Josh Schwartz | |
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Born | Joshua Ian Schwartz August 6, 1976 Providence, Rhode Island, U.S. |
Occupation | Writer, producer |
Notable works | The O.C. , Gossip Girl , Chuck, Runaways |
Spouse | Jill Stonerock (m. 2008) |
Children | 2 |
Joshua Ian Schwartz (born August 6, 1976) is an American screenwriter and television producer. He is best known for creating and executive producing the Fox teen drama series The O.C. which ran for 4 seasons. Schwartz is also known for developing The CW's series Gossip Girl based on the book of the same name and for co-creating NBC's action-comedy-spy series, Chuck .
At 26, he became one of the youngest people in network history to create a series and run its day-to-day production when he ran The O.C. [1] [2] [3]
Schwartz was born to a Jewish family in 1976 in Providence, Rhode Island, the son of Steve and Honey Schwartz. His parents were both toy inventors at Hasbro, working on the development of toys such as Transformers and My Little Pony, until they went on to start their own company. [4] [5] [6] Schwartz grew up on the east side of Providence, Rhode Island with a younger brother, Danny, and a younger sister, Katie. [7] [8] Schwartz always had ambitions of being a writer since early childhood. [9]
When Schwartz was seven years old, he won an essay-writing contest at Summer camp for a review of the recently released movie Gremlins ; the opening line was "Spielberg has done it again" and stood out amongst the other submissions. [10] By age twelve, he had a subscription to the entertainment industry newspaper Variety . [11]
He attended Providence's private Wheeler School, a coeducational independent day school, for 11 years, graduating with the class of 1994. [7] [12]
In 1995, Schwartz attended film school to study screen and television writing at the University of Southern California (USC). He became a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, as well as president of the chapter, and got to see what it's like "behind the gated communities and big mansions" of Southern California which would later provide fodder for his pilot The O.C. [13] [14] [15]
While at USC, Schwartz tried out stand-up comedy at a talent show in front of five hundred people but was "disabused of [the] notion very quickly." [16] In his sophomore year he wrote an autobiographical screenplay about his senior year in high school called Providence as a homework assignment for school. He entered his screenplay into a contest for the prestigious Nicholson Award in Screenwriting, the highest honor awarded to undergraduates, and won. Unfortunately, the prize was quickly revoked; to be eligible he had to be in his junior year at the time. Schwartz says "I dropped it in a box – I was a sophomore. And I got a call over the summer saying I'd won, and I'd won five thousand dollars. I was like, 'This is awesome!' Then they called back, like, the next day and said you had to be a junior to enter and not a sophomore, so they were rescinding it. I was pretty pissed." [17] Nevertheless, with help from connections through his fraternity, he generated interest in Hollywood to buy his screenplay. [18] In 1997, Sony's TriStar Pictures bought his first screenplay in a bidding war for a deal guaranteeing $550,000 and worth up to $1 million while he was still a junior in college. It was never made. [19]
Schwartz got an agent and subsequently wrote a TV pilot called Brookfield for ABC/Disney while he was still studying at USC. It was a boarding school drama about wealthy kids in New England and was his first TV pilot script; it sold only a few months after he had sold his first feature film script. [10] Brookfield was produced starring Amy Smart and Eric Balfour but never aired. Schwartz then dropped out of USC to work full-time [4] [18] and wrote another pilot called Wall to Wall Records, a drama about working in a music store for Warner Bros. TV that was also produced but never aired. [20]
His writing influences include Cameron Crowe [10] and Woody Allen. [16]
In 2003, Schwartz wrote a pilot called The O.C. for Warner Bros. TV and Wonderland Sound and Vision which was produced with him as creator and executive producer. At 26 he was the youngest ever creator of a TV show, which did not sit well with Fox executives who sent a series of seasoned pros armed with conventional ideas about how to steer the show and a bitterness about sharing control with someone so young. That changed when Bob DeLaurentis signed on, a TV veteran who proved to be a nurturing presence on the show. [10] Schwartz and Bob DeLaurentis collaborated on supervising and approving the editors' work on each episode in post-production. [21]
