For this special live event, we take a closer look inside script pages from TV shows nominated for a 2022 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie. Writers will walk us through their process for crafting memorable scenes from their nominated series and how their words were given life on screen.

All ticket proceeds benefit the Writers Guild Foundation Library and community outreach programs.

If you’re a member of the WGA West or WGA East, click the WGA Member button for your complimentary ticket.

Panelists:

• Sarah Burgess - “Man Handled” Impeachment: American Crime Story

• Elizabeth Meriwether - “I’m In A Hurry” The Dropout

• Molly Smith Metzler - “Snaps” Maid

• Patrick Somerville - “Unbroken Circle” Station Eleven

• Danny Strong - “The People vs. Purdue Pharma” Dopesick

Moderated by WGF librarian Lauren O’Connor.

After purchasing a ticket, you’ll receive information on how to access the Zoom panel.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us at events@wgfoundation.org.

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About the Panelists

Sarah Burgess

Sarah Burgess is currently the showrunner, head writer and executive producer of Impeachment: American Crime Story.  

She is a New York playwright and screenwriter. Her play Dry Powder won the 2016 Laurents Hatcher Prize, was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and was nominated for an Olivier Award in London. It premiered at the Public Theater in a production directed by Thomas Kail, starring Claire Danes, John Krasinski, Hank Azaria and Sanjit De Silva. Burgess’ additional plays include Kings (Public Theater world premiere) and Camdenside (Ground Floor selection, Berkeley Rep), and she has been a writer-in-residence at SPACE on Ryder Farm and the Cape Cod Theatre Project. 

Molly Smith Metzler

Molly Smith Metzler is the creator and showrunner of the Netflix series Maid, which she executive produced alongside John Wells and Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap Entertainment. Before Maid, Metzler was a writer/producer on three seasons of Shameless (Showtime). Other television credits include Casual (Hulu) and Orange Is the New Black (Netflix). In film, she has written features for Universal, Disney, and Fox 2000, including the adaptations of Dan and Sam and The Thing About Jellyfish, which made the 2017 Black List. 

Metzler is also an award-winning playwright and alum of The Juilliard School, where she was a two-time recipient of the Lecomte du Nouy Prize from Lincoln Center. Her play Cry it Out was the winner of the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Playwrighting (2018), the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award Citation (2018), and the Ovation Award for Best New Play (2018). Her other plays have been produced at The Kennedy Center, Manhattan Theatre Club, and many more. Currently, she is writing a play for The Kennedy Center’s 50th anniversary season, as well as commissions for Manhattan Theatre Club and South Coast Rep.   

Metzler lives in Los Angeles with her tiny family and giant dog. 

Liz Meriwether

Liz is the creator and showrunner of the limited series THE DROPOUT (Hulu) starring Amanda Seyfried and Naveen Andrews.

She began her career as a playwright in New York, with Off-Off Broadway productions of her plays THE MISTAKES MADELINE MADE (Naked Angels, Yale Rep), HEDDATRON (directed by Alex Timbers, HERE Arts Center), OLIVER PARKER (directed by Evan Cabnet, Cherry Lane Theater). Liz wrote the feature film comedy NO STRINGS ATTACHED for Paramount Pictures (directed by Ivan Reitman, starring Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher) about two friends who decide to have sex without falling in love. It was just barely Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, which felt like a huge win.

In 2011, Liz wrote the pilot for a TV show about a young woman who moves into an apartment with three guys, and this became the Fox series NEW GIRL starring Zooey Deschanel, Jake Johnson, Max Greenfield, Hannah Simone, and Lamorne Morris, directed by Jake Kasdan. Liz was the Executive Producer/Showrunner for all seven seasons of the series, directing two episodes, and getting a crash course in television production along the way. NEW GIRL was nominated for Golden Globes, WGA awards, and Emmys but only won once– an Environmental Image Award for an episode “Menus,” about a Chinese restaurant that passed out too many takeout menus. Liz then co-created the ABC comedies BLESS THIS MESS with Lake Bell and SINGLE PARENTS with JJ Philbin, which each ran for two seasons before being brutally cancelled on the same day.

During the 2016 presidential elections, she attended the Republican and Democratic conventions as a writer for New York Magazine, and her published essays include a story of how Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama stayed up all night creating Al Qaeda together. Her next project is a half-hour limited series on FX based on the podcast DYING FOR SEX, co-created with Kim Rosenstock, to be directed in 2023 by Leslye Headland. Liz was born in Miami, Florida, but moved to Michigan at age five and did most of her growing up in Ann Arbor. She graduated from Yale University in 2004, and was a Lila Acheson Wallace playwriting fellow at Juilliard. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two children.

