Stephanie Savage (born 1969) is a screenwriter and television producer from Calgary, Canada. Savage is best known for developing The CW's teen drama series Gossip Girl (2007) from the novel series, and being an executive producer of the Fox series The O.C.. In 2010 Savage and creative partner Josh Schwartz created Fake Empire, a production company producing their TV series, films and music.[1]
Stephanie Savage | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1969 (age 54–55) |
| Occupation | Producer Screenwriter |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Years active | 2002–present |
| Notable works | Fastlane The O.C. Gossip Girl Dynasty Runaways |
Career
editSavage graduated from the University of Toronto in 1990 with a B.A. in English and Cinema Studies, then from the University of Iowa in 1993 with an M.A. in Film History and Theory. While writing her PhD dissertation for the University of Iowa she moved to Los Angeles, and in 1995 was offered a position at Drew Barrymore's production company Flower Films.[2] Here she dabbled in scriptwriting, handling production rewrites for Charlie's Angels, and met the film's director McG. The two later formed production company Wonderland Sound and Vision in 2001.
In 2003, Jordan Levin, the head of the WB (now known as The CW), wanted a personal show from McG, who grew up in Orange County, California. Stephanie thought of Newport Beach as a setting that would tie in the personal obligation to McG.[3] “You had the music scene at the time, Gwen Stefanie and Sublime, you had surf and skate culture and beach, but also had like republican values and country clubs and gated communities and McMansions, and how do those two things combine?” She said on the podcast ‘Welcome To The O.C. Bitch’. [4]They both pitched the idea to Josh Schwartz, a budding writer whom Stephanie met while working at Flower Films. Josh was set on the idea of doing a teen soap, Dawson's Creek and 90210 was off the air, the three of them started working on a pitch together and pilot script that led The O.C. into being ordered at Fox. Throughout the first season, Josh saw her as more of a writer than an executive, giving her her first writing credit for the episode ‘The Best Chrismukkah Ever’. From then on she would write and produce several episodes of the long-running series.[4]
In September 2016, Savage was announced as an executive producer for the then-upcoming Dynasty reboot series.[5][6]
Filmography
editFilm
edit| Title | Year | Credited as | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Producer | |||
| Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle | 2003 | Associate | |
| Endless Love | 2011 | Yes | |
| Fun Size | 2012 | Yes | |
| No Cameras Allowed | 2014 | Executive | Documentary |
Television
editThe numbers in directing and writing credits refer to the number of episodes.
| Title | Year | Credited as | Network | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creator | Director | Writer | Executive Producer | ||||
| Fastlane | 2002–03 | No | No | No | No | Fox | Producer |
| The O.C. | 2003–07 | No | No | Yes (12) | Yes | Supervising producer (Season 1); Co-executive producer (2005–06: 5 episodes); Executive producer (2006: 3 episodes) | |
| The Mountain | 2004–05 | No | No | Yes (2) | Yes | The WB | |
| Gossip Girl | 2007–12 | Developer | No | Yes (12) | Yes | The CW | |
| Valley Girls | 2009 | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Backdoor pilot: series not picked up; Proposed spin-off to Gossip Girl | |
| Ghost Angeles | 2011 | No | No | No | Yes | NBC | Unaired television pilot |
| Georgetown | 2011 | No | No | No | Yes | ABC | Unaired television pilot |
| Hart of Dixie[7][8] | 2011–15 | No | No | No | Yes | The CW | |
| The Carrie Diaries | 2013–14 | No | No | No | Yes | ||
| Cult | 2013 | No | No | No | Yes | ||
| The Astronaut Wives Club[9] | 2015 | Developer | No | Yes (2) | Yes | ABC | |
| Broad Squad | 2015 | No | No | Yes | Yes | ABC | Unaired television pilot |
| Dynasty | 2017–22 | Developer | No | Yes (1) | Yes | The CW | |
| Runaways | 2017–19 | Yes | No | Yes (3) | Yes | Hulu | |
| Nancy Drew | 2019–2023 | Developer | No | Yes (1) | Yes | The CW | |
| Looking for Alaska | 2019 | No | No | Yes (2) | Yes | Hulu | Miniseries |
| Gossip Girl | 2021 | No | No | No | Yes | HBO Max | |
| Maverick | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | Yes | The CW | Pre-production |
Web
editThe numbers in writing credits refer to the number of episodes.
| Title | Year | Credited as | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Writer | Executive Producer | |||
| Charlie's Angels: Animated Adventures | 2003 | Yes (6) | No | |
| Gossip Girl: Chasing Dorota | 2009 | No | Yes | |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Josh Schwartz, Stephanie Savage launch production company, Fake Empire". Entertainment Weekly's EW.com.
- ^ "U of T alumnae sisters Stephanie and Erika Savage share insider knowledge of film and music industries". U of T News. University of Toronto. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
- ^ Sepinwall, Alan (November 28, 2023). Welcome To The O.C.: THe Oral History. HarperCollins. pp. 3–16. ISBN 9780063342798.
- ^ a b "Spotify". open.spotify.com. Retrieved 2024-11-07.
- ^ Goldberg, Lesley; O'Connell, Michael (September 30, 2016). "Dynasty Reboot in the Works at The CW". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 6, 2016.
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie (September 30, 2016). "Dynasty Reboot Set At the CW With Josh Schwartz & Stephanie Savage". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
- ^ Nellie Andreeva (8 February 2011). "Rachel Bilson To Star In The CW's Hart of Dixie Pilot - TVLine". TVLine.
- ^ Tierney Bricker (1 February 2011). "The CW orders four pilots, including new Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage project - Zap2it - News & Features". Zap2it. Archived from the original on 8 March 2011.
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie (5 February 2014). "ABC Space Age Drama 'Astronaut Wives Club' Gets 10-Episode Order For Summer". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 2014-02-13.