Top Women in Television: Creators

Hollywood is legendary for being a mostly male-oriented world, but over the decades women have been making strides to break down the glass ceiling, reaching the top of their chosen field within the industry.

It is not an easy battle to reach the top, but in this special series of articles, NiceGirlsTV is giving a salute to just some of the best women in the entertainment industry. Be they show creators, executive producers, producers, writers, directors or up and comers. These women have paved the way for generations to come and continue to make strides in the industry.

Top Female TV Show Creators:

Constance M. Burge (Charmed) – A creator of one of the longest-running series on the WB (nee the CW), Constance made Charmed into an international hit that can still be seen in syndication. Her resume is filled with work as a writer, co-executive producer, consulting and/or associate producer as well as consultant on shows such as Savannah, Ally McBeal, Boston Public, Ed, Judging Amy, Eureka, In Plain Sight, The Starter Wife and Royal Pains.

Katherine Fugate (Army Wives) – Katherine is credited with bringing Army Wives to life on the Lifetime network, making the show the network’s most-popular and most-watched series. She was also involved in the movies The Prince & Me and its sequel The Prince & Me II: The Royal Wedding as well as working as a writer on Xena: Warrior Princess.

Rina Mimoun (Privileged) – Starting out as a writer for the WB shows Dawson’s Creek, Jack & Jill and Everwood helped pave the way for Rina to bring the writing of Zoey Dean to life as the series Privileged on the CW (despite its short-run on that network).

Carol Barbee (Three Rivers and Jericho) – Carol worked as a writer and producer on Providence, Close to Home and Judging Amy before becoming one of the Executive Producers on Jericho and Swingtown. She is the creator and executive producer on the new CBS series Three Rivers.

Nancy Miller (Saving Grace) – As the creator of the breakthrough (and at times controversial) TNT series Saving Grace, Nancy Miller has made an indelible mark on the industry with this gritty, in-your-face show that pushes the boundaries and shows the strength of human nature in all its hard-edged undertones. Her previous work as a writer and/or producer on shows such as Profiler, Any Day Now, CSI: Miami and The Closer gave her a unique perspective into strong female characters.

Amy Sherman (Palladino) (Gilmore Girls) – Amy created one of the most beloved WB series in the form of Gilmore Girls, a touching and comical look at family, but before that she worked as a writer and producer on Roseanne and Veronica’s Closet.

Shonda Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice) – Shonda created Grey’s Anatomy and its spin-off series Private Practice, ruling both shows with an iron hand (at times), but providing some of the most moving and unsettling storylines (as well as some of the most ridiculous) in recent history. Her earlier work includes the teleplay for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and the screenplay for The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.

Brenda Hampton (7th Heaven and The Secret Life of the American Teenager) – Back in 1996, Brenda brought a little show called 7th Heaven to the then-fledgling WB network and 11 seasons later the series closed out as the long-running series of the network. She has since followed up with the ABC Family Channel’s The Secret Life of the American Teenager. She has also worked on Fat Actress, Mad About You and Blossom.

Liz Tigelaar (Life UnExpected) – Liz’s new show called Life UnExpected isn’t expected (no pun intended) to debut on the CW until mid-season, but with stars like Shiri Appleby (Roswell), Kristoffer Polaha (North Shore) and Kerr Smith (Dawson’s Creek) it has potential. Previously, she worked on shows such as Once and Again, Kyle XY, American Dreams, What About Brian and Brothers & Sisters.

Dana Stevens (What About Brian) – Starting out as an actress, making appearances on shows such as Family Ties, China Beach and thirtysomething paved the way for Dana to work on the screenplay for the movies City of Angels and For Love of the Game before creating the series What About Brian.

Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas (Reaper) – These ladies created one of the more unique and entertaining shows to make it on the CW (albeit for a short-run) – Reaper. Prior to Reaper, they worked on Ed as writers, co-producers on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and they are now working on Dollhouse.

Deborah Joy Levine (Mental) – Deborah has been working in the industry for quite some time, most notably as part of the main crew for the ABC series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. She served as producer and writer on The Division and Courthouse. Her most recent creation was the FOX series Mental.

Mara Brock Akil (Girlfriends and The Game) – As creator of both Girlfriends and The Game, Mara is one of a small collection of African American women working as Executive Producer and Writer for network TV. Mara is now working as a writer for the new ABC comedy Cougar Town, starring Courteney Cox.

Diane English (Murphy Brown) – Diane was one of the top women in the industry when she created the acclaimed comedy Murphy Brown. She had worked on Foley Square and My Sister Sam previously and since that time worked on the screenplay for the theatrical release The Women.

Maggie Friedman (Eastwick) – Maggie has worked on the series Once and Again as writer and producer then worked on Jack & Bobby and Related. Her series Eastwick, based on the John Updike novel and the Witches of Eastwick movie, just recently debuted on ABC.

Michele Abbott, Ilene Chaiken and Kathy Greenberg (The L Word) – These three ladies are the powerhouse behind the creation of one of the most acclaimed series on Showtime – The L Word. For Michele and Kathy this series was their first foray in television (Kathy played a large role in bringing us Ratatouille) with Ilene having previously worked on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Beth Sullivan (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman) – Beth created one of the more endearing shows and cast of characters in the 1990’s, bringing Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman to CBS for its 5 and ½ year run on the network. She was also deeply involved in one of the two reunion movies that were made after Dr. Quinn’s cancellation. She also created the short-lived syndication “prequel” to the classic series Bonanza known as Ponderosa.

Marta Kaufman (Friends) – As part of the team who brought us one of the most successful half-hour comedies, Friends, Marta oversaw this series during its 10 year run. She worked on the shows Veronica’s Closet and Jesse prior to Friends and worked on Related and Joey afterwards.

Elizabeth “Liz” Heldens (Mercy) – As a first time series creator with the new NBC fall drama Mercy, Liz has a background acting as writer and co-producer on Boston Public, writer and producer on North Shore and writer and supervising producer on both Pepper Dennis and Friday Night Lights.

Tiny Fey (30 Rock) – Best known as an actress, Tina wears the trifecta crown of show creator, executive producer and writer for the comedy 30 Rock. Getting her start at Saturday Night Live, helped launch her work in the movies Mean Girls and Baby Mama and her comedic portrayal of VP wanna-be Sarah Palin was the talk of TV for much of 2008.

Eileen Heisler and DeAnn Heline (The Middle) – This writing/producing team are the creators of the new half-hour comedy The Middle and prior to that they created the short-lived series Committed. They first started out by working on Doogie Howser, MD, Roseanne and Murphy Brown. They later worked as executive producers on How I Met Your Mother.

The above women are, by no means, the only show creators out there, but they are certainly a great representation of women in the industry behind the camera.  The next installment in this series of articles  will appear next Monday.