Writer/producer/director Greg Berlanti is a graduate of Northwestern University's playwriting program. He grew up in Rye, New York and attended Rye High School. The 30-year-old is the creator and executive producer of the WB drama Everwood, the first series to be picked up for the 2002-2003 season.
In 1997, Berlanti was discovered by Dawson's Creek and Scream creator Kevin Williamson who, after reading an early draft of Berlanti's screenplay for The Broken Hearts Club, plucked him from fledgling screenwriter obscurity and made him a staff writer on Dawson's Creek. He quickly became an integral part of the creative team and in one year's time was promoted to executive producer and head writer, a position he held for three years.
Simultaneously writing for the series, Berlanti directed The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy, which premiered to three standing ovations at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival and earned him a place in Daily Variety's "Ten to Watch", a short list of promising directors with films at Sundance. He also has been recognized by such publications as Entertainment Weekly in their annual "It List" and Electronic Media in their "Hot List".
Based in Los Angeles, Berlanti and fellow Everwood executive producer Mickey Liddell formed a production company called Berlanti-Liddell Entertainment.
Quite a few of the characters on Everwood (especially minor ones) have the names of his friends and/or ex-teachers.
In 1997, Berlanti was discovered by Dawson's Creek and Scream creator Kevin Williamson who, after reading an early draft of Berlanti's screenplay for The Broken Hearts Club, plucked him from fledgling screenwriter obscurity and made him a staff writer on Dawson's Creek. He quickly became an integral part of the creative team and in one year's time was promoted to executive producer and head writer, a position he held for three years.
Simultaneously writing for the series, Berlanti directed The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy, which premiered to three standing ovations at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival and earned him a place in Daily Variety's "Ten to Watch", a short list of promising directors with films at Sundance. He also has been recognized by such publications as Entertainment Weekly in their annual "It List" and Electronic Media in their "Hot List".
Based in Los Angeles, Berlanti and fellow Everwood executive producer Mickey Liddell formed a production company called Berlanti-Liddell Entertainment.
Quite a few of the characters on Everwood (especially minor ones) have the names of his friends and/or ex-teachers.
Greg's show Everwood reminds him so much of the ended drama shows Northern Exposure and Picket Fences .
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In the Everwood episode "We Hold these Truths", the orchestra conductor is named Mr. Mendick after Greg's English/Drama teacher in High School.
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One of his favorite scenes in Brothers & Sisters was the first big family fight which occurred at the Ojai Ranch in the episode "Northern Exposure".
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When Greg was still a struggling writer trying to break into the TV/movie industry, he was living in a studio apartment in Beachwood Canyon, right under the Hollywood Sign in Los Angeles, California.
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As a child, Greg wanted to emulate Jim Henson as a storyteller. He designed puppets and had a business performing in birthday parties.
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Greg's little rituals while writing include listening to a CD over and over, cleaning the whole house, and drinking lots of coffee.
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It was Greg's tenth script that got him a lawyer, an agent, and his first job as a paid writer. The first nine scripts he wrote were all rejected by various studios.
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In 2006, Berlanti split with longtime business and creative partner Mickey Liddell whom he has previously worked with on the film The Broken Hearts Club.
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Greg's favorite story arc in Everwood was a run of episodes which included "The Kissing Bridge", "Deer God", "The Doctor Is In", and "We Hold These Truths".
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Greg has several favorite shows which influenced his writing: Northern Exposure, L.A. Law, All in the Family, Maude, Family Ties, and Dallas.
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Greg's favorite color is blue. His favorite hair product is Fiber by Crew. And his favorite cocktail is margarita. His favorite New Kid on the Block is Joey McIntyre.
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Greg: (on the writers' strike of Fall 2007) It's a sad time. It's difficult to watch people you've worked with lose their jobs-- and that's happened. It's tricky because you have friends who are writers, you have friends who are directors and you have friends who are executives--and they're not bad people.
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Greg: The key to doing more than one show, without a doubt, has been working with other writers who I really respect and admire and whose talent I envy. I think that's what has really allowed me to participate in multiple things at once.
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Greg: I get my joy in this job from working with the writers to fashion an episode, so whatever writing I may do is covered by the executive producer title.
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Greg: Certainly no one has an agenda of "well, let's see as much man-on-man action as possible." The agenda instead is: "Hey, we want the story lines for all of our characters to be as interesting and as thoughtful and mature and real as they can possibly be."
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Greg: (on his love life) I'm as happy as I've ever been and, just like coming out, it has made my writing better and my breadth of storytelling hopefully deeper in terms of the things I have to say.
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Greg: (on the Walker family in "Brothers & Sisters") ...It's a double-edge sword to having a big family. It's our [the writers'] job to figure out ways to dramatize that sword every week and just show people what are the best and what are the worst elements of having a family like this.
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Greg: (on the cancellation of "Everwood") The cancellation, and the fans' affection for the show, and certain critics' affection for the show that sort of rose to the surface really are just adding a halo effect and a great legacy to the show, which, again... we kind of deserve.
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Greg: Writing has been responsible for almost every amazing thing that has ever happened to me.
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Greg: I love telling stories. Creating a character, a world, a whole universe out of nothing. That part I can't get enough of.
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Greg: I think there's something to the kind of privacy that a lot of the great actors that I grew up watching in the '70s and '80s, whether it was De Niro or Redford -- you know, these were men who didn't do a ton of interviews. Not knowing a lot about them, it did help you sort of imagine them in a role.
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Greg: (on Grey's Anatomy) I think Grey's does really well what we were trying to do on Everwood, you know, not be afraid to sort of try and be emotional and intelligent at the same time. I feel that show fills a void in terms of being emotional television, and it's got a great cast.
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Greg: (on his job in Brothers & Sisters) I think the job of the show runner is slightly different from the job of the creator, who may be the original source of the material, but the show runner has to sort of divine what that means and put that into a form of stories over multiple episodes.
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Greg: I think reality TV has done as much as scripted TV for forwarding the image of gay men and women, because they show real people.
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Greg: I think Six Feet Under as much as anything did so much to move forward what it means to tell a story about a gay man. And you can't live in a post-Six Feet Under world and tell mature, adult story lines without gay characters kissing where everyone else would kiss.
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Greg: I had no idea that I was going to work in TV. I wanted to be a screenwriter or a playwright. I figured I could write plays from anywhere, but for movies it would be best if I was in Los Angeles.
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