Women Behind the Scenes Spotlight: Dahvi Waller

Dahvi Waller is a Canadian TV writer, playwright, producer and director who was born in Montreal, and received her degree in History from Princeton University.

She got her start in the industry as one of the directors for the short-lived reality ABC TV show Switched Up! that ran from 2003 to 2004.

The following TV season, Dahvi joined the writing staff of the short-lived drama Commander in Chief, writing one episode with Anya Epstein (who has gone on to executive producer the current HBO drama I Know This Much Is True).

From 2006 to 2008, she joined the writer staff of the ABC powerhouse series Desperate Housewives. She served first as a story editor, then was promoted to executive story editor and then later as a writer.

In 2008, Dahvi moved over to the short-lived, but acclaimed drama Eli Stone, serving as a co-producer and writer – alongside Wendy Mericle (who went on to be an executive producer on Arrow).

She made her big move in 2009 when she served as a co-producer on Mad Men and then as a producer in 2010 where she also wrote several episodes alongside series creator Matthew Weiner. Dahvi and the Mad Men writing staff won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Drama Series in 2010 and 2011 as well as an Emmy Award in 2011 for Outstanding Drama Series.

In 2012, she moved over to writing for the stage, debuting her one act play Between Movements, that was part of an initiative called Unscreened in conjunction with the Elephant Stages’ Lillian Theatre located in Los Angeles.

A few years later she returned TV working as a supervising producer, writer and later a co-executive producer on the AMC 80’s-themed Halt and Catch Fire. And in 2015, she worked as an executive producer on the short-lived military-themed series American Odyssey.

Her current project is the Hulu mini-series Mrs. America that focuses on the 1970’s fight for the Equal Rights Amendment that includes among its impressive ensemble cast Cate Blanchett, Rose Byrne, Elizabeth Banks, Uzo Aduba, Margo Martindale, Sarah Paulson, Tracey Ullman, Melanie Lynskey, Jeanne Tripplehorn and John Slattery. Dahvi serves as creator, executive producer and writer. The final episode of Mrs. America airs today on Hulu.

Dahvi can be followed on Twitter @DahviWaller.

[Featured Image Photo Credit: Pari Dukovic-FX/Spotlight Photo Credit: FX Networks]

Please check out our previous Women Behind the Scenes spotlights for Lulu Wang and Marielle Heller.