Liz Meriwether Inks New 20th Century Fox TV Deal

By Will Thorne

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – “New Girl” creator Liz Meriwether has signed another overall deal with 20th Century Fox TV.

The new deal comes only seven months after she signed a multi-year extension agreement with the TV studio, where she signed her first overall deal in 2014.

Meriwether’s overall is now the seventh that Twentieth Television has announced in the four weeks since the Disney acquisition went through. The other previously announced deals were with Drew Goddard, Jason Winer, Octavia Spencer, Nora Smith, Jake Kasdan & Melvin Mar, and Marlene King.

“Peter Rice, Howard Kurtzman, Jonnie Davis, and Dana Walden have been my creative partners since I was a receptionist living in New York writing a script called ‘Sluts.’ I’m so grateful and thrilled to be able to keep making television at my home studio, which now, I’m hoping, also comes with tickets to Disneyland,” Meriwether said.

She currently has multiple pieces of business with the studio, including the ABC midseason comedy “Bless This Mess,” starring Lake Bell and Dax Shepard, ABC’s freshman comedy “Single Parents,” and the upcoming ABC pilot “Woman Up” from Zoe Lister-Jones, which she will executive produce.

“Twelve years ago, when we first met, Liz was a wildly funny and talented playwright from New York, who was so dedicated to getting the characters and humor in her scripts exactly right, she’d often pull all nighters and sleep in her office. We’ve had the pleasure of watching her grow into a confident, formidable and successful show runner, who’s currently overseeing three shows, a slate of development and, thankfully, sleeping in her house.  She’s outrageously funny, endlessly creative, wildly prolific and also one of the greatest people you’ll ever have the good fortune to know. Craig, Jonnie, Howard and I have made it our mission to keep her here and we’re so glad she said yes,” said Dana Walden, chairman of Disney TV and ABC Entertainment.