One Stupid Thing

Director’s bio:

Linda Yellen is a director, writer, and producer best known for her work in television and independent film. She created her first film at 17, a 10-minute short entitled “Prospera”, during her sophomore year at Barnard College, which won third prize in the New York Film Festival (after George Lucas and Martin Scorsese). She has been going strong ever since.

Linda has made 27 films for both large and small screen including two of television’s highest-rated movies, “The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana”, and the universally acclaimed “Playing for Time”, which starred Vanessa Redgrave and Jane Alexander. Other credits include “Chantilly Lace”, which began at the Sundance Lab and “Parallel Lives”, developed with the Assistance of The Sundance Institute.

Her films have won numerous awards, including two Peabodys, seven Emmys, one Luminas, one Silver Nymph, and two Christophers and have been released through Columbia Pictures, Disney, Universal, Netflix, Showtime, CBS, NBC, and ABC. Her films have been chosen for numerous film festivals including Cannes, Toronto, Sundance, and New York.

She has worked with such extraordinary talent as Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Anthony Hopkins, Vanessa and Lynn Redgrave, Dennis Hopper, Diane Keaton, Elizabeth Taylor, Liza Minnelli, Gena Rowlands, and Jacqueline Bisset. Linda credits her organizational skills and speed on set to her mentor famed director, Sidney Lumet.

Before becoming a filmmaker herself, Linda became the youngest film buyer in the industry. Working at Cinema 5 (a forerunner of the most powerful independent film companies) Linda was responsible for buying “Gimme Shelter”, “Z”, “The Garden of Finzi-Continis”, and Andy Warhol’s “Trash”.

Linda was the recipient of The Woman of Achievement Award at her alma mater, Barnard College, joining the ranks of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Francine du Plessix Gray.