The O.C. became an instant teen favorite when it debuted on the Fox Network in August 2003. The show popularized its setting, Orange County, and led to copycats like MTV's reality show Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County and the Bravo documentary series The Real Housewives of Orange County . [22] The show became well known for its music, chosen by Schwartz according to his own musical tastes and designed to reflect who the characters were, bringing the general public an awareness of indie rock bands like Death Cab for Cutie, Bloc Party and Rooney. [23] He has said that he partially based The O.C. character Seth Cohen on his own Jewish upbringing. [24] [25] Schwartz was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for the pilot [26] as well as a People's Choice Award. The O.C. was named "Guilty Pleasure of the Year" by VH1. In 2007, after 4 seasons The O.C. was canceled due to a significant ratings drop. [27]
Schwartz has stayed in touch with his alma maters: The Wheeler School and USC. In 2005, he endowed USC with its first television writing scholarship: The Josh Schwartz Scholarship. The scholarship is intended to be awarded annually to a student or students concentrating on writing for television and in need of financial assistance, who have completed a TV pilot script and first season synopsis. [28] Although Schwartz never graduated from USC he has since worked with many USC alumni. [13] In 2005 he gave a commencement speech to The Wheeler School. [7]
Schwartz has worked on his share of stalled projects. In 2004, he worked as a script doctor on the J. J. Abrams Superman screenplay that Warner Bros. eventually tossed. [29] [30] He sold a pilot to Fox called Alphabet City, a drama about a New York tabloid but it was never produced. [31] He also worked on a drama for Fox called Athens described as an "OC" companion but it was never produced. [32] [33]
In 2005, Paramount signed Schwartz to adapt and direct John Green's young adult novel Looking for Alaska with producer Mark Waters. [34]
It was revealed in late August 2006 that Schwartz would develop and executive produce a drama pilot for The CW, based on the popular book series Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar. [35] Similar to The O.C., Gossip Girl is a satirical approach of teenagers in a wealthy upbringing. Gossip Girl became a popular show for The CW.
In 2007, Schwartz signed a three-year, seven-figure overall deal with Warner Bros. TV to write and exec produce with Chris Fedak an hourlong high-concept action comedy called Chuck for NBC about twenty-something spies and was described in press releases as "in the vein of Grosse Pointe Blank ". The plot revolves around a normal guy who downloads the entire CIA and NSA databases into his head. [36]
In May 2008, Schwartz joined Zak Penn's X-Men: First Class project. [37] Schwartz announced that he will write the script for X-Men: First Class, a prequel to the X-Men movies that focuses on the adventures of teen Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Professor X, Beast, Iceman, and Angel. [38] However, his script was later jettisoned. [39]
In Spring 2009, Schwartz launched "Rockville CA", a web-series on TheWB.com that follows young 20-somethings at a fictional rock club in Los Angeles. [40] There are twenty indie band performances in the episodes, including Lykke Li, The Kooks and Kaiser Chiefs. [41]
It was also announced that Schwartz would write and direct Bright Lights, Big City for MGM, based on the iconic debut novel by Jay McInerney. Stephanie Savage was also announced as producer.
In February 2011, The CW ordered a pilot of his new project titled Hart of Dixie . [42] The show is co-produced with longtime creative partner Stephanie Savage and stars former "O.C." castmember and personal friend of Schwartz, Rachel Bilson. [43] The show was picked up in May 2011 and premiered in fall 2011. At the same time, Schwartz has also been working on a Georgetown pilot for ABC [44] However, ABC did not pick the series for its 2011 - 2012 schedule.
In September 2011, it was announced by The CW that Schwartz and Stephanie Savage had been selected to develop the television adaption of Candace Bushnell's The Carrie Diaries , a prequel to the original Sex and the City television series. [45] The series, set in the 1980s, will follow character Carrie Bradshaw during her years in high school.
In January 2012, it was announced The CW had ordered a pilot for new drama titled Cult , result of collaboration with Stephanie Savage and Len Goldstein. [46] This is Schwartz and Savage's fourth series on the network.
He also developed several adaptations of popular properties, such as Runaways for Marvel, a reboot of Dynasty and Nancy Drew for CW.
