Stephanie Savage

Last updated
Stephanie Savage
Born1969 (age 5455)
Occupation Producer
Screenwriter
Nationality Canadian
Years active2002–present
Notable works Fastlane
The O.C.
Gossip Girl
Dynasty
Runaways

Stephanie Savage (born 1969) 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. [1]

Contents

Career

Savage graduated from the University of Toronto in 1990 with a B.A. in English and Cinema Studies, then from the University of Iowa in 1993 with an M.A. in Film History and Theory. While writing her PhD dissertation for the University of Iowa she moved to Los Angeles, and in 1995 was offered a position at Drew Barrymore's production company Flower Films. [2] Here she dabbled in scriptwriting, handling production rewrites for Charlie's Angels , and met the film's director McG. The two later formed production company Wonderland Sound and Vision in 2001.

In 2003, Jordan Levin, the head of the WB (now known as The CW), wanted a personal show from McG, who grew up in Orange County, California. Stephanie thought of Newport Beach as a setting that would tie in the personal obligation to McG. [3] “You had the music scene at the time, Gwen Stefanie and Sublime, you had surf and skate culture and beach, but also had like republican values and country clubs and gated communities and McMansions, and how do those two things combine?” She said on the podcast ‘Welcome To The O.C. Bitch’. [4] They both pitched the idea to Josh Schwartz, a budding writer whom Stephanie met while working at Flower Films. Josh was set on the idea of doing a teen soap, Dawson's Creek and 90210 was off the air, the three of them started working on a pitch together and pilot script that led The O.C. into being ordered at Fox. Throughout the first season, Josh saw her as more of a writer than an executive, giving her her first writing credit for the episode ‘The Best Chrismukkah Ever’. From then on she would write and produce several episodes of the long-running series. [4]

In September 2016, Savage was announced as an executive producer for the then-upcoming Dynasty reboot series. [5] [6]

Filmography

Film

TitleYearCredited asNotes
Producer
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle 2003Associate
Endless Love 2011Yes
Fun Size 2012Yes
No Cameras Allowed2014ExecutiveDocumentary

Television

The numbers in directing and writing credits refer to the number of episodes.

TitleYearCredited asNetworkNotes
CreatorDirectorWriterExecutive
Producer
Fastlane 2002–03NoNoNoNo Fox Producer
The O.C. 2003–07NoNoYes (12)YesSupervising producer (Season 1);
Co-executive producer (2005–06: 5 episodes);
Executive producer (2006: 3 episodes)
The Mountain 2004–05NoNoYes (2)Yes The WB
Gossip Girl 2007–12DeveloperNoYes (12)Yes The CW
Valley Girls 2009YesNoYesYes Backdoor pilot: series not picked up;
Proposed spin-off to Gossip Girl
Ghost Angeles2011NoNoNoYes NBC Unaired television pilot
Georgetown2011NoNoNoYes ABC Unaired television pilot
Hart of Dixie [7] [8] 2011–15NoNoNoYesThe CW
The Carrie Diaries 2013–14NoNoNoYes
Cult 2013NoNoNoYes
The Astronaut Wives Club [9] 2015DeveloperNoYes (2)YesABC
Broad Squad2015NoNoYesYesABCUnaired television pilot
Dynasty 2017–22DeveloperNoYes (1)YesThe CW
Runaways 2017–19YesNoYes (3)Yes Hulu
Nancy Drew 2019–2023DeveloperNoYes (1)Yes The CW
Looking for Alaska 2019NoNoYes (2)YesHuluMiniseries
Gossip Girl 2021NoNoNoYes HBO Max
MaverickTBATBATBATBAYesThe CWPre-production

Web

The numbers in writing credits refer to the number of episodes.

TitleYearCredited asNotes
WriterExecutive
Producer
Charlie's Angels: Animated Adventures2003Yes (6)No
Gossip Girl: Chasing Dorota2009NoYes

See also

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References

  1. "Josh Schwartz, Stephanie Savage launch production company, Fake Empire". Entertainment Weekly's EW.com.
  2. "U of T alumnae sisters Stephanie and Erika Savage share insider knowledge of film and music industries". U of T News. University of Toronto. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  3. Sepinwall, Alan (November 28, 2023). Welcome To The O.C.: THe Oral History. HarperCollins. pp. 3–16. ISBN   9780063342798.
  4. 1 2 "Spotify". open.spotify.com. Retrieved 2024-11-07.
  5. Goldberg, Lesley; O'Connell, Michael (September 30, 2016). "Dynasty Reboot in the Works at The CW". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved October 6, 2016.
  6. Andreeva, Nellie (September 30, 2016). "Dynasty Reboot Set At the CW With Josh Schwartz & Stephanie Savage". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved October 2, 2016.
  7. Nellie Andreeva (8 February 2011). "Rachel Bilson To Star In The CW's Hart of Dixie Pilot - TVLine". TVLine.
  8. Tierney Bricker (1 February 2011). "The CW orders four pilots, including new Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage project - Zap2it - News & Features". Zap2it. Archived from the original on 8 March 2011.
  9. Andreeva, Nellie (5 February 2014). "ABC Space Age Drama 'Astronaut Wives Club' Gets 10-Episode Order For Summer". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 2014-02-13.