Kathleen DeMarco Van Cleve

Kathleen DeMarco Van Cleve has been the writing partner of John Leguizamo for many years, co-writing with him screenplays such as Fugly, (under option to Universal Films), and she has been the producer of numerous feature and cable films, among them Undefeated, Pinero, and Joe the King (which won the 1999 Sundance Film festival Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award). She also developed and sold projects at all the major studios, cable stations and networks over the past fifteen years, as well as wrote the story ideas and treatments for many of these projects. Kathy is also a novelist. Under her maiden name, Kathleen DeMarco, she has written two novels: Cranberry Queen (a Book Sense 2001 pick), optioned by Miramax Films, and The Difference Between You and Me, both published by Miramax Books. Her newest book, the middle-grade novel Drizzle, will be published by Dial Books for Young Readers in March 2010, using her married name, Kathleen Van Cleve. Kathy took her B.S. and B.A. (Creative Writing) from Penn in 1988--a dual degree from the Wharton School and the College of Arts & Sciences. She has been a consultant for NYU's Tisch School of the Arts M.F.A. dramatic writing program as well as for Tisch's undergraduate dramatic writing candidates. She lives with her husband and two young sons in Philadelphia.