Niceole completed the NBC Writers on the Verge program in 2012 and the CBS Writer’s Mentoring Program in 2011. She is also a 2-time graduate of the University of Southern California. A devotee of television, she wrote her first solo original pilot, “Thin Air” during the CBS program. She was a staff writer on NBC’s “Ironside” in 2013 and is currently working on two new pilots.
If you asked her to describe herself as a writer, the answer would be: “I am a drama writer who writes action like it’s a love letter to the bad-asses of the world. My focus is on procedurals that use the story engine to develop deep, complex characters, the weekly cases opening windows into the men and women who inhabit the show while the action keeps the audience on the edge of their seats.” She also loves a show with a big soapy canvas to play on.
In addition, Niceole has completed a variety of projects, including pilots, specs, original plays, and original short stories.
Current Pilots:
Thin Air — law enforcement procedural
Family Politics — family political soap
Forward Progress — family drama
Most Wanted — romantic comedy/adventure procedural
Kingdom — dark character-driven police procedrual
Blood — A modern-day take on Richard III
Current Specs:
Person of Interest — “Small Sacrifices”
Covert Affairs — “Timing is Everything”
Castle — “Shopping is Murder”
The Good Wife — “Puppet Dance”
Short Film Projects:
Landfall — drama (script)
Archived Specs:
The Closer — “A Good Night’s Rest”
Private Practice — “The Weight of All Things”
Grey’s Anatomy — “Beautiful Disaster” (set in mid season 2)
West Wing –“A Little Something About Something” and “Best of Intentions”
JAG — “Initial Suspicions”
The Pretender — “Lethe”
The X-Files — “”Gates Kill”
Original Pilot written with co-author
“Ivy League” written with Tracy L. Johns — drama, romance, and murder turn the lives of a college community upside down.
Original Plays:
“Brother Joe Albright’s Hallelujah Gospel Family” — (produced at the Hudson Theatre, Hollywood, 2004) — After the loss of her child, a minister’s wife faces a huge crisis of faith, which threatens the most important relationships in her life.
“The Boy Next Door” — 15-minute play about two lawyers who meet cute in the hallway that separates their law firms and how they fall in love in five scenes.
Original Screenplays:
“Flip Side” — Years after the murders of R&B stars Sydney and Sara Allen, one of the sisters resurfaces, leaving the killer desperate to cover his tracks, and sending the true love of the lost sister on a quest for redemption.
“The End Zone” — College sweethearts who suffered an ugly breakup over her journalism career butting up against his life as a star QB meet again years later and bury the hatchet over a few drinks and a one-night stand. When they both change jobs and end up in New York City, old feelings return even as their former conflict rises to the surface once again.
“Dominion” — (written as a TV movie with series potential) — When a police officer finds himself stalked by a seductive and evil vampire, he finds out that his family is cursed and has suffered for generations at the hands of the woman’s vendetta.
“Doin’ Some Laundry” — (based on an original short story) — a small town pays the price for its love of gossip when a murder leads them to turn on an innocent man and the real killer decides to teach them all a lesson.
“View From the Top” — a Kennedy-esque family deals with living life in a fishbowl as they stay true to their call of service despite the toll it takes on their family.
Original Short Stories:
“Jane” — Sometimes our battle scars aren’t just proof we survived; they’re how we learn to live.
“Enemies Foreign and Domestic” — a woman takes on a corrupt politician to get justice for a lost loved one.
Rattling of the Chains — a new vision of the legend of the witch of Yazoo.
Doin’ Some Laundry — a small town pays the price for its love of gossip when a murder leads them to turn on an innocent man and the real killer decides to teach them all a lesson.
Two Obituaries — As a city deals with a mass shooting incident, a victim’s experiences are chronicled both by her own thoughts during the shooting and by the media in the aftermath.
How to Be a Man — a young boy learns what it means to be proud of who he is in the face of hatred thank to his grandfather, who tells him the story of a strong man named Shamus Amos Jamison.
Comedy Projects:
“Daytime Drama” (original pilot) — a frustrated writer gets her dream job working on her favorite soap, but backstage drama threatens to sink her before she writes her first word.
Everybody Loves Raymond (spec) — “Best, Better, Bestest” — Raymond gets competitive when he decides the kids love Deborah more than him.
February 7, 2023 at 3:04 pm
Hi Niceole! I just finished reading “The Writers Room” and I had to say thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing your wisdom with the world. As a woman of color who fell in love with this craft later in life, the goal of becoming a professional TV writer feels entirely out of my reach at times. I’ll even admit that I started to tear up once you said, “There’s still time.” So again, thank you for writing this book and encouraging myself and countless others to continue to pursue our dreams!
February 12, 2023 at 7:03 pm
Thank you so much for letting me know you enjoyed the book, Alana! I’m so glad. But yes… there’s still time. Write, write, write and find a way to make it happen!