A Passion for Writing & Inspirational Content Creation
Maryann writes themes of ALOHA …penning award-winning novels and writing and producing critically-acclaimed projects for film & television. She also works as a print and television food & lifestyle journalist, recipe developer/chef, and PR and Marketing Specialist. As president of Ridini Entertainment Corporation, an award-winning Public Relations, Marketing, and Multimedia Content Creation Production Company, she is committed to creating, writing, producing, and promoting content that entertains, inspires, educates, and uplifts.
Maryann started working as an actress and apprentice in such Equity and Non-Equity Summer Theatres as Hampton Playhouse and New London Barn Players on the East Coast at the tender age of fourteen. Later, studying film and television in college, she landed a job as a casting director and assistant producer at a top NY ad agency before heading West scoring a gig as a writer/producer for Cable News Network. During this time, she also began a lifelong career as a newspaper/magazine writer. She was offered a job as a studio executive working for Paramount and then as a SVP at Stephen J. Cannell Productions before founding her own company, Ridini Entertainment Corporation, a TV/Film and PR/Marketing company handling such clients as NBC/Universal, the United States Olympic Committee (athletes & the GAMES), and producing and writing projects for network television as well as the foreign theatrical market. She is also an award-winning novelist.
Television and Movie Screenwriter & Producer
A member of the Writers Guild West and Producers Guild of America, Maryann is celebrated for co-producing/writing the award-winning movie, “The Lost Valentine,” starring Betty White and Jennifer Love Hewitt. The film, a critically-acclaimed, ratings hit from Hallmark Hall of Fame (in Association with Ridini Entertainment Corporation and based on the novel of the same name by James Michael Pratt), premiered Sunday, January 30, 2011, on CBS-TV (9:00 pm ET/PT) to over 15 million viewers. It held its position for five years as being CBS-TV’s highest-rated movie, and at the time of its premiere, it was Hallmark’s highest-rated movie in four years. It has since become one of Hallmark’s most beloved films and is now a part of their Gold Crown Collector’s Edition. The movie also airs regularly on The Hallmark Channel. Read more about “The Lost Valentine.”
Maryann’s has written and produced television and film projects for Cable News Network (“People Now,” “The Mike Douglas Show”), USA Networks (“Alive & Well”), SyFy Channel (MOWs), Showtime Networks (“Roger Corman Presents” movie series), Hallmark, CBS, PBS, and The Movie Channel (MOWs).
Novelist
Kate Grace Novels
Maryann’s first novel, “Lady in the Window” (SelectBooks, 2017, Santa Rosa Press, 2019), WINNER of the 2018 American Fiction Award (Visionary Category) and the 2017 Best Book Award (Fiction: Romance Category), is available in hardcover, paperback or eBook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other outlets. Her sequel novel, “The Paradise Table,” became an Amazon Best Seller (December 2019). “Secrets of Grace Manor,” the third book in the Kate Grace Novel series, became a finalist (Fiction: Inspirational Category) at the 2021 Best Book Awards. The fourth book in the series, “Under the Tropical Skies,” also became an Amazon Best Seller (December 2022) and placed #1 in Women’s Christian Fiction on Amazon Kindle (December 2022), and in 2023 was a Book Excellence Award Finalist in Christian Fiction. Kate Grace’s novels can be read in sequence or not. Each book reads as a stand-alone book.
Lavender Hill Cove Novels
“Lavender Hill Cove” is the receipient of the 2024 Book Excellence Award in Christian Fiction. In November, 2023 the novel became an Amazon Bestseller (#4 in Mystery Romance and #8 in Amateur Sleuth Mysteries).
Visit Maryann’s Author Page at Amazon.com.
TV Host, Cookbook Author, Food & Lifestyle Journalist with a Sustainable Mind-Set
Growing up on the East Coast in a large, close-knit Italian-Irish family, Maryann developed a love for cooking and entertaining at an early age. This passion for preparing healthy dishes and memorable dining experiences for family and friends led her to start developing recipes, and eventually, to write and produce TV cooking segments for entertainment and lifestyle series on Cable News Network and USA Network and work as a print food and lifestyle writer.
In 2010, Maryann created the concept for a show she also produces and hosts, “Simply Delicious Living with Maryann®.” The award-winning healthy living cooking series (and cookbook) is seen on PBS Television (KVCR-TV in Southern California, DirectTV, Dish Network, and YouTube). From 2010-2018, a print and video column also ran in the online edition of the Ventura County Star (part of the Gannett /USA Today Network, Search: Simply Delicious or Maryann Ridini Spencer at VCStar.com).
Maryann also created, produced, wrote, and reported the award-winning environmental news program “Sustainable Ventura News” (broadcast 2011-2018 on local television in Ventura and Online on the news and lifestyle pages at Ventura County Star). Maryann currently reports, writes, produces for the global environmental news series, and print column “Sustainability Now News.”
Working as a freelance journalist throughout her career, Maryann contributes to a variety of national and regional newspapers and magazines. Her primary beats cover Writing (screenwriting, novels, cookbooks, TV/Print Journalism), Food/Epicurean, Sustainable Living, Healthy Lifestyles and Joyous Living, Home and Family, PR and Marketing, Business and Women’s Interest. A credit sample includes Ventura County Star (Video Reporter and Print Columnist), Palm Springs Life Magazine (Food Editor/Writer), Los Angeles Magazine, Desert Magazine, Totally Local VC, Soap Opera Digest, Hi-Def, Women in Film Publications, and many others including her award-winning healthy living blog Simply Delicious Living at MaryannRidiniSpencer.com
Through her work on “Simply Delicious Living,” Maryann works as a consultant, recipe developer, and food stylist. Clients have included Jarlsberg USA, Woolwich Dairy, Garlic Gold, Beanitos, Spice-Topia, and many others.
Public Speaking & Lectures
Book Maryann for public speaking engagements on various topics — Food/Epicurean, Sustainable Living, Health and Wellness, Writing, TV and Film Production, PR and Marketing, and Women’s Issues. Find out more about Maryann’s professional experience here.
Maryann lives between Southern California and Hawaii.
Find out more about Maryann’s work at Ridini Entertainment Corporation.
