Liz Meriwether is sticking with 20th Century Fox TV. Deadline confirms the prolific TV writer, creator, EP, and showrunner has inked a “rich four-year overall deal” with the studio, which has long been home to her projects.
The new agreement is reportedly in the high-eight figures. Meriwether’s previous overall pact with the studio expired in 2018 and she chose to extend it for only one year because, at the time, Disney and Comcast were both bidding on 21st Century Fox assets, which included 20th TV. The one-year deal turned out to be a very strategic move as “the overall deal prices for top talent have gone up significantly this year” and Meriwether is “in the category of most sought after showrunners,” Deadline notes.
“Peter Rice, Howard Kurtzman, Jonnie Davis, and Dana Walden have been my creative partners since I was a receptionist living in New York writing a script called ‘Sluts,’” Meriwether said. “I’m so grateful and thrilled to be able to keep making television at my home studio, which now, I’m hoping, also comes with tickets to Disneyland,” the “New Girl” creator joked, in reference to the Disney-Fox merger.
“Twelve years ago, when we first met, Liz was a wildly funny and talented playwright from New York, who was so dedicated to getting the characters and humor in her scripts exactly right, she’d often pull all nighters and sleep in her office,” remembered Walden, Chairman of Disney TV Studios and ABC Entertainment. “We’ve had the pleasure of watching her grow into a confident, formidable, and successful showrunner, who’s currently overseeing three shows, a slate of development and, thankfully, sleeping in her house. She’s outrageously funny, endlessly creative, wildly prolific, and also one of the greatest people you’ll ever have the good fortune to know. Craig, Jonnie, Howard, and I have made it our mission to keep her here and we’re so glad she said yes.”
Zooey Deschanel-starrer “New Girl” concluded last May. Meriwether helmed two episodes of the series and served as writer and EP throughout its seven-season run. She currently has two comedies at ABC, “Bless This Mess” and “Single Parents,” which air Tuesday and Wednesday nights, respectively. She created the former, which sees an NYC couple starting afresh in the midwest, with star Lake Bell. She created “Single Parents,” an ensemble about a single parent support group, with J.J. Philbin. Meriwether also writes for and exec produces both shows.
Meriwether’s upcoming slate includes ABC pilot “Woman Up,” starring, written, and directed by Zoe Lister-Jones. The single-camera comedy tells the story of two former teen moms. After their daughters graduate high school, the pair decide it’s time to stop working their asses off and “make up for the youth they never had.” She and Lister-Jones created the project and are exec producing.
