Jill A. Hargrave is a documentary producer and fundraiser. She majored in Journalism at Pace University’s White Plains campus and started her career in broadcasting as a member of the acclaimed documentary team at WCBS-TV's “Eye On New York.” Hargrave moved to California and worked for NBC’s daytime variety show “Fantasy” as its script supervisor. Then she returned to the NY/NJ area. Hargrave worked as a news writer for ABC NewsOne for two years before taking a documentary producer position with New Jersey Network Public Television (NJN). For over 18 years, Hargrave produced many regional Emmy-nominated documentaries for NJN, including “Myths of Aging,” “The Candidates” and “Cutting Edge New Jersey.” Then Hargrave joined the NJN Foundation in 2005 and raised funds that enabled other NJN producers to make documentaries. Hargrave is a lifetime member of the Writers Guild of America, East.
Since Governor Chris Christie and the State of New Jersey closed down NJN Public Television in June 2011, Hargrave moved to Florida. She continues to raise funds and produce projects as founder of EagleVision Productions, Inc. – a nonprofit production company. EagleVision Productions, Inc. has just finished its sixth and final season for NJTV’s “On the Record with Michael Aron” called “Governors’ Perspectives with Kent Manahan.” Hargrave is currently in the research, development and fundraising stage for a documentary project that will tell the story of the formative years of the American Revolution (1776/1777) in readiness for the 250th Anniversary of this nation in 2026. To raise the funds, she has created a Kickstarter Campaign that will launch on Monday, January 22, 2024. To create buzz, she is asking creatives to sign up to be notified by searching for "Road to Liberty 1776-1777: The NY/NJ Campaign."
Hargrave's agent is in the process of marketing two of her screenplays, "The Bottom Line" has garnered several accolades including, Finalist - Santa Barbara International Screenplay Awards - Summer 2022; Quarterfinalist - Screencraft Screenwriting Fellowship 2022; Quarterfinalist - Scriptapalooza Screenplay Competition 2021 and Semi-finalist - The Big Apple Film Festival Screenplay Competition - Summer 2019. "Fields of Grace" placed in several competitions including, 2nd Rounder - Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition 2023 and 2022; Finalist - Santa Barbara International Screenplay Awards - Summer 2022; Quarterfinalist - Atlanta Film Festival Screenplay Competition 2022; and Semi-finalist - Los Angeles International Screenplay Awards - Summer 2021.
Currently, Hargrave is rewriting her screenplay, "Unsung Hero of the American Revolution" that profiles the role Colonel John Glover and his Marblehead Regiment played in 1775 and 1776, and beginning the first draft of her screenplay, "The Two Shades" that's loosely based on her experiences as a pop singer in the 1960s in England.
Unique traits: I was a pop singer in the Sixties in England with my sister. We recorded on the Parlaphone label and toured England performing in theatre clubs and holiday resorts, as well as entertaining American troops on their bases in France and Germany. In 1983, I was the script supervisor for 'Fantasy" - an NBC daytime variety show hosted by Peter Marshall and Leslie Uggams. Since I moved to Florida 7 years ago, I have performed in several musicals for our local community theater, The Vero Beach Theatre Guild, and enjoyed performing the role of Jessie in "Calendar Girls" in January 2022. I also raiseed funds for the Theatre through applying for grants and finding sponsors for its plays and musicals. For the last two years, I volunteer for the Vero Beach Film Festival as one of the Documentary Judges and a fundraiser for its Fundraising event and finding sponsors for the Festival, which will take place in April 2024.
The Bottom Line Budget: $5M - $10M | Romance ⋄ Drama To save his news team’s journalistic integrity and the destruction of TV News as a public trust, a charismatic, highly principled news anchor risks his career in 1988 to battle his narcissistic billionaire boss by refusing to replace fact-based news with “infotainment” and biased reporting.
Fields of Grace Budget: $30M+ | Romance ⋄ Drama A naive ingénue dreams of stardom on the London stage in the 1930s and finding her one true love. She falls into a complex love triangle with her bi-sexual Jewish agent and her insufferable leading man, which ultimately leads to shattered dreams and murder on the hostile streets of Hitler’s Berlin.
Unsung Hero of the American Revolution Budget: $10M - $30M | Historical ⋄ Biography This is the true story of the crucial role Colonel John Glover and his Marblehead men played when 30,000 British troops land in America to crush the rebellion in 1776. Teetering on the brink of utter defeat, Glover saves Washington’s Continental Army from annihilation several times before rowing the troops across the Delaware to victory on Christmas night, breathing new life into their fight for liberty.
The Two Shades Budget: $10M - $30M | Music ⋄ Drama When a rambunctious, naive teenager muscles in on her sister’s singing career in 1960s England, sparks fly and resentments build as she succumbs to the seductive excesses of the Rock’n Roll lifestyle, ends up pregnant and must choose to re-evaluate her life or continue her downward spiral into oblivion.
Charles Dickens - The Formative Years Budget: $10M - $30M | Historical ⋄ Biography From an idyllic childhood in Kent to working in a London factory at twelve, Charles Dickens's formative years are fraught with highs and lows. Deprived of a formal education, Dickens turns to journalism to earn a living. Heartbroken when his first love rejects him, Dickens throws himself into writing and at twenty-five publishes the “Pickwick Papers” that catapults him to fame. The rest is history.
Producer
(
Television
by NJN Public Television
Several Award Winning and Regional Emmy-nominated documentaries. See bio/resume for list.
"Fields of Grace" - Quarterfinalist - Atlanta Film Festival Screenplay Competition
(2022)
"Fields of Grace" - 2nd Rounder - Austin Film Festival
(2022)
"The Bottom Line" - Quarterfinalist - Scriptapalooza Screenplay Contest
(2021)
"The Bottom Line" - Finalist - Santa Barbara International Screenplay Awards - Fall
(2021)
"Fields of Grace" - Quarterfinalist - Screencraft Drama Competition
(2021)
"Fields of Grace" - Semifinalist - LA International Screenplay Award - Summer
(2021)
"Fields of Grace" - Finalist - Santa Barbara International Screenplay Awards - Fall
(2021)
"The Bottom Line" - Semifinalist - Big Apple Film Festival, Summer 2019 - "The Bottom Line"
(2019)
NJ Broadcasters Assn. - Best of the Best Public Affairs
(2004)
Philadelphia Press Award - First Place TV Magazine Feature
(2000)
Philadelphia Press Award - First Place TV Magazine Feature
(1996)
7 NATAS - Mid-Atlantic Emmy Award Nominations (See resume)
(1989)
Pace University of White Plains, NY
(1976-1979)