EXHILARATING’’

10 TV SCRIBES TO WATCH
TV Scribes to Watch:
Alumni Update
Catching up with the
writers Variety has singled
out in recent years.
Jack Amiel and
Michael Begler 2014
After collecting a WGA
nom for season one of
Cinemax’s “The Knick,”
the acclaim continued in
season two, but the future
remains an open question
as Amiel, Begler and fellow
showrunners Steven
Soderbergh, and Gregory
Jacobs work with the net to
determine what additional
seasons might look like.
PRENTICE
PENNY
Rachel Bloom 2015
The star and co-creator
of The CW’s “Crazy
Ex-Girlfriend” won a
Golden Globe this year
for lead actress in a
comedy series. Her show,
a critics’ favorite, was
picked up for season two.
JUNE 14, 2016 VARIETY.COM
86
“Insecure” (HBO), fall; age 41
Penny found early on he
wasn’t the “cool kid in
school.” He was the “funny
kid” and that didn’t draw
girls his way.
However, his comedic
sensibilities helped make
the little boy who grew up
watching “Diff’rent Strokes”
the showrunner of HBO’s
fall comedy “Insecure,” starring
Issa Rae.
“I wrote this letter about
what I related to in the
pilot, which I felt was brilliant,
[to say] what I felt I
could offer Issa as a showrunner
and how I know
what it’s like being the only
black writer in a comedy
room,” Penny says.
After getting his start
working under Mara Brock
Akil as a writer on the sitcom
“Girlfriends,” Penny
saw “Insecure” as an opportunity
to pass along what
he’s learned as a writer
of color in the same way
Akil did for him.
With “Insecure,” Penny
says the goal is to tell stories
that are true to life and
find the humor in them.
“We want to bring stories
that black people talk about
privately and that you will
be able to hear public discussions
about and be like
‘Oh, black people talk about
that?’ or ‘That’s what their
life is like?’ or ‘Oh, they have
to code switch when they
go between worlds?,”’ says
Penny.
With a resume that also
includes the final season of
“Scrubs,” “Happy Endings”
and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,”
Penny admires work that
offers big laughs mixed
with quieter slices of life,
like “Roseanne.” He seeks
to bring that quality to
“Insecure” and his feature
project, “Uncorked,” a
father-and-son story based
in the gritty world of
Memphis BBQ, which he
aims to write and direct.
“I gravitate toward not
having to feel like you
have to go for the joke
every time and you can
have real moments. I feel
like that’s inevitably what
people respond to. We
can always find another
joke. We can’t always find
another moment.”
— Lamarco McClendon
Representation
CAA; Generate
I was so bad at
auditioning, and
I realized that what
I wanted to do
was create.”
Jennifer Kaytin Robinson
JENNIFER
KAYTIN
ROBINSON
“Sweet/Vicious” (MTV), fall; age 28
In any life, there are telling
crossroads. One came for
Robinson when she almost
played the best friend in
“Hannah Montana.” When
Disney tapped Miley Cyrus
to star, the noticeably-older
Robinson was replaced by
Emily Osment. “No hard
feelings,” Robinson laughs.
She hit a wall with acting
in her early 20s. “I hated
it,” Robinson says. “I was so
bad at auditioning, and I
realized that what I wanted
to do was create.”
Her first pilot was about
five girls living in Los Angeles.
“We pitched it the week
Lena Dunham sold ‘Girls’ to
HBO,” she remembers .
Frustrated by the way
that young women are
often portrayed , Robinson
wanted to write some-
Not So ‘Insecure’
Prentice Penny, left, and director
Cecile Emeke on set.
thing more personal and
inspiring .
“What if Quentin Tarantino
wrote ‘Girls’?” was
the concept that inspired
“Sweet/Vicious,” a dark comedy
about vigilante justice
and rape on college campuses.
“I thought it would
be so beautiful if the survivor
of sexual assault, and
the weirdo loner who deals
with depression and anxiety
were the two superheroes
of the show,” Robinson
says. MTV picked it up
to series.
Robinson is ambitious.
As soon as the room closes
for “Sweet/Vicious” in June,
she has a deal to write a
feature film, and a spec
lined up that she describes
as “500 Days of Summer”
meets “Drunk History.”
But right now, the scribe
says she’s thankful for her
creative allies, including
co-showrunner Amanda
Lasher (“a beautiful
genius”) and producers Stacey
Sher (“a beast, a wonder
woman”) and Emily Levitan
(“a partner from the very
beginning”), and most of all,
her mom. — Seth Kelley
Representation
CAA; Gotham Group
Scott M. Gimple 2013
AMC’s “The Walking Dead,”
on which he serves as
showrunner, continued
its ratings dominance in
season six, again finishing
as the top drama in adults
18-49 across all networks.
Gimple’s co-executive
producer, Angela Kang, is
on our list this year.
Ilana Glazer and
Abbi Jacobson 2013
Three seasons in,
Comedy Central’s
“Broad City” remains one
of TV’s most acclaimed
comedies, and the creatorstars
earned a WGA nom
for best comedy this year.
Gennifer Hutchison 2013
The “Breaking Bad”
alum is now a supervising
producer and writer on
AMC’s buzzy prequel
“Better Call Saul,” and
has collected Emmy,
PGA, and WGA noms for
her work on the show.
Zander Lehmann 2015
His Hulu comedy series
“Casual” nabbed a
surprise Golden Globe
nom, and season two
launched June 7.
Ray McKinnon 2013
After four critically
acclaimed seasons,
McKinnon’s “Rectify”
will come to a close this
summer on SundanceTV.
Ben Queen 2014
Although his series
“A to Z” proved shortlived
at NBC, Queen will
return to the Peacock
next season to oversee
the DC Comics-inspired
comedy “Powerless.”
Graham Wagner 2014
He’s earned back-to-back
Emmy noms on the staff
of IFC sketch favorite
“Portlandia” and is also a
writer on FX’s acclaimed
new comedy “Baskets.”
PENNY: ANNE MARIE FOX; ROBINSON: SCOTT EVERETT WHITE