Greg Berlanti
Encyclopedia
Greg Berlanti is an American television writer and producer.
. His parents are Barbara Moller Berlanti and Eugene Berlanti. Greg has one sister, Dina and is the uncle of two nieces. He described his early life in an August 2004 interview with Entertainment Weekly
: "We were Italians in a town of WASPs
" and his family was not "doing as well as 90% of the community."
After each of his shows is his Berlanti Television logo which features a family with their backs to the audience and a quote which says "Greg, move your head!" which is actually what his father Gene used to yell at him when he was blocking the television screen.
Berlanti is gay.
and participated in many activities including Delta Tau Delta
fraternity. He was a writer and producer on Dawson's Creek
and its short-lived spin-off Young Americans
. He is best known as being the creator, executive producer, and showrunner of Everwood
. He also co-created the short-lived series Jack & Bobby
.
Berlanti also wrote and directed the film Broken Hearts Club
, about young gay friends in West Hollywood which he based on his own circle of friends at the time.
In August 2006, Berlanti announced a new deal with Touchstone
Television and ABC
to create new pilots. In conjunction with the announcement, Berlanti announced a parting of the ways with longtime creative partner Mickey Liddell. At the same time, news surfaced that Berlanti was acting as a consultant for the new ABC series Brothers & Sisters. The previous executive producer, Marti Noxon
, had left the show after conflict with creator Jon Robin Baitz
. Berlanti now serves as an executive producer for the series.
Berlanti was also the executive producer of Dirty Sexy Money
which debuted on ABC on September 26, 2007.
With Marc Guggenheim
, Berlanti is the co-writer of Eli Stone
, a television pilot for ABC which debuted as a mid-season replacement in 2008. Berlanti also serves as executive producer. Berlanti was instrumental in the pilot's promotion of the theory that a mercury
-based vaccine
preservative causes autism
. This theory
is not supported by scientific evidence, but has contributed to decreased vaccination rates that according to the medical community, endanger children. Berlanti defended the pilot, opining that the script showed both sides of the controversy, commenting, "I think they wanted us to do our homework about all of it, which we did."
Berlanti was briefly attached to direct the 2011 Green Lantern
film, whose screenplay he co-wrote. He also directed the 2010 film Life As We Know It
, starring Katherine Heigl
and Josh Duhamel
.
Personal life
Berlanti was born in Rye, New YorkRye (city), New York
Rye is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is separate from the town of Rye, which is larger than the city. Rye city, formerly the village of Rye, was part of the town until 1942, when it received its charter as a city, the most recent to be issued in New York...
. His parents are Barbara Moller Berlanti and Eugene Berlanti. Greg has one sister, Dina and is the uncle of two nieces. He described his early life in an August 2004 interview with Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
: "We were Italians in a town of WASPs
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant or WASP is an informal term, often derogatory or disparaging, for a closed group of high-status Americans mostly of British Protestant ancestry. The group supposedly wields disproportionate financial and social power. When it appears in writing, it is usually used to...
" and his family was not "doing as well as 90% of the community."
After each of his shows is his Berlanti Television logo which features a family with their backs to the audience and a quote which says "Greg, move your head!" which is actually what his father Gene used to yell at him when he was blocking the television screen.
Berlanti is gay.
Career
Berlanti studied writing at Northwestern UniversityNorthwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
and participated in many activities including Delta Tau Delta
Delta Tau Delta
Delta Tau Delta is a U.S.-based international secret letter college fraternity. Delta Tau Delta was founded in 1858 at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, . It currently has around 125 student chapters nationwide, as well as more than 25 regional alumni groups. Its national community service...
fraternity. He was a writer and producer on Dawson's Creek
Dawson's Creek
Dawson's Creek is an American teen drama television series which debuted on January 20, 1998, on The WB Television Network and was produced by Sony Pictures Television. The show is set in the fictional seaside town of Capeside, Massachusetts, and in Boston, Massachusetts, during the later seasons...
and its short-lived spin-off Young Americans
Young Americans (TV series)
Young Americans is an American television drama created by Steven Antin. The show debuted on July 12, 2000 on The WB network as a summer replacement for, and spin-off from, another Columbia TriStar Television production, Dawson's Creek. The series was originally ordered for the fall 1999-2000...
