Women Behind the Scenes Spotlight: Laurie McCarthy

Today’s Women Behind the Scenes spotlight is shone on writer and executive producer Laurie McCarthy.

Laurie got her start in the entertainment industry working as an intern at a soap opera, but she was advised by her manager to exclude that work from her resume; but she did work as a writer for the daytime dramas All My Children and Loving. Laurie shared that working a soap writer help her get “really good muscles in terms of breaking stories” because the pacing for soaps is “five hours of television a week, 52 weeks a year” as opposed to the 22 episodes a year in primetime TV.

She moved over to work as a writer on the syndicated series Kindred: The Embraced in 1996 and then she got her big break that same year when she landed a gig with Beverly Hills, 90210 first working as a story editor and writer and then moving up to co-producer and producer and eventually ending up as a co-executive producer.

At the turn of the century she worked as a co-executive producer on the Shaun Cassidy-created series Cover Me: Based on the True Life of an FBI Family. The following year she transitioned over to the critically acclaimed Felicity, working as a writer and executive producer. In 2002, she worked as a writer and co-executive producer on CSI: Miami and the next TV season she worked on the short-lived drama The Handler as a writer and co-executive producer.

It was at this time that Laurie took some time off from the industry, returning to work as a writer and executive producer on the short-lived drama Windfall. The next year she moved over to the popular CBS series Ghost Whisperer, working as a writer, co-executive producer and eventually an executive producer over the next three seasons.

Over the last two TV seasons, she worked as a writer and consulting producer on the short-lived but fan favorite series GCB and now she is a writer and executive producer on the new CW series Reign.

Fans can follow Laurie on Twitter @Lauriewritenow.