Meghan McCarthy

Last updated
Meghan McCarthy
NationalityAmerican
Occupations
  • Writer
  • producer
  • lyricist
Years active2004–present

Meghan McCarthy is an American screenwriter, lyricist, film and television producer, and creative executive best known as the showrunner of the animated television show My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic . She is also known for her work on Class of 3000 and Fish Hooks . [1] Since June 2015, she has been the Head of Storytelling for the entire My Little Pony and Littlest Pet Shop brands, helping to "create expansive worlds and characters". [1]

Contents

McCarthy was a part of the original Friendship Is Magic crew, and was promoted as showrunner and story editor during season 2 after the departure of series creator and previous showrunner Lauren Faust. Overall, she was directly involved in the writing of 35 episodes, and wrote the lyrics of 25 songs featured in the show; she also wrote the screenplays and lyrics of the spin-off films My Little Pony: Equestria Girls and My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks , and My Little Pony: The Movie .

Career

In October 2010, she was invited by Lauren Faust, the co-creator and producer for Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends , to help write on Hasbro's television revival of its My Little Pony franchise. McCarthy, on a writing hiatus at the time, was inspired to accept by Faust's dedication and the strong female characterization she had presented. [2] In 2011, Faust left the show after the two-part season two premiere, and McCarthy was promoted to co-executive producer for its third season onward; she also served as the show's story editor. [3] In early June 2015, Hasbro promoted McCarthy to become the company's new "Head of Storytelling" for their brands, My Little Pony and Littlest Pet Shop; her role will be to help "create expansive worlds and characters" across these brands, according to Hasbro's executive vice president Stephen Davis. [1]

In addition, McCarthy has written and helped produce the spin-off films, My Little Pony: Equestria Girls and its sequel. She was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for "Outstanding Original Song - Children's and Animation" for her lyrics in the Friendship Is Magic episode "Sweet and Elite". [4]

On November 3, 2017, Hasbro Studios and Paramount extended their relationship with an exclusive five year production deal for Allspark Pictures and Allspark Animation for original and toy based films. Both Allspark units are newly formed (Allspark Pictures formerly was a financing label) with the film unit head by Greg Mooradian and the animation unit head by Meghan McCarthy. Paramount and Hasbro would also work together on TV series. [5] Following Hasbro’s purchase of Entertainment One in 2019, though, Allspark would later close down and be absorbed into the newly-acquired production company.

Filmography

Television

YearTitleWriterCo-executive
producer
LyricistNotes
2004–2006 Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends YesNoNo
2006-07 Class of 3000 YesNoNoAlso staff writer and story editor
Wrote 5 episodes
2010–2019 My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic YesYesYesWriter from 2010-2016
Showrunner from 2012 to 2016
Story editor from 2012 to 2015
Co-executive producer from 2013 to 2015, 2018–2019
Wrote 35 episodes, 25 songs
2011–2013 Fish Hooks StoryNoNo27 episodes
2017–2019 My Little Pony: Equestria Girls NoYesNo
2018–2019 Littlest Pet Shop: A World of Our Own NoYesNo
2018 My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Forgotten Friendship NoYesNo
My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rollercoaster of Friendship NoYesNo
My Little Pony: Best Gift Ever NoYesNo
2019–2021 Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy NoYesNo
2019 My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Spring Breakdown NoYesNo
My Little Pony: Rainbow Roadtrip NoYesNo
My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Sunset's Backstage Pass NoYesNo
2021 Centaurworld YesNoNoStory editor [6]

Friendship is Magic detailed writing credits

YearSeasonEpisode
20101"Dragonshy"
2011"Call of the Cutie"
"Green Isn't Your Color"
"Party of One"
2"Lesson Zero"
"Sweet and Elite"
2012"Hearts and Hooves Day"
"A Canterlot Wedding" (Part 1)
"A Canterlot Wedding" (Part 2)
3"The Crystal Empire" (Part 1)
"The Crystal Empire" (Part 2)
20134"Princess Twilight Sparkle" (Part 1)
"Princess Twilight Sparkle" (Part 2)
"Power Ponies"
2014"Three's a Crowd"
"Inspiration Manifestation"
"Twilight's Kingdom" (Part 1)
'Twilight's Kingdom" (Part 2)
20155"The Cutie Map" (Part 1)
"The Cutie Map" (Part 2)
"Rarity Investigates!"
20166"Flutter Brutter"
"28 Pranks Later"
"The Fault in Our Cutie Marks"
"Where the Apple Lies"
"Top Bolt"

