Josh Schwartz - Biography

Josh Schwartz (born August 6, 1976) is an American screenwriter and television producer. Schwartz is best known for creating and executive producing the Fox drama The O.C. Schwartz recently developed The CW's teen drama series, Gossip Girl from the Gossip Girl books series, and co-created NBC's action-comedy-spy series, Chuck.

At 26, he became the youngest person in network history to create a network series and run its day-to-day production when he ran The O.C. He currently resides in Los Angeles.

Early life

Schwartz was born in 1976 in Providence, Rhode Island to Steve and Honey Schwartz. His parents were both toy inventors at Hasbro, working on the development of toys such as Transformers and My Little Pony, until they went on to start their own company. Schwartz grew up on the East side of Providence, Rhode Island with a younger brother, Danny, and a younger sister, Katie. Schwartz always had ambitions of being a writer since early childhood. When Schwartz was seven years old, he won an essay-writing contest at sleep-away camp for a review of the recently released movie Gremlins; the opening line was "Spielberg has done it again" and stood out amongst the pile of essays from the other kids. He even had a subscription to the entertainment industry newspaper Variety at age twelve. He attended Providence's private Wheeler School, a coeducational independent day school, for 11 years, graduating with the class of 1994.

Film school at USC

In 1995, Schwartz realized his boyhood dream of attending film school to study screen and television writing at the University of Southern California. He became a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, as well as president of the chapter, and got to see what it's like "behind the gated communities and big mansions" of Southern California which would later provide fodder for his pilot The O.C. He was an outsider, and met many kids from Newport Beach. While at USC, Schwartz tried out stand-up comedy at a talent show in front of five hundred people but was "disabused of [the] notion very quickly."

In his sophomore year he wrote an autobiographical screenplay about his senior year in high school called Providence as a homework assignment for school. He entered his screenplay into a contest for the prestigious Nicholson Award in Screenwriting, the highest honor awarded to undergraduates, and won. Unfortunately, the prize was quickly revoked; to be eligible he had to be in his junior year at the time. Schwartz says "I dropped it in a box – I was a sophomore. And I got a call over the summer saying I'd won, and I'd won five thousand dollars. I was like, "This is awesome!" Then they called back, like, the next day and said you had to be a junior to enter and not a sophomore, so they were rescinding it. I was pretty pissed." Nevertheless, with help from connections through his fraternity, he generated interest in Hollywood to buy his screenplay. In 1997, Sony's TriStar Pictures bought his first screenplay in a bidding war for a deal guaranteeing $550,000 and worth up to $1 million while he was still a junior in college. It was never made.

Schwartz got an agent and subsequently wrote a TV pilot called Brookfield for ABC/Disney while he was still studying at USC. It was a boarding school drama about wealthy kids in New England and was his first TV pilot script; it sold only a few months after he had sold his first feature film script. Brookfield was produced starring Amy Smart and Eric Balfour but never aired. Schwartz then dropped out of USC to work full-time and wrote another pilot called Wall to Wall Records, a drama about working in a music store for Warner Bros. TV that was also produced but never aired.

The O.C.

In 2003, Schwartz wrote a pilot called The O.C. for Warner Bros. TV and Wonderland Sound and Vision which was produced with him as creator and executive producer. At 26 he was the youngest ever creator of a TV show, which did not sit well with Fox executives who sent a series of seasoned pros armed with conventional ideas about how to steer the show and a bitterness about sharing control with someone so young. That changed when Bob DeLaurentis signed on, a TV veteran who proved to be a nurturing presence on the show. Schwartz and Bob DeLaurentis collaborated on supervising and approving the editors' work on each episode in post-production.

The O.C. became an instant teen favorite when it debuted on the Fox Network in August 2003. The show popularized its setting, Orange County, and led to copycats like MTV's reality show Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County and the Bravo documentary series The Real Housewives of Orange County. The show became well known for its music, chosen by Schwartz according to his own musical tastes and designed to reflect who the characters were, bringing an awareness to indie rock bands like Death Cab for Cutie, Bloc Party and Rooney. He has said that he partially based The O.C. character Seth Cohen on his own Jewish upbringing. Schwartz was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for the pilot as well as a People's Choice Award. The O.C. was named "Guilty Pleasure of the Year" by VH1. In 2007, after 4 seasons The O.C. was canceled due to a significant ratings drop.

