Dete Meserve

Dete Meserve is an American film and television producer and author. Meserve is a partner of Wind Dancer Films and is producing animation TV and film projects through her company, Silver Creek Falls Entertainment.

Producing career

Meserve's list of credits span award-winning television series such as Home Improvement^[1] and Saint George with George Lopez (Executive Producer) as well as movies What Women Want,^[2] the comedy Bernie (Producer), The Keeping Room, and Where the Heart Is.^[3] In addition, she was an executive producer on What Men Want. Meserve raised the funding for and executive produced 64 episodes of the animated children's television series Ready Jet Go!, which received the Common Sense Media Selection seal,^[4] and airs on PBS in the US and in 120 countries around the world. She has also overseen development and production of Ready Jet Go! games, merchandise, and apps including Space Explorer^[5] and Space Scouts.^[6] Meserve was the Executive Producer for the TV specials One Small Step^[7] (for the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing) and Ready Jet Go!: Back to Bortron 7.^[8]

Meserve produces animation TV projects through her company, Silver Creek Falls Entertainment, where she is producer on the film Ready Jet Go!: Space Camp for Universal Studios, released in July 2023.^[9] She is currently the Executive Producer and Showrunner of the series Weather Hunters (40 half-hour episodes) in collaboration with Al Roker, which will air on PBS Kids on July 7, 2025.^[10][11]

Writing career

Meserve is the author of the best-selling and multi-award-winning novel Good Sam, about the search for an anonymous Good Samaritan leaving $100,000 on Los Angeles doorsteps.^[12] The novel was adapted for a Netflix original film, which received the Dove Foundation seal in 2019,^[13][14] and stars Tiya Sircar as Kate Bradley.^[15][16] Kirkus Reviews called Good Sam, "a solid, feel-good romance sparked with mystery."^[17] Accolades for Good Sam include the National Indie Excellence Award, the Independent Author Network Outstanding Romance Novel Award, the Gold Medal (Fiction) from the Florida Authors and Publishers Association President's Book Awards, and the Readers' Favorite Gold Medal Award (Women's Fiction).^[18] Good Sam's sequels Perfectly Good Crime (2016) and The Good Stranger (2020) each won the Living Now Book Awards for "books that change the world."^[19] Her third novel, The Space Between, was published by Lake Union Publishing in July 2018 and was a Once Upon A Book Club August Selection.^[20] Her non-fiction book Random Acts of Kindness was a collaboration with journalist Rachel Greco. Random Acts of Kindness places a spotlight on ordinary people from ages 9 to 100 who have found varying ways to make a difference in the world. The film adaption of Random Acts of Kindness is in development with Meserve writing the screenplay. ^[21][22]

Meserve's fifth novel, The Memory Collectors, will be published on May 20, 2025.^[23]

Inspired by Meserve's novel Good Sam, Rotary International has awarded the Good Sam Award since 2021, given each year for "bold and inspiring leadership in advancing human kindness, understanding, and compassion." Meserve was the inaugural recipient;^[24] subsequent honorees include Jack McBrayer^[25] and LeVar Burton.^[26]

Memberships

Meserve is a member of the organizations Producers Guild of America,^[27] the Writers Guild of America, the Television Academy, and the Writers Guild of Canada.^[28][29]

Speaking engagements

Meserve's speaking engagements include events with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media,^[30] the Romance Writers of America,^[31] the Palm Springs Writers Guild,^[32] the Southern California Writers Association,^[33] the Bentonville Film Festival, Innovate Beverly Hills, City Club of Los Angeles, Women in Entertainment, and Kidscreen.^[34] She is an instructor for Rosemont College's Creative Writing MFA program.^[35]

With Ready, Jet, Go!, Meserve will be the host of the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse in Dallas, Texas, alongside Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Amy Mainzer, in partnership with NOAA, NASA, and NSF.^[36][37]

Personal life

Originally a native of Chicago, Illinois, Meserve lives in Los Angeles with her husband and three children.^[38]

Bibliography

Fiction

• Good Sam (Kate Bradley Mystery #1, 2014)
• Perfectly Good Crime (Kate Bradley Mystery #2, 2016)
• The Space Between (2018)
• The Good Stranger (Kate Bradley Mystery #3, 2020)
• The Memory Collectors (2025)

Non-Fiction

• Random Acts of Kindness (with Rachel Greco, 2019)

Filmography

Films

• Where the Heart Is (2000) - Producer ^{[citation needed]}
• What Women Want (2000) - Producer ^{[citation needed]}
• Walker Payne (2006) - Producer
• Bernie (2011) - Producer
• As Cool As I Am (2013) - Producer
• The Keeping Room (2014) - Producer
• What Men Want (2019) - Executive Producer
• Good Sam (2019) - Producer, Writer, Author

Television

• Home Improvement (1991-1999) - Producer ^{[citation needed]}
• Wildest Africa (2006) - Executive Producer
• Saint George (2014) - Executive Producer
• Ready Jet Go! (2016) - Executive Producer^[39]
• Ready Jet Go!: Back to Bortron 7 (2017) - Executive Producer
• Ready Jet Go!: One Small Step (2019) - Executive Producer
• Ready Jet Go!: Space Camp (2023) - Producer
• Weather Hunters (2025) - Showrunner, Executive Producer ^[40][41]