As a writer and producer, Ellen took a circuitous path to both after a long-acting career which included Broadway, network TV series, and the lead in a highly forgettable avant-garde Mexican horror film. She spent nine memorable years as a producer at NBC Dateline as well as having produced numerous documentary films for A&E and MSNBC. Her feature doc ALL DRESSED UP AND NO PLACE TO GO chronicled the lives of four heterosexual crossdressers. Featured at the Montreal Film Festival and the International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam, the film aired on HBO/Cinemax and television worldwide. A dramatic television series WATCHING YOU is in development with Sony Television.

Grounded in narrative fiction, she has written screenplays and television projects for among others Universal, HBO, CBS, and Island Films, the latter a project fondly remembered for the time needed to do research in Jamaica. Her journalism has appeared in such publications as Rolling Stone, Child, Family Circle and Elle.