Creator, writer, director, producer, novelist, and playwright. Deborah M. Pratt got her start in the entertainment industry as a singer, dancer, and songwriter. Her love for music pushed her to compose, record and mix her own tracks. But music was just the first door into entertainment.
Deborah was also an actress. She started her career at a time when there were few quality roles for Black women. Her frustration with these emotionally limiting options pushed her to write. Instinctively, she knew if she didn’t create her own stories, what she understood about herself, Black women and a more inclusive and equitable worldview, she couldn’t participate in the industry change that was desperately needed.
Deborah persisted, writing film, television, and stage scripts that made a difference in people’s lives. This passion opened the door to directing.
Deborah had multiple successes, including creating the iconic TV series QUANTUM LEAP. The show ran for five years and won numerous Emmys, Golden Globe awards, and an impressive list of awards. This show favorite has been reinvented, returning in 2022 for yet another turn to entertain new audiences, and was recently picked up for a second season.
Like its predecessor, QUANTUM LEAP will cover topics like women’s rights, immigration, racism, the LGBTQ+, and trans stories that will ride on an anthology of genres from romance to action-adventure and everything in between. Most important to Deborah, the show is about hope, with humor and history woven in to create meaningful entertainment.
The show’s original episodes aired in 1989 and ran through 1995, but the series never stopped running. Testimony to its quality and longevity. The reboot is set 30 years after the brilliant and talented Dr. Sam Beckett, stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished. He leaped into everyday people – facing mirror images that were not his own, with a mission to put right what once went wrong. His only guide on this journey was Al Calavicci, a hologram from the future. Sam is still out there, leaping from life to life and hoping his next leap would be the leap home. Now 30 years later, with a new cast of characters, Dr. Ben Song steps into the accelerator to save the woman he loves and much more.
Deborah directs the episode, “Family Style,” written by East Indian writer Amrita Mukerji that airs on NBC and Peacock on February 27, 2023.
Deborah’s hope is to once again shine the QUANTUM LEAP light on great stories about many of today’s relevant issues, bringing about the missing conversations we all need to be having, while being entertained. Deborah believes we’re at a point in history that needs the hope a series like QUANTUM LEAP brings to the world. The show’s rebirth marks the beginning of a unique franchise that has always strived to entertain, and help make the world a better place.
Deborah’s accomplishments extend to books as well. She’s created a series of sci-fi/fantasy novels in hopes of inspiring children, penning an empowering collection of four books with THE VISION QUEST – The Atlantian, The Academy, The Odyssey, and Panazia. The books are available on Amazon. And a fifth book is set for release in 2024.
The series is about three friends, set in the not-too-distant future where, after the Great Quakes of 2029, survivors unified. Human genetics were placed into animals, creating a host of alternate species. Their humanity is so new to them, they remember the powers humans have forgotten and begin to teach those humans willing to learn.
They also put their human genetics into machines, creating sentient, “biodroid”robots. These once protectors of humanity, see the history of how cruel and violent humans have been, and determine our species is too dangerous to live.
The challenge of survival begs the question: can humans remember their powers before the biodroid machines build their army?
Deborah will follow that with a new book series called MIRRORS. The first book, MIRRORS: THE DRAGON MIRROR, is an adventure fantasy about two, young African American sisters who fall through a mirror into a parallel world. They must heal the wounds left by their father’s death, working together to survive the dangers they face, and figure out the secret to reunite with their mother waiting on the other side. The book will be available summer 2023.
Prolific is the word to describe Deborah. She’s written yet another book with THE LEGEND OF SOUL. It’s a fantasy tale with Black girl magic set in New Orleans. Janiece needs to discover the inner power she holds inside and find the courage to fight a 200-year-old, evil voodoo Queen to save her father. That book will be released sometime in early 2024.
Deborah is tireless, and plans to continue writing more books, feature films, video games, and stage plays designed to tell stories that empower and inspire people around the world