. He is best known as being the creator, executive producer, and showrunner of Everwood
Everwood
Everwood is an American drama television series that initially aired in the United States on The WB. The series is set in the fictional small town of Everwood, Colorado, and was filmed in Ogden, South Salt Lake, and Draper, Utah, except the series pilot which was filmed in Canmore, Alberta,...
. He also co-created the short-lived series Jack & Bobby
Jack & Bobby
Jack & Bobby is an American television series that aired on The WB network. It featured two brothers, one of whom would become President of the United States, serving from 2041 to 2049...
.
Berlanti also wrote and directed the film Broken Hearts Club
Broken Hearts Club
The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy is a 2000 American film written and directed by Greg Berlanti. It follows the lives of a group of gay friends in West Hollywood, centered around a restaurant owned by the fatherly Jack and the softball team he sponsors...
, about young gay friends in West Hollywood which he based on his own circle of friends at the time.
In August 2006, Berlanti announced a new deal with Touchstone
Touchstone
A touchstone is a small tablet of dark stone such as fieldstone, slate, or lydite, used for assaying precious metal alloys. It has a finely grained surface on which soft metals leave a visible trace.-History:The touchstone was used in ancient Greece...
Television and ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
to create new pilots. In conjunction with the announcement, Berlanti announced a parting of the ways with longtime creative partner Mickey Liddell. At the same time, news surfaced that Berlanti was acting as a consultant for the new ABC series Brothers & Sisters. The previous executive producer, Marti Noxon
Marti Noxon
Martha Mills "Marti" Noxon is an American television and film writer first known for writing and producing Buffy the Vampire Slayer.- Production :...
, had left the show after conflict with creator Jon Robin Baitz
Jon Robin Baitz
Jon Robin Baitz is an American playwright, screenwriter, television producer and sometime actor.-Life and career:Baitz was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Edward Baitz, an executive of the Carnation Company. Baitz was raised in Brazil and South Africa before the family returned to...
. Berlanti now serves as an executive producer for the series.
Berlanti was also the executive producer of Dirty Sexy Money
Dirty Sexy Money
Dirty Sexy Money is an American prime time drama series created by Craig Wright, which ran on the ABC from September 26, 2007 to August 8, 2009. The series was produced by ABC Studios, Bad Hat Harry Productions, Berlanti Television and Gross Entertainment...
which debuted on ABC on September 26, 2007.
With Marc Guggenheim
Marc Guggenheim
Marc Guggenheim is an American television writer-producer and a writer for Marvel Comics and DC Comics. His brother is screenwriter Eric Guggenheim.-Television:...
, Berlanti is the co-writer of Eli Stone
Eli Stone
Eli Stone is an American TV series, and also the name of the title character.San Francisco lawyer Eli Stone begins to see things, which leads him to discover a brain aneurysm...
, a television pilot for ABC which debuted as a mid-season replacement in 2008. Berlanti also serves as executive producer. Berlanti was instrumental in the pilot's promotion of the theory that a mercury
Mercury (element)
Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...
-based vaccine
Vaccine
A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe or its toxins...
preservative causes autism
Autism
Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their...
. This theory
Thiomersal controversy
The thiomersal controversy describes claims that vaccines containing the mercury-based preservative thiomersal contribute to the development of autism and other brain development disorders...
is not supported by scientific evidence, but has contributed to decreased vaccination rates that according to the medical community, endanger children. Berlanti defended the pilot, opining that the script showed both sides of the controversy, commenting, "I think they wanted us to do our homework about all of it, which we did."