On September 20, 2008, Schwartz married Jill Stonerock in Santa Barbara, California. The couple were introduced by actress Rachel Bilson, who portrayed Summer Roberts on Schwartz's show The O.C.. Bilson was the maid of honor at the couple's wedding and is godmother of their two daughters. [47]
On December 28, 2021, Schwartz filed for divorce due to "irreconcilable differences". [47]
Year | Title | Credited as | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1997 | Providence | Writer | Unproduced film, developed for TriStar Pictures |
2004 | Superman: Flyby | Script doctor | Unproduced film, developed for Warner Bros.; Directed by McG |
2012 | Fun Size | Director and producer | Produced by Fake Empire and Nickelodeon Movies |
Year | Title | Network | Credited as | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
2000 | Brookfield | ABC | Creator, writer and producer | Unaired television pilot; Produced by ABC/Disney |
2001 | Wall to Wall Records | The WB | Creator, writer and producer | Unaired television pilot; Produced by Warner Bros. Television |
2003–2007 | The O.C. | Fox | Creator, writer, executive producer and showrunner | Nominated – 2004 WGA Award for Episodic Drama (for "Premiere") |
2004 | Alphabet City | Fox | Creator, writer and producer | Unproduced television pilot; Sold to and developed for Fox |
2004 | Athens | Fox | Creator, writer and producer | Unproduced television pilot; Sold to and developed for Fox |
2007–2012 | Chuck | NBC | Co-creator, writer, executive producer and co-showrunner | |
2007–2012 | Gossip Girl | The CW | Co-developer, writer, executive producer and co-showrunner | Based on the Gossip Girl series of books by Cecily von Ziegesar |
2009 | Valley Girls | The CW | Co-creator, writer and executive producer | Backdoor pilot: series not picked up; Proposed spin-off to Gossip Girl |
2011 | Ghost Angeles [48] | NBC | Co-creator, writer and executive producer | Series not picked up [49] |
2011 | Georgetown [50] | ABC | Co-creator, writer and executive producer | Series not picked up |
2011–2015 | Hart of Dixie [49] [51] | The CW | Executive producer | |
2013–2014 | The Carrie Diaries | The CW | Executive producer | Based on the novel The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell; Prequel series to HBO's Sex and the City |
2013 | Cult | The CW | Executive producer | |
2015 | The Astronaut Wives Club | ABC | Executive producer | Based on Lily Koppel's novel [52] |
2017–2022 | Dynasty | The CW | Co-developer, writer and executive producer | Reboot of the 1980s series of the same name |
2017–2019 | Runaways | Hulu | Co-creator for television, writer, executive producer and co-showrunner | Based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name Set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) |
2019–2023 | Nancy Drew | The CW | Co-developer, writer and executive producer | Based on the Nancy Drew book series by Carolyn Keene |
2019 | Looking for Alaska | Hulu | Creator for television, writer, executive producer, director and showrunner | Miniseries Based on the novel of the same name by John Green |
2021–2023 | Gossip Girl | HBO Max | Executive producer | Sequel series to The CW's Gossip Girl Based on the Gossip Girl series of books by Cecily von Ziegesar |
2022 | Tom Swift | The CW | Executive Producer | Based on the Tom Swift series of books and also a spinoff series from Nancy Drew |
2023 | City on Fire | Apple TV+ | Co-creator, writer and executive producer | Based on City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg |
Year | Title | Site | Credited as |
---|---|---|---|
2009 | Rockville, CA | TheWB.com | Series creator, writer and executive producer |
2009 | Gossip Girl: Chasing Dorota | The CW | Executive producer |
The O.C. is an American teen drama television series created by Josh Schwartz that originally aired on Fox in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 22, 2007, with a total of four seasons consisting of 92 episodes. The series title, "O.C.", is an initialism of Orange County, the location in Southern California in which the series is set.
Gossip Girl is an American young adult novel series written by Cecily von Ziegesar and published by Little, Brown and Company, a subsidiary of the Hachette Group. The series revolves around the lives and romances of the privileged socialite teenagers at the Constance Billard School for Girls, an elite private school in New York City's Upper East Side. The books primarily focus on best friends Blair Waldorf and Serena van der Woodsen, whose experiences are among those chronicled by the eponymous gossip blogger. The novel series is based on the author's experiences at Nightingale-Bamford School and on what she heard from friends.
"Premiere" is the series premiere of the American teen drama television series The O.C., which premiered on Fox on August 5, 2003. Written by series creator Josh Schwartz and directed by executive producer Doug Liman, the episode depicts the introduction of troubled teenager Ryan Atwood into the wealthy lifestyle of the Cohen family in Newport Beach, Orange County, California.
Stephanie Savage is a screenwriter and television producer from Calgary, Canada. Savage is best known for developing The CW's teen drama series Gossip Girl (2007) from the novel series, and being an executive producer of the Fox series The O.C.. In 2010 Savage and creative partner Josh Schwartz created Fake Empire, a production company producing their TV series, films and music.
"Pilot" is the pilot episode of the American teen drama television series Gossip Girl. The episode was written by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage and directed by Mark Piznarski. It premiered on September 19, 2007, on The CW in the United States.
Alexandra Patsavas is a Grammy and Emmy nominated American music supervisor, producer, & executive who has worked on over 100 films and television series, most notably The Twilight Saga, The O.C., Grey's Anatomy, Gossip Girl, Mad Men, Bridgerton, and CODA.
Norman L. Buckley is an American television director best known for his work on The O.C., Chuck, Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars and The Fosters.
