Zander Lehmann | |
---|---|
Born | Alexander Sutton Lehmann July 13, 1987 Santa Monica, California, United States |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Washington University in St. Louis |
Occupation | TV writer |
Years active | 2015–present |
Known for | Casual |
Parent |
|
Alexander "Zander" Sutton Lehmann (born July 13, 1987) [1] is the creator, writer, and producer of the TV show Casual. [2] [3]
Lehmann was born into a Jewish family [4] in Santa Monica, California, [5] the son of director Michael Lehmann and Holland Sutton. [6] [7] [8] He has a younger sister. [7]
Lehmann's family relocated to the Bay Area and in 2005, he graduated from Marin Country Day School. [6] [9] In 2009, Lehmann graduated from Washington University in St. Louis, where he was on a baseball scholarship, with a psychology degree. [6] [3] It was in college where Lehmann first took an interest in screenwriting, taking a class on the subject with the sole purpose of keeping his health insurance. [6]
Lehmann got his start working in the mail room at ICM and then as a development assistant for four years. [6] [7] When he was 25 years old, Lehmann sold a pilot called Game Show to HBO. It was unproduced, although attached to director David Fincher, but led to further work in the industry. [3]
In 2015, Lehmann's script The Beautiful Game was selected as one of the 10 best unproduced scripts, listed on The Hollywood Reporter's Black List. [10] He sold the film to Focus Features, with Morgan Neville attached to direct. [5]
In 2015, Lehmann was named as one of Variety's 10 TV Writers to Watch. [11]
Lehmann got his start as a staff writer on the 2016 MTV show The Shannara Chronicles. [6] [2]
He sold a script to Lionsgate Television, which became the Jason Reitman-produced Hulu series Casual. [2] Casual was Hulu's second original series. [12] The show is co-produced with Helen Estabrook, Liz Tigelaar, and Jason Reitman – who directed the pilot as well as other episodes. [6] [13] It stars Michaela Watkins and Tommy Dewey as sister and brother, and Tara Lynne Barr as Watkins's daughter. [14]
Lehmann said that Casual was inspired by his relationship with his sister, with whom he lived with for three years during their parents' divorce, and who started dating his best friend. [15] [7] [16] [17]
The series is unique in the industry as, in addition to executives and writers who are women, the majority of the episodes are directed by women. Directors include Lake Bell, Carrie Brownstein, Marielle Heller, Karyn Kusama, Gillian Robespierre, and Lynn Shelton. [13] [18] The show was positively received. [19] [20] [21] [22] Casual was nominated for a 2016 Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy. [15]
Miles Millar is an Australian-British screenwriter, showrunner, producer, co-creator and director. He is best known for co-creating and producing the long-running television programs like the hit series Smallville and Netflix's Addams Family-based 2022 spin-off series Wednesday. Alongside his writing or producing partner Alfred Gough, Millar also co-created programs, such as Into the Badlands and The Shannara Chronicles. He also co-wrote films such as Shanghai Noon and Spider-Man 2. The duo worked since they met at USC School of Cinematic Arts.
Alfred Gough is an American screenwriter, producer and showrunner.
Eric Guggenheim is an American screenwriter. He graduated from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts in 1995. Two years later he sold a script, Trim, to Fox 2000 at age 23. Following that, he wrote an unproduced drama for Warner Bros. and a one-hour drama pilot for USA Network. In 2004, Guggenheim wrote the feature film Miracle. Guggenheim is currently a writer, executive producer and co-showrunner of the CBS series Hawaii Five-0 and Magnum P.I., he was announced as the showrunner after co-creator Peter Lenkov was fired by CBS. Before that he spent four seasons as a writer on the NBC series Parenthood. His brothers are screenwriters Marc Guggenheim and David Guggenheim. His family is Jewish.
Gregory Martin Daniels is an American screenwriter, television producer, and director. He has worked on several television series, including writing for Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons, adapting The Office for the United States, and co-creating Parks and Recreation and King of the Hill. Daniels attended Harvard University, where he befriended and began collaborating with Conan O'Brien. His first writing credit was for Not Necessarily the News, before he was laid off because of budget cuts.
Julie Marie Berman is an American actress. She is known for her role as Lulu Spencer on the ABC Daytime soap opera General Hospital, for which she received three Daytime Emmy Awards, and for her role on the Golden Globe nominated Hulu comedy series Casual as Leia, Valerie's receptionist.
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.
Tara Lynne Barr is an American actress. She is best known for portraying Roxy in the dark comedy film God Bless America (2011), which earned her a Young Artist Award nomination for Best Leading Young Actress in a Feature Film, and Laura Meyers in the Hulu comedy-drama series Casual.
Michaela Watkins is an American actress and comedian. After several years performing with the Los Angeles comedy troupe The Groundlings, Watkins achieved widespread attention for her brief stint as a featured player on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live during its 34th season between 2008 and 2009. Since leaving SNL, she has starred on the Hulu series Casual and on the short-lived sitcoms The Unicorn and Trophy Wife. Watkins has also had recurring roles on other television series, such as The New Adventures of Old Christine, Catastrophe, Enlightened and Search Party and appeared in films such as The Back-up Plan (2010), Wanderlust (2012), Enough Said (2013) and Sword of Trust (2019).
Amy B. Harris, sometimes credited as Amy Harris, is an American screenwriter and producer. She is best known for producing the HBO series Sex and the City (1998–2004) and developing its prequel series The Carrie Diaries (2013–14), which aired on The CW.
Marvel Television was an American television production company responsible for live-action and animated television shows and direct-to-DVD series based on characters from Marvel Comics. The division was based at affiliate ABC Studios' location. Marvel Television also collaborated with 20th Century Fox in producing shows based on the X-Men franchise such as Legion and The Gifted. The division was transferred to Marvel Studios from Marvel Entertainment in October 2019 and was folded into the former two months later. Marvel Television is currently used as a label.
Thomas R. Dewey is an American actor, producer, and writer. He co-starred in the Hulu original series Casual.
Lauren Emily Iungerich is a writer, director and showrunner known for Awkward.
Casual is an American television comedy drama television series that premiered on October 7, 2015, on Hulu. Created by Zander Lehmann and directed by Jason Reitman, it centers on Valerie, a newly divorced single mother living with her brother Alex and her daughter Laura. The cast also includes Frances Conroy and Nyasha Hatendi.
Dan Lagana is an American television writer and producer. He is best known for creating the TV series Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous on MTV and for serving as showrunner on the Netflix series American Vandal. He has won a Peabody Award.
Mike McMahan is an American comedy writer and television producer. He is the creator of the animated comedies Solar Opposites and Star Trek: Lower Decks.
Reboot is an American comedy television series created by Steven Levitan. It premiered on September 20, 2022, on Hulu. The series follows the dysfunctional cast of a fictional early 2000s hit sitcom, Step Right Up, who must face their unresolved issues and navigate a vastly different media and entertainment environment when a young writer successfully pitches a reboot of their show. The series stars Keegan-Michael Key and Johnny Knoxville.
Onyx Collective is a content brand owned and operated by Disney Entertainment, which primarily consists of projects from creators of color and other underrepresented groups. The brand was first launched on May 17, 2021, with several projects under development for Hulu, Disney+, and Star+.