Eric Monte

Last updated
Eric Monte
Born
Kenneth Williams [1]

(1943-12-25) December 25, 1943 (age 79) [1]
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Alma mater Cooley Vocational High School
(attended)
Occupation Screenwriter
Years active1970–2001
Known forWriter – Good Times , What's Happening!! , The Jeffersons , Cooley High

Eric Monte (born Kenneth Williams; December 25, 1943) [1] is an American screenwriter and TV series creator. He is known for his work in depicting 1970s African-American culture. Monte wrote and created several sitcoms for television such as Good Times (with actor and screenwriter Mike Evans), The Jeffersons as a writer, What's Happening!! as well as the spin-off series, What's Happening Now!! . The series was based on the coming of age film Cooley High , which Monte wrote and which was based on his high school experiences. [2] [3]

Contents

Early life

Born Kenneth Williams, he was the middle of three children to Ilene in Chicago, Illinois. Monte was raised in the Cabrini–Green housing project on the near-north side. During his junior year, Monte dropped out of Cooley Vocational High School and enlisted in the United States Army. [4] Soon after his stint in the army, Monte hitchhiked on Route 66 eventually landing in Hollywood after stops in Arizona and Las Vegas.

Career

His first big break came five years later, with a script written for and accepted by All in the Family , which eventually contributed to the spawning of The Jeffersons . From there, he produced two 1970s sitcoms: Good Times (which he co-created with The Jeffersons star Mike Evans) and What's Happening!! (which was based on his screenplay for the motion picture Cooley High (1975). [5] (Cooley High also inspired the CBS television show The White Shadow (November 27, 1978 to March 16, 1981), starring Ken Howard. [6] )

According to the Los Angeles Times, in 1977 he filed a lawsuit accusing CBS, Tandem Productions, producers Norman Lear and Jerry Perenchio, and others of stealing his ideas for Good Times,The Jeffersons (an All in the Family spinoff), and What's Happening!! [7] Eventually, he says, he received a $1-million settlement and a small percentage of the residuals from Good Times, but opportunities to pitch new scripts dried up after the lawsuit. [8] Since Good Times ended, the only scripts he's written that have been produced by Hollywood are single episodes of The Wayans Bros. and of Moesha , the latter of which Monte has called "the absolute worst script I've ever written". [9] He took part of the settlement money to finance the production of a play he had written, titled If They Come Back. The play was a commercial failure, and significantly contributed to Monte's financial ruin. [10]

Personal life

After falling on hard times, by 2003, his drinking had worsened, and he had developed an addiction to crack cocaine. He later declared bankruptcy, and by 2006, he was living in a Salvation Army homeless shelter in Bell, California. He appeared to maintain sobriety there as the shelter required regular drug tests, and he pursued attempts to sell television and film scripts as well as a self-published book called Blueprint for Peace. Later in 2006, Monte moved back to Chicago.

Monte now lives in Portland, Oregon. [11] [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norman Lear</span> American television writer and producer (1922–2023)

Norman Milton Lear was an American screenwriter and producer who produced, wrote, created or developed over 100 shows. Lear created and produced numerous popular 1970s sitcoms, including All in the Family (1971–1979), Maude (1972–1978), Sanford and Son (1972–1977), One Day at a Time (1975–1984), The Jeffersons (1975–1985), and Good Times (1974–1979). His shows introduced political and social themes to the sitcom.

<i>Whats Happening!!</i> American sitcom (1976–1979)

What's Happening!! is an American sitcom television series that first aired on ABC from August 5, 1976, premiering as a summer series. It returned as a weekly series from November 1976 until its April 1979 conclusion. What's Happening!! was loosely based on the Eric Monte-penned film Cooley High. From 1985 until 1988, a sequel series titled What's Happening Now!! aired in first-run syndication, with most of the major cast members reprising their roles.

<i>Good Times</i> American sitcom (1974–1979)

Good Times is an American television sitcom that aired for six seasons on CBS, from February 8, 1974, to August 1, 1979. Created by Eric Monte and Mike Evans and developed by executive producer Norman Lear, it was television's first African American two-parent family sitcom. Good Times is a spin-off of Maude, which itself is a spin-off of All in the Family.

<i>The Jeffersons</i> American sitcom (1975–1985)

The Jeffersons is an American sitcom television series that was broadcast on CBS from January 18, 1975, to July 2, 1985, lasting 11 seasons and a total of 253 episodes. The Jeffersons is one of the longest-running sitcoms in history, the second-longest-running series with a primarily African American cast by episode count behind Tyler Perry's House of Payne and the first to prominently feature a married interracial couple.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Screenwriting</span> Art and craft of writing screenplays

Screenwriting or scriptwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is often a freelance profession.

Alan David "Bud" Yorkin was an American film and television producer, director, screenwriter, and actor.

