Edward James Scott (born September 15, 1944) is an American soap opera producer. Born and raised in Santa Monica, California, Scott earned a Bachelor of Arts from California State University at Northridge with a double major of anthropology and broadcasting journalism. He has been married since 1985 to actress Melody Thomas Scott, who is recognized for her role as Nikki Newman on The Young and the Restless. The couple have three daughters: Jennifer, Alexandra, and Elizabeth. They renewed their wedding vows on their 20th wedding anniversary in an Entertainment Tonight special, ranked #1 in its timeslot.[citation needed]
Career
Scott is a five-time Emmy Award-winning executive producer and is partnered with producer/writer Brendan Burns in the film and television production company Scott/Burns.[1] Scott received a nomination for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series[2] as executive producer of the NBC daytime drama Days of Our Lives in 2009.[3]
Formerly executive producer of the #1-ranked CBS television daytime drama, The Young and the Restless for over 25 years, Scott helmed the daytime drama through a[when?] record-breaking, 20 year plus, 1,000 week plus reign as the #1 American daytime television drama (according to Nielsen). Under the Scott regime, CBS television also secured the #1 dominance in the day part, a record it held for more than two decades (according to Nielsen).
Scott had a 25-year producing partnership and creative collaboration with William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell (the co-creators of The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful), the two most popular daily American television series worldwide. Both daytime dramas are syndicated internationally to a combined total of over 125 markets worldwide, with a combined daily viewing audience in excess of 100 million viewers on six continents.
During Scott's tenure as executive producer of The Young and the Restless, the series received five Daytime Emmy Awards[4] for Outstanding Drama Series, accumulating more Emmy nominations in that category and in all other categories than any other drama series in the history of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. In 2000 alone, the series received 28 Emmy Award nominations, a record for both American primetime and daytime television, an accomplishment acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records. Scott received a total of 5 Emmy Awards (2007, 1993, 1986, 1985, 1983) and 14 Emmy nominations for Outstanding Daytime Drama for The Young and the Restless.
Under Scott's leadership, the show also received a People's Choice Awards, TV Guide Reader's Poll, and more NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Daytime Drama than any other American television series, primetime or daytime. On October 9, 2024, it was announced he would return to The Young and the Restless as a senior producer.[5]
Upcoming Projects
Scott is in a producing partnership with producer/screenwriter Brendan Burns on the following film and television projects:
Covert:[6] My Years Infiltrating the Mob by NBA referee Bob Delaney; partnered with Larry Spiegal and Judy Goldstein, producers.;
Cast No Shadows,[7] by Mary S. Lovell. The spellbinding true story of Betty Pack, American debutante-turned-spy who, with seductive ingenuity became a legendary super spy. Betty Pack literally changed the course of WWII.
Freshwater Road,[8] as the award-winning novel by Denise Nicholas about a young woman’s coming-of-age during the Freedom Summer of 1964, hailed by the Washington Post as “The best work of fiction on the Civil Rights Movements since The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.” partnered with Denise Nicholas and Frank Tobin.
Hidden Valor: The Women of the SOE,[9] an event WW II miniseries, from a story and treatment by Burns, based upon the exploits of Nancy Wake, the most decorated woman in World War II and five other extraordinary women. These women were trained in weapons, explosives, sabotage and silent killing, all possessing, as their commander put it, “essential guts.”
Flawless (2007): a provocative contemporary noir thriller in the tradition of Body Heat and Unfaithful. Screenplay by Burns.
