Elizabeth Meriwether

Last updated
Elizabeth Meriwether
Flickr - Genevieve719 - Elizabeth Meriwether (cropped).jpg
Born
Elizabeth Hughes Meriwether

(1981-10-11) October 11, 1981 (age 43)
Miami, Florida, U.S.
Education Yale University (BA)
Juilliard School (GrDip)
Occupation(s)Playwright, screenwriter, television producer, showrunner
Years active2000–present
Notable work New Girl
No Strings Attached
Children3 [1]

Elizabeth Hughes Meriwether (born October 11, 1981) is an American writer, producer and television showrunner. [2] She is known for creating the Fox sitcom New Girl , and for writing the play Oliver Parker! (2010) and the romantic comedy film No Strings Attached (2011). She also created the ABC sitcoms Single Parents and Bless This Mess and the Hulu drama The Dropout .

Contents

Early life

Meriwether was born on October 11, 1981, in Miami, Florida. Her family moved from Miami to Detroit, Michigan, when she was five years old, and then to Ann Arbor, Michigan, when she was 10. [3] Her father, Heath J. Meriwether, was the publisher of the newspaper Detroit Free Press , and her mother, Patricia Hughes Meriweather[ citation needed ], was a painter. [3]

Meriwether grew up aspiring to be an actress, but when she wrote her first play, she realized she wanted to be a playwright instead. [3] Meriwether graduated from Greenhills High School in Ann Arbor. [4] in 2000.

Education

Meriwether graduated from University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee in 2005. She double-majored in English and theater studies. [3]

Career

Meriwether wrote the plays Heddatron (2006), The Mistakes Madeline Made (2006) and Oliver Parker! (2010).

She held a showcase of her plays in Los Angeles, in which a young Emma Stone was cast. Meriwether has credited the showcase and Stone's participation as an important point in her career trajectory. [5]

Upon moving to Los Angeles, Meriwether developed a play called Sluts. As part of a program to help aspiring playwrights adapt their scripts for television, she turned the idea into a television pilot. [5] The pilot, described as "a raunchy, honest look at the messy dating lives of twentysomething women" was filmed for 20th Century Fox Television, but ultimately not picked up. However, it succeeded in establishing Meriwether as a distinctive comedic voice. [6]

In 2010, she wrote an episode of Adult Swim's Childrens Hospital . [7]

Meriwether wrote the 2011 romantic comedy film No Strings Attached , directed by Ivan Reitman and starring Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher. [8] The film's working title was Fuckbuddies. [6]

After her success with No Strings Attached, 20th Century Fox Television approached Meriwether about developing another television series. [8] Meriwether pitched an idea about an "offbeat girl moving in with three single guys", [9] inspired by her experience of "bouncing from Craigslist sublet to Craigslist sublet, for four years in L.A." when she was in her twenties. [10]

The show, New Girl , was greenlit in 2011 with an initial order of 13 episodes and Zooey Deschanel in the title role. It aired 146 episodes over seven seasons. It was well received by critics and nominated for a number of awards, including five Golden Globe Awards and five Primetime Emmy Awards.

In 2013, she signed a multi-year overall deal with 20th Century Fox Television, to develop additional projects for the studio. [8] Her deal was renewed in 2019. [11]

Meriwether received put pilot commitment from ABC for the show Woman Up. She worked on the project with Zoe Lister-Jones, and Jason Winer. [12]

The Fempire

Meriwether is part of "The Fempire", a group of female screenwriters that includes Dana Fox, Diablo Cody and Lorene Scafaria. [13] In 2012, the Fempire received the Athena Film Festival Award for Creativity and Sisterhood at Barnard College in New York City. [14]

Meriwether is also a well-known feminist, who has done stand-up comedy, and performed for The Vagina Monologues in Las Vegas.[ citation needed ]

Filmography

Film

YearTitleNotes
2011 No Strings Attached Writer and Co-producer

Television

YearTitleCredited asNetwork
CreatorWriterExecutive
Producer		Director
2011–2018 New Girl YesYesYesYes Fox
2018–2020 Single Parents YesYesYesNo ABC
2019–2020 Bless This Mess YesYesYesNo
2019Woman UpNoYesYesNo ABC
2022 The Dropout YesYesYesNo Hulu
TBA Dying for Sex NoYesYesNo FX

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zooey Deschanel</span> American actress and musician (born 1980)

