Bill Lawrence (TV producer)

Career

Lawrence is a graduate of the College of William & Mary, where he studied English and was a member of Kappa Alpha (KA) social fraternity. After graduating, his first writing job was as a staff writer on the short-lived ABC sitcom Billy. He briefly wrote for Boy Meets World, Friends, and The Nanny, all shows he was fired from. In 1996, he wrote for the short-lived sitcom Champs.

Lawrence's first show as creator was the ABC multi-camera sitcom Spin City, co-created with Champs creator Gary David Goldberg, which originally starred Michael J. Fox as a deputy mayor of New York City. The show lasted for six seasons and won a Primetime Emmy Award and four Golden Globes.

He went on to create the single-camera sitcom Scrubs, which followed the lives of hospital staff. The show premiered in 2001 and ran for 9 seasons in total, 7 on NBC and 2 on ABC. Lawrence wrote, produced and directed the series. The show received critical acclaim, and won a Peabody Award in 2006, and two Emmy Awards with 17 nominations.

His next project was co-creating the 2002 animated sitcom Clone High for MTV with Phil Lord and Chris Miller. The show lasted a single 13-episode season. In 2005, Lawrence co-created the failed The WB pilot Nobody's Watching with Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan. Lawrence was preparing for his film-directing debut with the film Fletch Won, a prequel to the previous Fletch films, but ultimately left the project after Scrubs star Zach Braff exited the project.

Lawrence co-created the single-camera sitcom Cougar Town, which premiered in 2009 on ABC, with Kevin Biegel. The show is executive produced by series star Courteney Cox and her then-husband David Arquette. Courteney Cox had been a guest star on Lawrence's previous sitcom Scrubs. The show ran from 2009 to 2012 on ABC, then moved to TBS in 2013.

In 2013, Lawrence was involved with three shows that made it to series. He co-created and executive produces the TBS sitcom Ground Floor with Greg Malins. He is also an executive producer of the Fox sitcom Surviving Jack and the NBC sitcom Undateable. After running two seasons, Ground Floor was cancelled. In 2014, Lawrence and four other cast members from Undateable did a standup comedy tour to promote the show. Undateable was cancelled in 2016 after three seasons.

Lawrence wrote a script for the Rush Hour television series, though it was ultimately canceled, after a single season.

In 2017, Lawrence started developing a new multi-camera comedy series called Spaced Out, a show set in the world of commercial space travel. Lawrence is an executive producer for Whiskey Cavalier, described as an action dramedy starring Scott Foley and Lauren Cohan, which was ordered to series at ABC but canceled after 10 episodes.

Lawrence co-created the Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso, which premiered in 2020 and has gone on to win two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series. In 2022, Lawrence signed a new five-year overall deal with Warner Bros. Television Group through 2028.

Lawrence also co-created the Apple TV+ series Shrinking, which premiered in 2023 and stars Jason Segel, Harrison Ford, and Jessica Williams. It has garnered widespread critical acclaim and was nominated for multiple Emmys, including several for Lawrence

Personal life

Lawrence married actress Christa Miller in 1999. They have three children together. Miller has been cast in Lawrence projects Scrubs, Clone High, Cougar Town, and Shrinking.

Lawrence is the great-great-grandson of Sarah and William Van Duzer Lawrence, whose home became Sarah Lawrence College.

On July 21, 2017, Lawrence was involved in a plane crash on the East River in New York City with his family. Everyone aboard survived unscathed.

Filmography

Television

References

References

1. (May 18, 2011). "The Showrunner Transcript: Cougar Town's Bill Lawrence and Kevin Biegel on the Show's Transformation and Masturbating Time Travelers".
2. Otterson, Joe. (2017-12-15). "Bill Lawrence Developing Space Travel Comedy at CBS". Variety.
3. (May 2007). "Scrubs (NBC)". The Peabody Awards.
4. "Scrubs".
5. Carter, Bill. (2006-07-03). "Sitcom Given Up for Dead Hits the Web. It's Alive!". The New York Times.
6. (2011-08-04). "The Lost Roles of the Unproduced ''Fletch'' Reboot". Splitsider.
7. (10 May 2012). "It's Official: 'Cougar Town' Moves To TBS".
8. Gelt, Jessica. (November 14, 2013). "Bill Lawrence, television's anonymous mogul".
9. (13 February 2015). "It's Official: TBS' 'Ground Floor' Canceled". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
10. (25 February 2014). "Bill Lawrence and 'Undateable' Stars Hit the Road to Promote NBC Comedy 'Undateable'".
11. (28 May 2014). "The 'Undateable' Comedy Tour: How to Launch (or Not Launch) a TV Show in 2014".
12. Harris, Will. (2014-06-05). "'Scrubs' Creator Bill Lawrence On 'Undateable,' the Multi-Camera Tradition and Surviving the Summer Schedule". IndieWire.
13. Wagmeister, Elizabeth. (May 13, 2016). "'Undateable' Cancelled After 3 Seasons at NBC". Variety.
14. (September 30, 2014). "'Rush Hour' TV series in the works".
15. (2017-12-15). "Spaced Out: Bill Lawrence Developing Comedy at CBS". ComingSoon.net.
16. Ausiello, Michael. (May 11, 2018). "Whiskey Cavalier Starring Scott Foley, Lauren Cohan Ordered to Series at ABC". TVLine.
17. Andreeva, Nellie. (February 11, 2022). "Bill Lawrence Closes Massive New Overall Deal With Warner Bros. TV Group – The Story Behind 9-Figure Pact". [[Deadline Hollywood]].
18. (2026-01-29). "Shrinking (TV series)". Wikipedia.
19. Smith Brady, Lois. (5 December 1999). "WEDDINGS: VOWS; Christa Miller, William Lawrence IV". The New York Times.
20. (21 July 2017). ""Scrubs" creator safe after seaplane splashes down in East River". New York Post.