Meredith Scardino, creator and showrunner of Girls5evais no stranger to the Emmy winners circle.
He began writing late-night comedies and spent six years writing for The Colbert Report, where she won four Emmy trophies. She also worked as a writer and producer for the Tina Fey and Robert Carlock series Kimmy Schmidt Indestructiblewhich earned 18 Emmy nominations over the course of its four seasons.
With Girls5eva Now on Netflix after being canceled by Peacock after its second season, the musical comedy’s Emmy nomination for Outstanding Original Screenplay is even more special.
“Of course, that has an added meaning, because of the blood, sweat and tears you put into it,” Scardino says.
Sara Bareilles, who stars alongside Renée Elise Goldsberry, Paula Pell and Busy Philipps in the series about a '90s girl group who gets a second chance at fame, also picked up a nod for best original music and lyrics for the song “The Medium Time” in the season three episode “New York.”
In this article, Scardino and fellow writer Sam Means discuss the Emmy nominations they earned for the Fey-produced comedy.
To be recognized by Emmy voters from outside the bubble that is the Girls5eva the writers room should be rewarding.
MEREDITH SCARDINO It really means a lot to get a nomination for writing. I’m so impressed with our peer group. Obviously I absolutely love our show. It’s just nice to be recognized by other people who do the same work. And I would love to see our cast nominated in the acting categories. I think everyone deserves a nomination, but it’s especially gratifying to see Sara recognized for her song “The Medium Time.” She’s just amazing and I can’t believe I know her.
SAM MEANS It’s wonderful that Sara was nominated personally for her talent and for that song, but also to recognize the music that is at the heart of this show.
You're clearly not finished. Girls5eva when Peacock canceled it after season 2.
SHEAR We always felt like this had to continue. You kind of feel when something is in the bag. There's such an alchemy of things that have to come together to make something feel really alive and special. There's so many things that go wrong all the time. And with this show, from the beginning, we've always had challenges. We started in 2020, before there was a [COVID] vaccine, and we were writing the show on Zoom. There's such a resilience in this cast and crew, and it feels like we're always up for a challenge. It's like, “OK, great, let's move the party to Netflix.”
Your connections with Tina Fey and Robert Carlock have given Netflix the comfort to address Girls5eva?
SHEAR Actually, Andy Weil, who works at Netflix, was our executive on Kimmy Schmidt. Tracey Pakosta, I had reached out to her when she was at NBC, and she loved the show. So they were our favorite fans of Girls5eva from the moment it fell. Because of these great relationships, when it became potentially something that could be relocated, they immediately became very interested. It happened very quickly.
What did the platform change mean for your audience?
SHEAR I can say that our audience has grown tremendously. Our actors, people stop them in the street all the time. That didn't happen before, when we were on Peacock, which, by the way, was amazing for us. I have nothing but good things to say about Peacock for believing in the show and giving us two amazing seasons. But Netflix's audience is the world.
The success of Girls5evathe band, now consists of the four characters from the former girl group. Talk about writing for your cast for season three.
SHEAR We knew at the end of season two that they were going to get in the van and do a DIY tour. So you want to settle that score in season three. It always seemed like the natural next step. So before the season started, I asked Sara if she wanted to go eat together and she talked about life on the road. Some of that stuff ends up in the soup of the show. And if there’s something that happens in someone’s life that seems relevant to these characters, it often is. Sometimes they say that the writers and I have secret meetings with their therapists, because it seems like art imitates life or life imitates art a lot.
Netflix ordered you to a six-episode series, which meant you had to be more succinct in the writers room.
SHEAR It was a little bit smaller than the first two seasons. So we had to stick to our season arc a little bit more tightly. But we didn't feel like we left out anything that we were longing for. Obviously, we could write 1,000 episodes for these women. But I think the six was a nice, tight six.
IT MEANS Meredith's vision for the show is so clear and the voices of these characters are so clear. It was just a matter of staying true to that.
This story originally appeared in an August standalone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.