Zooey Claire Deschanel is an American actress and musician. She made her film debut in Mumford (1999) and had a supporting role in Cameron Crowe's film Almost Famous (2000). Deschanel is known for her deadpan roles in comedy films such as The Good Girl (2002), The New Guy (2002), Elf (2003), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), Failure to Launch (2006), Yes Man (2008), 500 Days of Summer (2009), and Our Idiot Brother (2011). She has also ventured into dramatic film territory with Manic (2001), All the Real Girls (2003), Winter Passing (2005), Bridge to Terabithia (2007), The Happening (2008), and The Driftless Area (2015). From 2011 to 2018, she starred as Jess Day on the Fox sitcom New Girl, for which she received nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and three Golden Globe Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emily Deschanel</span> American actress (born 1976)

Emily Erin Deschanel is an American actress. She played Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan in the Fox crime procedural series Bones (2005–2017).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Megan Fox</span> American actress (born 1986)

Megan Denise Fox is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the family film Holiday in the Sun (2001), which was followed by numerous supporting roles in film and television, such as the teen musical comedy Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004), as well as a starring role in the ABC sitcom Hope & Faith (2004–2006). Her breakout role was as Mikaela Banes in the blockbuster action film Transformers (2007), which she reprised in its sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hannah Simone</span> Canadian television host, actress and fashion model

Hannah Simone is a Canadian actress, television host, and former VJ and fashion model. She portrayed Cece Parikh on the Fox sitcom New Girl.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Damon Wayans Jr.</span> American actor and comedian (born 1982)

Damon Kyle Wayans Jr. is an American actor and comedian. He starred as Brad Williams in the ABC sitcom Happy Endings, for which he was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 2012, and as Coach in the Fox sitcom New Girl. In 2014, he starred in the comedy film Let's Be Cops, and provided the voice of Wasabi in Big Hero 6.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diablo Cody</span> American writer and producer

Brook Maurio, known professionally by the pen name Diablo Cody, is an American writer and producer. She gained recognition for her candid blog and subsequent memoir, Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper (2005). Cody received critical acclaim for her screenwriting debut film, Juno (2007), winning both the Academy Award and the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">She & Him</span> American musical duo

She & Him is an American musical duo consisting of Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward. It was formed in 2006 in Portland, Oregon. Their first album, Volume One, was released on the independent label Merge Records on March 18, 2008. They are commonly associated with the twee, indie-folk resurgence of the mid-2000s, which music critic and professor Eric Harvey described in Stereogum as "childlike, whimsical, earnest, acoustic Starbucks-friendly music like Feist, the Decemberists, Regina Spektor, and Jose Gonzalez."

<i>500 Days of Summer</i> 2009 film directed by Marc Webb

(500) Days of Summer is a 2009 American comedy-drama film directed by Marc Webb, written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, and produced by Mark Waters. The film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel as Tom and Summer respectively, and in a nonlinear narrative structure, Tom chronicles the story of his relationship with Summer.

Dana Fox is an American screenwriter. She is best known as the writer of the films The Wedding Date (2005), What Happens in Vegas (2008) and Wicked, and the television comedy series Ben and Kate (2012–13).

<i>New Girl</i> American television sitcom

New Girl is an American television sitcom created by Elizabeth Meriwether and produced by 20th Century Fox Television for Fox that aired from September 20, 2011, to May 15, 2018. The series revolves around quirky teacher, Jessica Day, after she moves into a Los Angeles loft with three men, Nick Miller, Schmidt, and Winston Bishop. Former roommate Coach and Jess's best friend Cece Parekh later join the characters. The show combines comedy and drama elements as the characters, who are in their late 20s and early 30s, deal with relationship issues and career choices. New Girl is a joint production between Elizabeth Meriwether Pictures and 20th Century Fox Television and is syndicated by 20th Television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jake Johnson</span> American actor (born 1978)

Mark Jake Johnson Weinberger, known professionally as Jake Johnson, is an American actor. He has starred as Nick Miller in the Fox sitcom New Girl (2011–2018), for which he was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series in 2013. He has also voiced a version of Spider-Man in the animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) and its 2023 sequel.

Pilot (<i>New Girl</i>) 1st episode of the 1st season of New Girl

"Pilot" is the pilot episode and the first episode of the first season of the American sitcom New Girl. The episode was written by series creator Elizabeth Meriwether and directed by Jake Kasdan. The episode first aired on Fox in the United States on September 20, 2011, to positive reviews.

