Amy Holden Jones

Amy Holden Jones has worked her way through the barrels of low-budget filmmaking for Roger Corman to become an A-list screenwriter of studio productions and, occasionally, a director of mainstream fare as well. An art history major at Wellesley College, Jones studied film at nearby MIT. When her short "A Weekend Home" (1975) won an American Film Institute student award, one of the judges, Martin Scorsese, offered Jones a job as an assistant on his film, "Taxi Driver" (1976). Scorsese then introduced her to low-budget film titan Roger Corman, who hired Jones. Her first assignment was as co-editor of "Hollywood Boulevard" (1976). She continued editing for Corman's New World Productions, including the Mark Hamill vehicle, "Corvette Summer" (1978), and eventually was given the chance to make her directorial debut with the B-movie, "Slumber Party Massacre" (1982). (Oddly, feminist Rita Mae Brown wrote the screenplay, although its possible interior meanings have never been investigated.) Jones went on to direct features with strong female leads: Jamie Lee Curtis in "Love Letters" (1983) and Ally Sheedy in "Maid to Order" (1987).