<i>Cooley High</i> 1975 film by Michael Schultz

Cooley High is a 1975 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film that follows the narrative of high school seniors and best friends, Leroy "Preach" Jackson and Richard "Cochise" Morris. Written by Eric Monte and directed by Michael Schultz, the film, primarily shot in Chicago, was a major hit at the box office, grossing over $13 million (USD). The light-hearted-turned-tragic storyline was complemented by a soundtrack featuring many Motown hits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Ridley</span> American writer and director

John Ridley IV is an American screenwriter, television director, novelist, and showrunner, known for 12 Years a Slave, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He is also the creator and showrunner of the anthology series American Crime. In 2017 he directed the documentary film Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982–1992.

Tandem Productions, Inc. was a film and television production company that was founded in 1958 by television director Bud Yorkin and television writer/producer Norman Lear.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Asher</span> American film and television producer, director, and screenwriter

William Milton Asher was an American television and film producer, film director, and screenwriter. He was one of the most prolific early television directors, producing or directing over two dozen series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darryl Hickman</span> American actor

Darryl Gerard Hickman is an American former actor, screenwriter, television executive, and acting coach. He started his career as a child actor in the Golden Age of Hollywood and appeared in numerous TV serials as an adult, including several episodes of the CBS series The Nanny. He appeared in films such as The Grapes of Wrath (1940) and Leave Her to Heaven (1945).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shawn Ryan</span> American writer and television producer

Shawn Ryan is an American screenwriter and television producer. He has created and/or produced a number of television series including The Shield (2002–2008), The Unit (2006–2009), Lie to Me (2009–11), Timeless (2016–2018), S.W.A.T. (2017–present) and The Night Agent (2023–present).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shirley Hemphill</span> American actress and comedian (1947–1999)

Shirley Ann Hemphill was an American stand-up comedian and actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theodore Wilson</span> American actor (1943–1991)

Theodore Rosevelt "Teddy" Wilson was an American stage, film, and television actor. He is best known for his recurring roles as Earl the Postman on the ABC sitcom That's My Mama, and Sweet Daddy Williams on the CBS sitcom Good Times and Phil Wheeler on Sanford Arms (1977). Throughout his television and film career, Wilson was credited interchangeably with either Theodore (36) or Teddy (50) as his given name.

Michael Ross was an American screenwriter and television producer. Ross, together with writing partners Don Nicholl and Bernard West, were writers/producers for All in the Family, The Jeffersons, The Dumplings, and Three's Company. Ross and West continued as executive producers of Three's Company after the death of partner Nicholl in 1980, also producing the spin-off shows The Ropers and Three's a Crowd.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernie West</span> American screenwriter

Bernie West was an American television writer and actor best known for his work in situation comedies such as All in the Family, its spinoff The Jeffersons, and Three's Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brent Miller (producer)</span> American television and film producer

Brent Miller is an American television and film producer best known for the Netflix series One Day at a Time and the documentary feature. He serves as President of Production for Act III Productions.

<i>Live in Front of a Studio Audience</i> Live performances of classic sitcom episodes

Live in Front of a Studio Audience is a series of live television specials that was first broadcast by ABC on May 22, 2019. Conceptualized and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, the specials feature all-star casting for live recreations of sitcom episodes that originally aired in the 1970s and 1980s.

Cord Jefferson is an American writer, director, journalist, and essayist. After studying at College of William & Mary he started a career in journalism where he wrote for numerous publications before becoming an editor at the website Gawker until 2016.

Alan Burton Goldstone was an American composer, conductor, consultant, producer, production manager and screenwriter.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Bartlett's Familiar Black Quotations: 5,000 Years of Literature, Lyrics ...
  2. ↑ "Eric Monte". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-08-29.
  3. ↑ Black Enterprise - June 1978
  4. ↑ Eric Monte: The Writer Who Fought to Change the Stereotypes of African American in Film!!!, CNN iReport, via Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ Dunn, Katia (July 29, 2006). "For Classic TV Producer, Good Times No Longer". NPR.
  6. ↑ Closs, Wyatt (February 27, 2014). "Erykah Badu Reveals All About Her 'Lo Down Loretta Brown' Persona". Huffington Post.
  7. ↑ Hollywood Reporter - Norman Lear Memoir
  8. ↑ Mitchell, John L. (April 14, 2006). "Plotting His Next Big Break". Los Angeles Times.
  9. ↑ "Entertainment: Television". Blackvoices.com.
  10. ↑ "Q&A: The Legendary Eric Monte". Soul Train. 2014-01-15. Retrieved 2016-09-04.
  11. ↑ Mitchell, John L. (December 19, 2006). "Turning page on a life story". Los Angeles Times.
  12. ↑ Dunn, Katia (July 29, 2006). "For Classic TV Producer, Good Times No Longer". NPR.
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.