<i>New Girl</i> season 1 Season of television series

The first season of the American television sitcom New Girl premiered on Fox on September 20, 2011, and concluded on May 8, 2012, consisting of 24 episodes. Developed by Elizabeth Meriwether under the working title Chicks & Dicks, the series revolves around offbeat teacher Jess after she moves into a Los Angeles loft with three single men, Nick, Schmidt, and Winston. Jess's best friend Cece also appears regularly. The show combines comedy and drama elements as the characters, who are around 30 years old, deal with relationships and career choices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jessica Day (New Girl)</span> Fictional character

Jessica Christopher "Jess" Day is a fictional title character in the FOX sitcom New Girl, where she becomes the sole female roommate in an apartment loft in Los Angeles. She is portrayed by Zooey Deschanel.

<i>New Girl</i> season 5 Season of television series

The fifth season of the American television sitcom New Girl premiered on January 5, 2016, on Fox in its new timeslot of 8:00 pm (Eastern). The show briefly aired back-to-back on April 19 before airing the final six episodes, beginning April 26, at 8:00 and 9:00 pm respectively.

"Prince" is the fourteenth episode of the third season of the American sitcom New Girl, and the sixty-third overall. It was written by David Feeney and Rob Rosell, and directed by Fred Goss. It was broadcast on February 2, 2014, on Fox in the United States. In the episode, best friends Jess Day and Cece Parikh are invited to a party held at Prince's house. When Jess's boyfriend Nick Miller tells her he loves her, she gives him an unexpected response, which results in Nick and his roommates crashing Prince's party, so Nick can talk to Jess. At the party, Prince gives Jess advice that helps her tell Nick she loves him too.

<i>New Girl</i> season 6 Season of television series

The sixth season of the American television sitcom New Girl premiered on Fox on September 20, 2016, at 8:30 pm (Eastern), and concluded on April 4, 2017. During the series, it moved to 8:00 pm (Eastern) in early 2017.

<i>New Girl</i> season 7 Season of television series

The seventh and final season of the American television sitcom New Girl premiered on Fox on April 10, 2018, at 9:30 pm ET, and concluded on May 15, 2018. The final season consists of 8 episodes.

References

  1. ↑ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  2. ↑ Bello, Grace (January 10, 2013). "When Women Run the Show". Archived from the original on January 16, 2013. Retrieved January 29, 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Hinds, Julie (January 16, 2011). "Former Detroiter aimed to craft a modern look at young love". Detroit Free Press . p. 54.
  4. ↑ "Liz Meriwether '00 Debuts New Comedy "New Girl"". 20 September 2011. Archived from the original on 7 March 2022. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  5. 1 2 "New Girl creator Liz Meriwether: I owe my career to Emma Stone". EW.com. Archived from the original on 2018-01-11. Retrieved 2018-01-11.
  6. 1 2 "Not That Kind of Girl". New Republic. Archived from the original on 2013-11-11. Retrieved 2018-01-11.
  7. ↑ "A Guide to Your Favorite Showrunners' First ShowsCarter Bays and Craig Thomas, Late Show with David Letterman". Complex. Archived from the original on 2018-01-11. Retrieved 2018-01-11.
  8. 1 2 3 Littleton, Cynthia (2013-07-16). "'New Girl' Creator Liz Meriwether in Overall Deal with 20th TV (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2018-01-11.
  9. ↑ "New Girl's Elizabeth Meriwether". archive.is. 2013-09-10. Archived from the original on 2013-09-10. Retrieved 2018-01-11.
  10. ↑ "Zooey Deschanel and Liz Meriwether NEW GIRL Interview". Collider. 2012-01-15. Archived from the original on 2013-10-05. Retrieved 2018-01-11.
  11. ↑ Thorne, Will (2019-04-30). "Liz Meriwether Inks New 20th Century Fox TV Deal". Variety. Archived from the original on 2021-02-25. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  12. ↑ Andreeva, Nellie (2018-10-08). "ABC Nabs 'Woman Up' Comedy From Zoe Lister-Jones, Liz Meriwether & Jason Winer As Put Pilot". Deadline. Archived from the original on 2022-09-27. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
  13. ↑ Branch, Kate (May 17, 2010). "Liz Meriwether: Beginning and End of the Fempire". Interview . Archived from the original on 2010-05-26. Retrieved 2011-01-20.
  14. ↑ The Athena Film Festival: http://athenafilmfestival.com/
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.