Alan B. McElroy is an American writer, film director and producer.

McElroy was born in Cleveland, Ohio and attended Hawken School in Gates Mills, Ohio. He planned on becoming a novelist while majoring in psychology at Boston University.

Shortly after graduation and marriage he taught himself to write his first screenplay from an article in Writer's Digest magazine. McElroy then moved to Los Angeles with his wife, Kymm, and one script in hand, and was picked as one of thirty individuals to join the Columbia Pictures Writing Program.