Bill Lawrence (TV producer)

William Van Duzer Lawrence IV (born December 26, 1968) is an American screenwriter, producer, and director. He is the creator of the series Scrubs, co-creator of Cougar Town and co-creator of Spin City. He was also co-creator of the short-lived animated series Clone High, in which he voiced the leader of the shadowy figures, and is the co-creator of Ground Floor, which ran on TBS. He has written for many other shows including, The Nanny and Boy Meets World.

Bill Lawrence
Lawrence at SXSW 2015
Born
William Van Duzer Lawrence IV[1]

(1968-12-26) December 26, 1968
Ridgefield, Connecticut, U.S.[1]
Alma materCollege of William and Mary
Occupation
  • Screenwriter
  • producer
  • director
Years active1993–present
Spouse(s)Megyn Price (divorced)
(
m. 1999)
Children3, including Charlotte Lawrence

The name of Lawrence's production company, Doozer, is wordplay on his middle name.

Career
Bill Lawrence receiving the Peabody Award in 2007

Lawrence is a graduate of the College of William & Mary, where he studied English and was a member of Kappa Alpha Order. After graduating, his first writing job was as a staff writer on the short-lived ABC sitcom Billy. He briefly wrote for Boy Meets World (during which he claims to have named the character Topanga Lawrence), Friends and The Nanny.[2] In 1996, he wrote for the short-lived sitcom Champs.

Lawrence's first show as creator was the ABC multi-camera sitcom Spin City, co-created with Champs creator Gary David Goldberg, which originally starred Michael J. Fox as a deputy mayor of New York City. The show lasted for six seasons and won a Primetime Emmy Award and four Golden Globes.[3]

He went on to create the single-camera sitcom Scrubs, which followed the lives of hospital staff. The show premiered in 2001 and ran for 9 seasons in total, 7 on NBC and 2 on ABC. Lawrence wrote, produced and directed the series. The show received critical acclaim as well as 17 Emmy nominations. His next project was co-creating the 2002 animated sitcom Clone High for MTV with Phil Lord and Chris Miller. The show lasted a single 13 episode season. In 2005, Lawrence co-created the failed The WB pilot Nobody's Watching with Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan.[4]

Lawrence was preparing for his film-directing debut with the film Fletch Won, a prequel to the previous Fletch films, but ultimately left the project after Scrubs star Zach Braff exited the project.[5]

Lawrence co-created the single-camera sitcom Cougar Town, which premiered in 2009 on ABC, with Kevin Biegel. The show is executive produced by series star Courteney Cox and her then-husband David Arquette. Courteney Cox had been a guest star on Lawrence's previous sitcom Scrubs. The show ran from 2009-12 on ABC, then moved to TBS in 2013.[6]

In 2013, Lawrence was involved with three shows that made it to series. He co-created and executive produces the TBS sitcom Ground Floor with Greg Malins. He is also an executive producer of the Fox sitcom Surviving Jack and the NBC sitcom Undateable.[7] After running two seasons, Ground Floor was cancelled.[8] In 2014, Lawrence and four other cast members from Undateable did a standup comedy tour to promote the show.[9][10][11] Undateable was cancelled in 2016 after three seasons.[12]

Lawrence wrote a script for the Rush Hour TV series, though it was ultimately canceled, after a single season.[13]

In 2017, Lawrence started developing a new multi-camera comedy series called Spaced Out, the show will be set in the world of commercial space travel.[14] Lawrence is an Executive Producer for Whiskey Cavalier, described as an action dramedy starring Scott Foley and Lauren Cohan, which was ordered to series at ABC but canceled after 10 episodes.[15]

Personal life

His first wife was television actress Megyn Price.[16] Lawrence married actress Christa Miller in 1999.[1] They have three children together. Miller has been cast in Lawrence projects Scrubs, Clone High and Cougar Town.

Lawrence is the great-great grandson of Sarah and William Van Duzer Lawrence, whose home became Sarah Lawrence College.[1]

On July 21, 2017, Lawrence was involved in a plane crash on the East River in New York City with his family. Everyone aboard survived unscathed.[17]

Filmography

Shows created
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References
  1. Smith Brady, Lois (December 5, 1999). "WEDDINGS: VOWS; Christa Miller, William Lawrence IV". The New York Times. Retrieved September 29, 2013.
  2. "The Showrunner Transcript: Cougar Town's Bill Lawrence and Kevin Biegel on the Show's Transformation and Masturbating Time Travelers". May 18, 2011.
  3. Otterson, Joe (December 15, 2017). "Bill Lawrence Developing Space Travel Comedy at CBS". Variety. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
  4. Carter, Bill (July 3, 2006). "Sitcom Given Up for Dead Hits the Web. It's Alive!". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
  5. "The Lost Roles of the Unproduced Fletch Reboot". Splitsider. August 4, 2011. Archived from the original on February 27, 2018. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
  6. Andreeva, Nellie (May 10, 2012). "It's Official: 'Cougar Town' Moves To TBS". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 6, 2017.
  7. Gelt, By Jessica. "Bill Lawrence, television's anonymous mogul". latimes.com. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
  8. Goldberg, Lesley (February 13, 2015). "It's Official: TBS' 'Ground Floor' Canceled". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
  9. Littleton, Cynthia (February 25, 2014). "Bill Lawrence and 'Undateable' Stars Hit the Road to Promote NBC Comedy 'Undateable'". Variety. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
  10. Lawrence, Bill (May 28, 2014). "The 'Undateable' Comedy Tour: How to Launch (or Not Launch) a TV Show in 2014". Grantland. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
  11. Harris, Will (June 5, 2014). "'Scrubs' Creator Bill Lawrence On 'Undateable,' the Multi-Camera Tradition and Surviving the Summer Schedule". IndieWire. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
  12. Wagmeister, Elizabeth (May 13, 2016). "'Undateable' Cancelled After 3 Seasons at NBC". Variety. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
  13. "'Rush Hour' TV series in the works". Entertainment Weekly. September 30, 2014. Retrieved September 30, 2014.
  14. "Spaced Out: Bill Lawrence Developing Comedy at CBS". ComingSoon.net. December 15, 2017. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
  15. Ausiello, Michael (May 11, 2018). "Whiskey Cavalier Starring Scott Foley, Lauren Cohan Ordered to Series at ABC". TVLine. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
  16. "Who is Bill Lawrence?". Omnilexica.
  17. ""Scrubs" creator safe after seaplane splashes down in East River". New York Post. July 21, 2017. Retrieved October 27, 2017.
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