Film

YearTitleWriterExecutive
producer
LyricistNotes
2013 My Little Pony: Equestria Girls YesCo-executive producerYesWrote 3 songs
2014 My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks YesCo-executive producerYesWrote 8 songs
2016 My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Legend of Everfree NoCo-executive producerNo
2017 My Little Pony: The Movie YesYesYesWrote the song "Open Up Your Eyes"
2021 My Little Pony: A New Generation NoYesNo

My Little Pony lyric credits

YearSongEpisode/film
2010"Hop Skip and Jump""Dragonshy"
2011"Cupcake Song""Call of the Cutie"
"Pinkie Pie's Singing Telegram""Party of One"
"Becoming Popular (The Pony Everypony Should Know)""Sweet and Elite"
2012"The Perfect Stallion""Hearts and Hooves Day"
"B.B.B.F.F.""A Canterlot Wedding"
"B.B.B.F.F. (Reprise)"
"This Day Aria"
"This Day Aria (Reprise)"
"Love Is in Bloom"
"The Failure Song""The Crystal Empire"
"The Ballad of the Crystal Empire"
"The Success Song"
2013"Equestria Girls" Equestria Girls
"Time to Come Together"
"This Is Our Big Night"
2014"You'll Play Your Part""Twilight's Kingdom"
"Let the Rainbow Remind You"
"Better Than Ever" Rainbow Rocks
"Battle"
"Bad Counter Spell"
"Under Our Spell"
"Tricks Up My Sleeve"
"Awesome as I Wanna Be"
"Welcome to the Show"
2017"Open Up Your Eyes" My Little Pony: The Movie

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<i>My Little Pony</i> Entertainment franchise developed by Hasbro

My Little Pony (MLP) is a toy line and media franchise developed by American toy company Hasbro. The first toys were developed by Bonnie Zacherle, Charles Muenchinger, and Steve D'Aguanno, and were produced in 1981. The ponies feature colorful bodies, manes and a unique symbol on one or both sides of their flanks. Such symbols are referred to in the three most recent incarnations as "cutie marks". My Little Pony has been revamped several times with new and more modern looks to continue its appeal to the market, with each new look called a "generation" by the show's collectors and fans. The franchise is mainly targeted at young girls, although in the 2010s, it gained a cult following by an unintended audience of adult, mostly male fans.

<i>My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic</i> Animated television series

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is an animated children's television series based on the fourth incarnation of Hasbro's My Little Pony franchise. The series follows a studious unicorn pony named Twilight Sparkle and her friends, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash (Ball), Pinkie Pie (Libman), and her dragon assistant Spike. They travel on adventures and help others around Equestria, solving problems with their friendships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allspark (company)</span> American production and distribution company

Allspark, formerly known as Hasbro Studios, LLC, was an American production and distribution company located in Burbank, California. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of the American toy and multimedia company Hasbro. Originally just a TV production division, many of its TV shows were based on Hasbro properties and were broadcast on multiple media platforms, including Discovery Family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Equestria Daily</span> Fandom news site for the My Little Pony franchise

Equestria Daily is a fan site dedicated to news and fan work coverage of the animated television series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, and other generations, such as G5. The site is run with a blog-style interface by a dedicated team of several editors, and has been officially recognized by the show's production team as well as The Hub, the American children's television network on which the show airs.

<i>My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic</i> fandom Fan following surrounding the My Little Pony animated series

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is an animated television series produced by Hasbro as part of the My Little Pony toy franchise, which is tied in with the 2010 relaunch of dolls and play sets and original programming for the American children's cable channel Discovery Family. Lauren Faust was selected as the creative developer and executive producer for the show based on her previous animation experience with other animated shows such as Cartoon Network's The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. Under Hasbro's guidance, Faust developed the show to appeal to the target demographic of young girls, but created characters and settings that challenged formerly stereotypical norms of "girly" images and added adventure and humorous elements in order to keep parents interested.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Crystal Empire</span> 1st and 2nd episodes of the 3rd season of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

"The Crystal Empire" is the collective name for the first and second episodes of the third season of the animated television series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic as well as the fifty-third and fifty-fourth episodes of the series overall. Both parts of the episode were first broadcast on The Hub on November 10, 2012. It was written by Meghan McCarthy, and directed by series director James Wootton.

