the last 13 years, he has applied his experience in development, production, business affairs, financing, and Canadian content to more than 38 projects in both scripted and non-scripted genres for production and broadcast partners including ABC, Lifetime, Hallmark Channel, CTV, Space, ProSieben, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network (US), CBC Television, OLN/Rogers, The Comedy Network, W Network/Corus Entertainment, HGTV, Movie Central/Corus Entertainment, American Cinema International (ACI) and PorchLight Entertainment. Harmaty received a B.A. (Hons.) in English from McGill University.
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ANDIE MACDOWELL (Executive Producer) – Andie MacDowell has established herself as an accomplished actress and spokesperson with worldwide recognition. On the small screen, MacDowell stars in Hallmark’s #1 series, “Cedar Cove.” She portrays Judge Olivia Lockhart, a respected small-town municipal court judge who considers leaving the beautiful lake town where she raised her family to take a federal judgeship. The series is based on the bestselling books by Debbie Macomber. Previously MacDowell was featured on the ABC Family series “Jane By Design” and starred in the Lifetime Original movies, “At Risk” and “The Front,” both based on Patricia Cornwell crime novels. She earned praise for her performance in the Emmy® nominated, HBO original film, “Dinner with Friends” and co-starred with Rosie O’Donnell in the CBS telefilm “Riding the Bus with My Sister,” directed by Anjelica Huston.
On the big screen, MacDowell earned the worldwide title of #1 female box-office draw with her performances in the smash hit romantic comedy “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” for which she received a Golden Globe® nomination and the western “Bad Girls” with Drew Barrymore. She also starred alongside Bill Murray in Harold Ramis’ holiday classic “Groundhog Day,” which was recently inducted into the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. In other comedies MacDowell continued to partner with top leading men including Gerard Depardieu in “Green Card,” for which she again earned a Golden Globe® nomination, Michael Keaton in “Multiplicity” and John Travolta in “Michael.”
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She first received critical acclaim and accolades for her performance as a repressed young wife in Steven Soderbergh’s “sex, lies and videotape.” The film won the Palme d'or at Cannes and garnered MacDowell the Independent Spirit Award and the Los Angeles Film Critics Award for Best Actress as well as her first Golden Globe® nomination. Additionally, she has been presented with the coveted Cesar D’Honneur for her body of work, the Golden Kamera Award from Germany’s Horzu Publications and the Taormina Arte Award for Cinematic Excellence.
MacDowell’s dramatic feature performances have included “The End of Violence,” directed by Wim Wenders, which was selected to screen at the opening of the 50th Anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival; Robert Altman’s “The Player” and “Short Cuts,” for which the cast earned a special Golden Globe® Award for Best Ensemble and a Special Volpi Cup Award at the Venice
Film Festival; “Unstrung Heroes,” directed by Diane Keaton and the ever-popular “St. Elmo’s Fire.” MacDowell can next be seen alongside Channing Tatum in Warner Bros’ “Magic Mike XXL” and her more recent film credits have included 2011’s “Footloose,” “Monte Carlo” and the indie feature “Mighty Fine” with Chazz Palminteri and her own daughter Rainey Qualley.
For her philanthropic work, MacDowell was presented with an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Lander University and received an Honor of the Arts from Winthrop College. MacDowell has served as the national spokesperson for both The Ovarian Cancer Research Fund and the American Heart Association. Additionally, in her continued efforts to bring awareness to preserving nature, MacDowell has supported the Tree Farmers of America with a national awareness campaign and put two-thousand acres of her Montana ranch in a conservation easement with the Montana Land Reliance in her effort to preserve Montana’s natural habitat. MacDowell currently sits on the board of the National Forest Foundation.
MacDowell began her career as a model and appeared in international ad campaigns for brands such as Yves Saint Laurent, Vassarette, Armani perfume, Sabeth-Row and Bliss Blass. Since 1986, MacDowell has been the global spokesperson for L’Oreal Paris cosmetics and hair products. MacDowell’s long-standing relationship with the brand has made history as the longest consecutive relationship between a beauty brand and spokesmodel.
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DEBBIE MACOMBER (Executive Producer / Author) – Debbie Macomber is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and one of today’s most popular writers with more than 170 million copies of her books in print worldwide. In her novels, Macomber brings to life compelling relationships that embrace family and enduring friendships, uplifting her readers with stories of connection and hope. Macomber's novels have spent over 750 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Eight of these novels hit the number one spot.
In 2015, Macomber's all-new hardcover publications will include Last One Home (March), Silver Linings (August) and Dashing Through The Snow (October) and paperback editions of Blossom Street Brides (March) and her Christmas novel, Mr. Miracle (October).
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In addition to fiction Macomber has also published two bestselling cookbooks, numerous inspirational and nonfiction works and two acclaimed children’s books.
Macomber's beloved and bestselling Cedar Cove Series became Hallmark Channel’s first dramatic scripted television series, “Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cove,” which was ranked as the top program on cable when it debuted in summer 2013. Hallmark Channel is now filming a third season of “Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cove” which will premiere July 2015. In addition, Macomber’s upcoming Christmas novel, Dashing Through the Snow, will be made into an original movie premiering on Hallmark Channel in Fall 2015. Previously, Hallmark Channel has produced four successful Christmas movies based on Macomber's bestselling Christmas novels, Mrs. Miracle, Call Me Mrs. Miracle, Trading Christmas, and Mr. Miracle.
Macomber owns her own tea room, Victorian Rose Tea Room & yarn store, A Good Yarn, named after the shop featured in her popular Blossom Street novels. She and her husband, Wayne, serve on the Guideposts National Advisory Cabinet, and she is World Vision’s international spokesperson for their Knit for Kids charity initiative.
A devoted grandmother, Debbie and her husband Wayne live in Port Orchard, Washington (the town on which her Cedar Cove novels are based) and winter in Florida.
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