Berlanti was briefly attached to direct the 2011 Green Lantern
Green Lantern (film)
Green Lantern is a 2011 superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name. The film stars Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Mark Strong, Angela Bassett and Tim Robbins, with Martin Campbell directing a script by Greg Berlanti and comic book writers Michael Green and Marc...
film, whose screenplay he co-wrote. He also directed the 2010 film Life As We Know It
Life as We Know It (film)
Life as We Know It is a 2010 romantic comedy-drama film directed by Greg Berlanti, starring Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel. It was released on October 8, 2010, after sneak previews in 811 theaters on October 2, 2010...
, starring Katherine Heigl
Katherine Heigl
Katherine Marie Heigl is an American actress and producer. She is possibly best known for her role as Dr. Izzie Stevens on ABC's Grey's Anatomy from 2005 to 2010, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Drama Series in 2007...
and Josh Duhamel
Josh Duhamel
Joshua David "Josh" Duhamel is an American actor and former fashion model. He first achieved acting success in 1999 as Leo du Pres on ABC's All My Children and later as the chief of security, Danny McCoy, on NBC's Las Vegas...
.
Writer
- Dawson's CreekDawson's CreekDawson's Creek is an American teen drama television series which debuted on January 20, 1998, on The WB Television Network and was produced by Sony Pictures Television. The show is set in the fictional seaside town of Capeside, Massachusetts, and in Boston, Massachusetts, during the later seasons...
(1998) - The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy (2000)
- Jack & BobbyJack & BobbyJack & Bobby is an American television series that aired on The WB network. It featured two brothers, one of whom would become President of the United States, serving from 2041 to 2049...
(2004) - EverwoodEverwoodEverwood is an American drama television series that initially aired in the United States on The WB. The series is set in the fictional small town of Everwood, Colorado, and was filmed in Ogden, South Salt Lake, and Draper, Utah, except the series pilot which was filmed in Canmore, Alberta,...
(2002–2006) - Eli StoneEli StoneEli Stone is an American TV series, and also the name of the title character.San Francisco lawyer Eli Stone begins to see things, which leads him to discover a brain aneurysm...
(2007) - Brothers & Sisters (2006–2007)
- No Ordinary FamilyNo Ordinary FamilyNo Ordinary Family is an American television series on ABC. The 45-minute science fiction comedy-drama was produced by ABC Studios for the 2010–11 television season. The series ran from September 28, 2010 to April 5, 2011, on Tuesdays at 8 pm ET/PT...
(2010) - Green LanternGreen Lantern (film)Green Lantern is a 2011 superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name. The film stars Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Mark Strong, Angela Bassett and Tim Robbins, with Martin Campbell directing a script by Greg Berlanti and comic book writers Michael Green and Marc...
(2011)
Producer
- EverwoodEverwoodEverwood is an American drama television series that initially aired in the United States on The WB. The series is set in the fictional small town of Everwood, Colorado, and was filmed in Ogden, South Salt Lake, and Draper, Utah, except the series pilot which was filmed in Canmore, Alberta,...
(2002–2006) - Brothers & Sisters (2006–2011)
- Dirty Sexy MoneyDirty Sexy MoneyDirty Sexy Money is an American prime time drama series created by Craig Wright, which ran on the ABC from September 26, 2007 to August 8, 2009. The series was produced by ABC Studios, Bad Hat Harry Productions, Berlanti Television and Gross Entertainment...
(2007) - Green LanternGreen Lantern (film)Green Lantern is a 2011 superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name. The film stars Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Mark Strong, Angela Bassett and Tim Robbins, with Martin Campbell directing a script by Greg Berlanti and comic book writers Michael Green and Marc...
(2011)
Director
- The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy (2000)
- Life As We Know ItLife as We Know It (film)Life as We Know It is a 2010 romantic comedy-drama film directed by Greg Berlanti, starring Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel. It was released on October 8, 2010, after sneak previews in 811 theaters on October 2, 2010...
(2010)
External links
- Greg Berlanti's bio on the DawsonsCreek.com site
- Interview with Berlanti at Television Without Pity