Patrick Somerville

Patrick Somerville is an Emmy nominated screenwriter and novelist. He most recently created, showran, and executive produced "Station Eleven," which debuted to rave reviews. The series was nominated for seven Emmy awards including a personal nomination for his writing, a Peabody Entertainment Award, a Television Critics Association Award and a USC Scripter nomination. Somerville previously created, wrote, and executive produced the critically acclaimed Netflix series “Maniac,” which received two nominations for both WGA and PGA Awards. He also served as writer/producer on HBO’s "The Leftovers" and wrote on FX’s "The Bridge" and FOX’s "24: Live Another Day.” 

Somerville's books include two collections of stories, Trouble (2006) and The Universe in Miniature in Miniature (2010), and two novels, The Cradle (2009) and This Bright River (2012). The Cradle was nominated for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Award. It was also a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers pick for Spring 2009, a Target Emerging Writers Pick, and a New York Times Editor’s Choice. This Bright River was a New York Times Editor’s Choice as well, and The Universe in Miniature in Miniature was short-listed for the 2010 Story Prize. 

Somerville's writing has also appeared in The New York Times, GQ, Esquire, and more. He is a MacDowell Fellow and the winner of the 2009 21st Century Award, given annually by the Chicago Public Library.  

Danny Strong

Danny Strong started his career as an actor in numerous classic films and TV shows, then transitioned into screenwriting, exploding onto the scene with his 2007 script “Recount” which became an award-winning HBO Film. Since then, he has become a prolific film and TV writer/director/producer. 

Strong is the creator and showrunner of the upcoming Hulu series “Dopesick,” starring Michael Keaton and based on the bestselling book by Beth Macy. He was co-creator and executive producer of the hit FOX drama “Empire,” of which he wrote and directed numerous episodes. The show won Best Drama at the NAACP Image Awards, was named TV Program of the Year by the AFI Awards, Outstanding New Program by the Television Critics Association, and was nominated for two Golden Globes, six Primetime Emmys, and two Critics Choice Awards. He was the Executive Producer of the FOX legal drama “Proven Innocent” starring Rachelle Lefevere and Kelsey Grammer.   

On the feature side, Strong wrote the screenplay for “The Butler,” which starred Forrest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey. It was the sleeper hit of 2013, grossing over $100M at the US box-office. He also co-wrote the mega-hit Lionsgate franchise films “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay:” (Part I and II). In 2017, Strong made his feature directorial debut of his screenplay “Rebel in the Rye,” starring Nicholas Hoult, Kevin Spacey, Hope Davis, and Sarah Paulson. The film premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and was distributed by IFC Films. 

Strong began his writing career by writing and producing the HBO films “Recount” and “Game Change” about the 2000 and 2008 elections. Jay Roach directed both of the highly acclaimed films. Strong’s debut script “Recount” was voted #1 on the Hollywood Blacklist and the film featured an all-star cast and garnered 11 Emmy nominations (including a Best Writing nomination and a win for Best TV Movie), five Golden Globe Nominations, and Strong received the Writer’s Guild Award for his screenplay. His follow-up project “Game Change,” starring Julianne Moore and Woody Harrelson, was also a critical success and swept the 2012-13 award season. Strong won Emmys for Outstanding Writing and Best Movie/Miniseries, a Writers Guild Award, a Golden Globe, the Producers Guild Award, a Peabody and the Pen Award for the film. 

In addition to his thriving career as a screenwriter and director, Strong is also an actor with extensive credits in film, television and theater. He is best known for the five seasons he played Jonathan on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” and the four seasons he played Doyle on “Gilmore Girls” also appearing in the highly acclaimed “Gilmore Girls Revival” on Netflix. His other credits include such iconic projects as “Pleasantville,” “Seinfeld,” “Nip/Tuck,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “How I Met Your Mother,” and many more. Most recently, he has been seen on seasons 4 and 6 of “Mad Men” as Danny Siegal, the last two seasons of “Justified,” on HBO’s “Girls,” and is currently recurring on Showtime’s “Billions” as Todd Krakow. On stage, he has appeared in over 50 plays and musicals in regional and LA theaters.