Lynn Holst
Adjunct Professor

LYNN HOLST (1998- present)  is Sr. Vice President of Development for RHI ENTERTAINMENT (formerly HALLMARK ENTERTAINMENT), working directly with  executive producer and industry leader Robert Halmi Sr. in creative development of  mini-series, long form and television films  for U.S. network and cable, and international television distribution. 

Recent productions include:  TIN MAN (6 hour mini, Sci Fi Channel);  THE LAST TEMPLAR  (mini, NBC);  FLASH GORDON (series, Sci Fi Channel);  HUMAN TRAFFICKING (mini, LIFETIME TV); HOGFATHER, THE COLOUR OF MAGIC (Minis SKY TV, U.K.);  WHITE CRANE CHRONICLES (Spike TV); DINOTOPIA (Mini, ABC);  ARABIAN NIGHTS (Mini, ABC); TEN COMMANDMENTS (mini, ABC); DR. JECKYL AND MR. HYDE (Ion Channel);  HUMAN TRAFFICKING (Lifetime, mini). 

Previously she was Vice President of Creative Affairs for American Playhouse/ Playhouse International Pictures (1987-1996), an award winning  producer of  original American drama for PBS and the independent film market, including:  SAFE ( Todd Haynes), LONG TIME COMPANION ( writer Craig Lucas), THANK YOU AND GOOD NIGHT (Jan Oxenberg); I SHOT ANDY WARHOL ( Mary Harron); THREE POSTCARDS (writer Jon Robbie Baitz); ANDRE’S MOTHER (writer Terrence McNally, Emmy best teleplay); SURVIVING DESIRE  ( Hal Hartley),  ETHAN FROME  (John Madden/ Richard Nelson writer);  SWOON  (Tom Kalin), FOOLS FIRE (Julie Taymor), DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST (Julie Dash).

She independently produced SPARK, a first feature invited to the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, and Berlin International Film Festival; and served as a co-producer or dramaturg on a number of documentaries, including Jennifer Fox’ BILL AND KAREN: AN AMERICAN LOVE STORY, a 10-part PBS series following an inter-racial family during one year of their lives; and Judith Helfand’s A HEALTHY BABY GIRL, selected for the 1997 Documentary Competition at Sundance.  She also served as a creative consultant for PBS documentary series P.O.V.on its premiere video diary series, E.C.U.

She has been a frequent panelist and jurist for various media and literature awards, including The Sundance Film Festival (Best Short Film, Best Latin American Film); The Hamptons Film Festival ( Best Feature Film); the Irish Film and Television Award ( Best Drama); The Galway Film Festival (market consultant); The Mrs. Giles R. Whiting Awards (jurist, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama); the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, I.T.V.S.,  PBS /Native American Consortium, and the MacDowell Colony (literature panel).  She is a member of B.A.F.T.A; the I.F.P; and a member/ former elected board member of New York Women in Film and Television.

She began her career working for renown theater producer Joseph Papp at the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater,  as Literary Manager and dramaturg, (’73-’82), and  produced  a weekly performance-oriented poetry series, Language/Theater.  She was Literary Director of New Dramatists, a distinguished national playwrights’organization, dedicated to the workshop development of members’ plays, and participated in the Sundance Theater Lab.