The third season of The O.C. commenced airing in the United States on September 8, 2005, concluded on May 18, 2006, and consisted of 25 episodes. The first ten episodes of season three aired Thursdays at 8:00 p.m. ET in the United States on Fox; however, from January 12, 2006, onwards, The O.C. was shifted to a later time of Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. ET.
The fourth and final season of The O.C., an American teen drama television series, aired in the United States from November 2, 2006, to February 22, 2007, and consisted of 16 episodes. The O.C's final season aired Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. ET in the United States on Fox, a terrestrial television network. Fox tested a new timeslot by airing the second episode on Wednesday at 9:00 p.m. ET against ABC's Lost and CBS's Criminal Minds. With Lost about to enter a three-month hiatus, Fox hoped that changing the timeslot for The O.C. would attract back viewers it had lost since the end of the previous season; however, the move was unsuccessful and the show returned to its Thursday timeslot.
Gossip Girl is an American teen drama television series created by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage and based on the series of novels of the same name by Cecily von Ziegesar. It follows a group of students in Manhattan's Upper East Side whose private and social lives are chronicled by the unidentified blogger "Gossip Girl". The series was broadcast on The CW from September 19, 2007, to December 17, 2012, spanning six seasons and 121 episodes.
Leila Gerstein is an American television producer and screenwriter.
Rachel Sarah Bilson is an American actress. Born to a Californian show-business family, Bilson made her television debut in 2003, and then landed the role of Summer Roberts on the prime-time drama series The O.C. Bilson then made her film debut in The Last Kiss (2006) and later starred in the science-fiction-action film Jumper (2008). From 2011 to 2015, she starred as Dr. Zoe Hart on The CW series Hart of Dixie.
"Valley Girls" is the twenty-fourth episode of the second season of The CW television series Gossip Girl. The episode served as a backdoor pilot for a potential Gossip Girl spin-off series set in the 1980s, entitled Valley Girls. The episode was directed by Mark Piznarski and written by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage. It was filmed on location in New York City, New York and in Los Angeles, California. References to elements of 1980s popular culture were heavily accentuated in the episode, which the producers hoped would bridge the generation gap between the characters and audience. "Valley Girls" aired on the CW in the United States on May 11, 2009 and was viewed live by an audience of 2.31 million Americans. Although the episode received generally positive reviews, the spin-off series was not picked up.
The first season of the American teen drama television series Gossip Girl premiered on The CW on September 19, 2007, and concluded on May 19, 2008, consisting of 18 episodes. Based on the novel series of the same name by Cecily von Ziegesar, the series was developed for television by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage. It tells the story of Serena van der Woodsen's return to Manhattan's Upper East Side in New York City following her mysterious disappearance to boarding school in Connecticut, while being watched by the anonymous and omniscient blogger Gossip Girl.
Hart of Dixie is an American comedy-drama television series that aired on The CW from September 26, 2011, to March 27, 2015. The series, created by Leila Gerstein, stars Rachel Bilson as Dr. Zoe Hart, a New Yorker who, after her dreams of becoming a heart surgeon fall apart, accepts an offer to work as a general practitioner in the fictional Gulf Coast town of Bluebell, Alabama.
The fifth season of the American teen drama television series Gossip Girl premiered on The CW on September 26, 2011, and concluded on May 14, 2012, consisting of 24 episodes. Based on the novel series of the same name by Cecily von Ziegesar, the series was developed for television by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage. The CW officially renewed the series for a fifth season on April 26, 2011.
Fake Empire is the production company that was formed in 2010 by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage to develop and produce television series and feature films. Their most notable productions include the series Gossip Girl, Chuck, Hart of Dixie, The Carrie Diaries, Dynasty, Marvel's Runaways, and The CW shows Nancy Drew and Tom Swift. The company was formed to focus on television projects and produce films, with the intent of branching out into online series, music and books. Schwartz formerly operated under the banner of College Hill Pictures, Inc., which folded in the making of Fake Empire. In 2010, the company developed a first look deal with Paramount. In 2013, Fake Empire was moved from Warners to ABC, which was followed by a deal with Universal in 2014.
The first season of Hart of Dixie an American television series, originally aired in the United States on The CW from September 26, 2011, through May 14, 2012. The season was produced by CBS Television Studios. The pilot, which was announced in February 2011, it was ordered to series in May 2011. On October 12, 2011, The CW picked up Hart of Dixie for a full season which will consist of 22 episodes. On May 11, 2012, The CW renewed the show for a second season.
"Gone Maybe Gone" is the first episode of the sixth and final season of the American teen drama television series Gossip Girl, and the 112th episode overall. Written by series developers Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage and directed by Mark Piznarski, the episode originally aired on The CW on October 8, 2012.
Joshua Safran is an American television screenwriter and executive producer.