Women Behind the Scenes Spotlight: Krista Vernoff

Today’s Women Behind the Scenes spotlight is shone on writer, executive producer and screenwriter Krista Vernoff.

Krista is a graduate of Boston University, who got her start in the entertainment industry in 1999 working as a writer on the short-lived TV show Time of Your Life as well as Law & Order.

It was in 2000 that she landed a job as part of the crew for the long-running WB series Charmed, starting out as a story editor. The following season she was promoted to executive story editor and then was bumped up to executive story consultant and co-producer in 2002. During her last season with the show she was a producer.

In 2004, she moved over to the writer’s room of the short-lived series Wonderfalls where she also worked as a producer. But it was the next season where she landed a job on the ABC medical drama Grey’s Anatomy. She started out as a supervising producer and writer during her first season with the show and then got promoted to co-executive producer shortly thereafter.

In 2006, while working as an executive producer for Grey’s Anatomy (and maintaining her position as writer for the series for which she maintained until 2011), Krista was the executive producer and writer on a pilot called Introducing Lennie Rose that was to star actress Abigail Spencer (from Mad Men and Suits).

Also, while she was still working on Grey’s Anatomy, Krista split her time also working as a writer and consulting producer on Private Practice from 2009 to 2013. She also created a pilot called Grace that was not picked up that was to, once again, star actress Abigail Spencer.

Most recently, she has worked as a writer on the Showtime series Shameless; and now she is working as an executive producer and writer on the new AMC pilot Rita that is up for consideration at the network. And, she also has another pilot called Songbyrd up for consideration at E! Entertainment alongside Smash executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron that will also feature the music catalog of renowned songwriter Diane Warren.

Krista has been nominated for an Emmy Award and is a Golden Globe and Writers Guild of America winner. Fans can follow Krista on Twitter @KristaVernoff or at Facebook here.