<i>My Little Pony: Equestria Girls</i> Entertainment franchise developed by Hasbro based on My Little Pony

My Little Pony: Equestria Girls, simply known as Equestria Girls or EQG, is a product line of fashion dolls and a media franchise launched in 2013 by the American toy company Hasbro as a spin-off of the 2010 relaunch of the My Little Pony line of pony toys and its Friendship Is Magic television series. Equestria Girls features anthropomorphized versions of My Little Pony characters from that period; as with My Little Pony, which features a colorful body and mane, Equestria Girls characters sport non-human skin and hair colors, while incorporating their pony counterpart's cutie marks in their clothing. The franchise includes various doll lines, media tie-ins, and licensed merchandise.

<i>My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic</i> (season 3) Season of television series

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<i>My Little Pony: Equestria Girls</i> (film) 2013 animated movie

My Little Pony: Equestria Girls, known simply as Equestria Girls or EQG, is a 2013 flash animated fantasy musical movie which is the first installment of Hasbro's toy line and media franchise of the same name, which is itself an anthropomorphized spin-off of the 2010 relaunch of the My Little Pony franchise. The movie was directed by Jayson Thiessen and written by Meghan McCarthy and was produced by DHX Media's 2D animation studio in Vancouver, Canada for Hasbro Studios in the United States. It premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 15, 2013, followed by limited release in the United States and Canada on June 16, 2013, with a home media release on August 6, 2013. It also commemorates the thirtieth anniversary of the launch of the original My Little Pony toy line.

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<i>My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks</i> 2014 animated movie

My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks, known simply as Rainbow Rocks, is a 2014 flash animated fantasy musical movie based on Hasbro's Equestria Girls toy line and media franchise, which is a spin-off of the 2010 relaunch of My Little Pony. The movie was directed by Jayson Thiessen and Ishi Rudell and written by Meghan McCarthy and was produced by DHX Media's 2D animation studio in Vancouver, Canada for Hasbro Studios in the United States, as a sequel to the original Equestria Girls movie (2013). The movie premiered in select theaters across the United States and Canada on September 27, 2014, which was followed by broadcast on Discovery Family, a joint venture between Discovery, Inc. and Hasbro, on October 17, 2014, and then a home media release on October 28, 2014.

<i>My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Friendship Games</i> 2015 animated movie

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<i>My Little Pony: The Movie</i> (2017 film) 2017 animated feature film directed by Jayson Thiessen

My Little Pony: The Movie is a 2017 animated musical fantasy film based on the animated television series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, which itself is part of the fourth incarnation of Hasbro's My Little Pony toyline and franchise. The film was directed by Jayson Thiessen, written by Meghan McCarthy, Michael Vogel, Joe Ballarini, and Rita Hsiao, and produced by Stephen Davis, Brian Goldner, Marcia Gwendolyn Jones, and Haven Alexander. The plot follows the alicorn Twilight Sparkle, her five pony friends – collectively known as the "Mane 6" – and her dragon friend/assistant Spike embarking on a quest to save their home of Equestria from an evil conqueror while gaining new friends along the way while testing their friendship and their patience. The film stars the show's regular voice cast of Tara Strong, Ashleigh Ball, Andrea Libman, Tabitha St. Germain, Cathy Weseluck, and Nicole Oliver reprising their roles and the guest voices of Emily Blunt, Kristin Chenoweth, Liev Schreiber, Michael Peña, Sia, Taye Diggs, Uzo Aduba and Zoe Saldaña as new characters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">My Little Pony (2010 toyline)</span> Fourth incarnation of My Little Pony toyline and media franchise

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Equestria</span> Fictional principality populated with talking ponies

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twilight Sparkle</span> Fictional character from My Little Pony

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<i>My Little Pony: A New Generation</i> 2021 animated film

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Ristau, Reece (June 4, 2015). "Hasbro Ups 'My Little Pony' Writer Meghan McCarthy to Head of Storytelling". Variety . Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  2. Snider, Brandon T. (2013). My Little Pony: The Elements of Harmony: Friendship is Magic: The Official Guidebook. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. ISBN   978-0-316-24754-2.
  3. "Fourth Season of MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC to Premiere 11/23 on The Hub". Broadway World. October 23, 2013. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  4. "The 39th Annual Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Award Winners" (PDF). New York: emmyonline.org and National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. June 14, 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 3, 2015. Retrieved June 20, 2013.
  5. Lang, Brent (November 3, 2017). "Paramount, Hasbro Sign Five-Year Distribution, Production Pact". Variety. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
  6. Porter, Rick (September 3, 2019). "Animated Kids' Series 'Centaurworld' a Go at Netflix". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved September 4, 2019.