Schwartz has stayed in touch with his alma maters: The Wheeler School and USC. In 2005, he endowed USC with its first television writing scholarship: The Josh Schwartz Scholarship. The scholarship is intended to be awarded annually to a student or students concentrating on writing for television and in need of financial assistance, who have completed a TV pilot script and first season synopsis. Although Schwartz never graduated from USC he has since worked with many USC alumni. In 2005 he gave a commencement speech to The Wheeler School.

Schwartz has worked on his share of stalled projects. In 2004, he worked as a script doctor on the J. J. Abrams Superman screenplay that Warner Bros. eventually tossed. He sold a pilot to Fox called Alphabet City, a drama about a New York tabloid but it was never produced. He also worked on a drama for Fox called Athens described as an "OC" companion but it was never produced. According to the futon critic, Athens will explore the intertwined lives and loves of the fictional New England community of Athens, home to a prestigious university that acts as a dividing line between the rich outsiders who study and teach there, and the local townies who serve that population. Viewers will enter this world through the friendship of Jed Hall, a young English professor, and Ethan Frost, an 18-year-old freshman whose arrival changes the dynamics for everyone in Athens. Like Ryan and Seth on "The O.C.," Jed and Ethan will become unlikely partners in an alliance that will forever change them and the people of this town.

Recent film and television projects

In 2005, Paramount signed Schwartz to adapt and direct John Green's young adult novel Looking for Alaska with producer Mark Waters.

It was revealed in late August 2006 that Schwartz would develop and executive produce a drama pilot for The CW Television Network, based on the popular book series Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar. Like The O.C., Gossip Girl is a satirical approach of teenagers in a wealthy upbringing. Gossip Girl has become a very popular show for The CW.

In 2007, Schwartz signed a three-year, seven-figure overall deal with Warner Bros. TV to write and exec produce with Chris Fedak an hourlong high-concept action comedy called Chuck for NBC about twenty-something spies and was described in press releases as "in the vein of Grosse Pointe Blank". The plot revolves around a normal guy who downloads the entire CIA and NSA databases into his head.

In May 2008, Schwartz joined Zak Penn's X-Men: First Class project. Schwartz announced that he will write the script for X-Men: First Class, a prequel to the X-Men movies that focuses on the adventures of teen Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Professor X, Beast, Iceman, and Angel. However, his script was later jettisoned.

In Spring 2009, Schwartz launched "Rockville CA", a web-series on TheWB.com that follows young 20-somethings at a fictional rock club in Los Angeles. There are twenty indie band performances in the episodes, including Lykke Li, The Kooks and Kaiser Chiefs.

It was also announced that Schwartz would write and direct Bright Lights, Big City for MGM, based on the iconic debut novel by Jay McInerney. Stephanie Savage was also announced as producer.

Schwartz is now developing a pilot for The CW. The show is titled Hart of Dixie and is co-produced with longtime creative partner Stephanie Savage and stars former "O.C." castmember and personal friend of Schwartz, Rachel Bilson. At the same time, Schwartz is working on a Georgetown pilot for ABC.

In September of 2011, it was announced by The CW that Schwartz and Stephanie Savage had been selected to develop the television adaption of Candace Bushnell's The Carrie Diaries, a prequel to the original Sex and the City television series. The series, set in the 1980s, will follow character Carrie Bradshaw during her years in high school.

Personal life

On September 20, 2008, Schwartz married Jill Stonerock in Santa Barbara, California. Actress Rachel Bilson, who portrayed Summer Roberts on Schwartz's show The O.C., was the maid of honor at the wedding. Currently the couple is expecting their first child due in 2012.

He is Jewish.

Filmography

Crew

See also

• Fake Empire Productions

Further information

External links

• PopGurls Interview: Josh Schwartz