American television producer and writer (born 1967)
Nichelle D. Tramble Spellman (born February 11, 1967) is an Americantelevision producer and writer.[2]
In 2017, Spellman, and her husband, Malcolm Spellman, began to co-produce and co-write an alternate historytelevision series for HBO, called Confederate, set in a present day America where slavery remained legal.[2] The pair found themselves called upon to explain how African-American producers could be involved in a show focused around slavery.[3]
She has worked as a writer or producer on The Good Wife, Justified, Mercy, Harper's Island and Women's Murder Club.[4][5]
Nichelle Tramble Spellman is the creator and showrunner of the Apple TV+ drama series Truth Be Told, starring Octavia Spencer, Aaron Paul, Lizzy Caplan, Elizabeth Perkins, Ron Cephas Jones, Mekhi Phifer, Michael Beach, Tracie Thoms, and Annabella Sciorra.[6] The limited series is inspired by the 2017 novel Are You Sleeping.
Truth Be Told debuted on Apple TV+ on December 6, 2019. In February 2020, Spellman won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Writing in a Dramatic Series for "Monster", the first episode of the series.[7]
Spellman is also the author of the novels The Dying Ground and The Last King, published by Random House/Ballantine.[5]
| Year | Title | Credited as | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Writer | Producer | |||
| 2007–08 | Women's Murder Club | Yes | No | Wrote: "No Opportunity Necessary" and teleplay: "Never Tell" |
| 2009 | Harper's Island | Yes | No | Episode: "Seep" |
| 2010 | Mercy | Yes | No | Episodes: "I Saw This Pig and I Thought of You" and "There is No Superwoman" |
| 2012 | Justified | Yes | No | Story and teleplay: "When the Guns Come Out", also executive story editor |
| 2012–16 | The Good Wife | Yes | Yes | Wrote 5 episodes Also co-producer, supervising, co-executive, and consulting producer |
| 2019–21 | Truth Be Told | Yes | Executive | Creator, wrote 3 episodes |
| 2021 | Snowfall | No | Yes | Consulting producer |