Making Your Life Bigger Through Comedy: A Conversation with ‘Girls5eva’ Creator and Showrunner Meredith Scardino

When a one-hit-wonder girl group from the 90’s gets sampled by a young rapper, its members reunite to give their pop star dreams one more shot. They may be grown women balancing spouses, kids, jobs, debt, aging parents, and shoulder pain, but can‘t they also be Girls5eva?

The series stars Grammy® Award-winner and Tony® and Emmy® Award-nominated singer Sara Bareilles, Grammy® and Tony® Award-winning actress and singer Renée Elise Goldsberry, Emmy® winning “Saturday Night Live” mainstay and comedy icon Paula Pell, and New York Times Best-Selling author, actor, activist, writer and host Busy Philipps.

Meredith Scardino serves as creator and executive producer for the series. Jeff Richmond, Tina Fey (Little Stranger, Inc.), Robert Carlock (Bevel Gears), David Miner (3 Arts Entertainment), Eric Gurian (Little Stranger) also serve as executive producers. Girls5eva is produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.

Humor really is the secret medicine that makes it tolerable to confront the absurdity that is…life. Especially when you’ve made it to the top of the hill just to be greeted by your mid-life crisis. You may not end up getting that Lambo you didn’t really need or want, but more than likely, you’ll get a hefty fruit basket filled with what was, what could have been, and what’s around the bend – and that’s what we get in Meredith Scardino’s Girls5eva – especially with Season 3.

Meredith Scardino recently spoke with Script about tapping into and writing humor that is relatable, her creative collaboration with composer and EP Jeff Richmond, the importance of rejection, why comedy was her calling, and so much more!

This interview has been edited for content and clarity.

Sadie Dean: Congrats on the third season! In one of the episodes, “Orlando” Catherine Cohen's character mentions nostalgia and how we always go back to it – it’s this mask that we hide behind when everything is on fire at a certain point in our lives, but it brings us back to this happy place. There's just something about that that just struck me as a viewer, especially as we continue to follow these characters and their journeys. Now at the end of the third season, was this where you originally saw their trajectory going, especially with that cliffhanger?

Meredith Scardino: First, I’ll talk about that nostalgia story. We had seen in season one that they reunited and they start doing everything kind of the old way and realize, ‘Wait, what are we doing? Oh, we were part of that toxic machine. Let's try it a different way.’ And so you see them kind of have this like wholesale, especially Dawn and Gloria, have this kind of like wholesale rejection of their past work that was written kind of in five minutes by a Swedish guy, or whoever, and they just sang it, and left the studio, had no agency. And so, they kind of are, Dawn especially, doesn't love the old stuff that they did and feels a little bit embarrassed by it and doesn’t want to look back and sees herself as more of an artist now - which is a journey that I love that she is finding her voice as a songwriter and all that.

But I read this book between seasons called Exit Stage Left, and it was about who had left the music business, what happened to them after, and all that stuff. And there was a really interesting thing about nostalgia that was sort of like how so much nostalgia almost has nothing to do with the music itself. It's like a time machine and it kind of takes you back to a fear of fearless High School times or whatever it is. And so, I love the idea that Dawn could kind of get an appreciation for that old stuff even if she doesn't cosign it now just because if she's honest with herself, it is kind of connecting her to this fearless version of herself before the tonnage of life comes in. Not that she wasn't going through things at the time, but I mean, I think it's pretty relatable [laughs] I feel that way too when you're almost too dumb to know better. And so, I liked that journey for her to kind of see, because I just think so many things are two things at once. And I just liked the idea that it wasn't just like, goodbye forever to the past, it's like, ‘no, there's a part of me that I take with me into the present that I still love and can't deny.’

I think in the cliffhanger so much of this season is about fame. And they want to get back on top and are looking at like, what is that life? Do we want that life? When they meet up with Gray Holland on the road, and he feels like he doesn't even have time to go to the bathroom. And he misses those down-and-dirty days when you're just writing music basically in a basement, under a bar. And maybe he's longing for something that's a little unrealistic, but their sights are very much on the top. And same with Richard Kind’s character who says, ‘Happiness is not the big time, it's the medium time where you're never bugged in a deli, but you're still doing the thing that you love, and you're working.’ And I do kind of believe in that, as like when you're making the thing, and doing the thing, without maybe necessarily worrying about all the big stuff - not that I've had like major fame or anything, [laughs] I certainly have not. But I do think that those are kind of always the times you think of as the best times.

I like the idea heading into the end of the season, where they all kind of come to this conclusion that there is this joy in the making of it and being with each other and all that. They don't necessarily want it to get ruined by going for the top tier. But then they get presented with an opportunity to kind of hit the big time. It is coming in the form of a song for the female Garfield movie. [laughs] So the idea that was like, ‘Oh, shit, the big times calling!’ What will it look like for the group if they get to finally start getting some success? Can they keep each other normal? Can they navigate it? Finally do the things that they want, but not get seduced and let their egos grow?

Sadie: There's a lot to chew on there, especially for like all that character work and exploration – seems like a fun sandbox to play in. What I really enjoyed about the show is, on top of the characters, there is levity in everything. And there’s a specificity of this world and the characters that live in it. How do you and your room approach the absurdity, the jokes, and grounding it all while also keeping the character development momentum – basically, chicken or the egg first?

Meredith: Sometimes you'll come up with a bit that just feels right for the characters, and you come up with a bit first. And then it's like, ‘Oh, that would go really well with this character's journey.’ I have in my notes app, I have a jokes note. And I just basically add to it every time something's stupid occurs to me. But in the beginning of the season, we kind of brainstorm and talk about bits and journeys. And you always talk about the character arc, and the character journeys in the first season, especially like these shorter seasons have. Like, OK, they're on tour, A to B plus how do we get there? How are they growing? What are the challenges? And sometimes, great ideas are born out of just talking about what the difficulties would be on the road, Wickie is in a relationship with the Lunch Lord, a stable normal relationship, what would happen if she's tempted on the road? that sort of starts the germ of a story.

And then basically, in the beginning of the season, you generate a million ideas based on where you think the characters need to go, but also just silly jokes that occur to all of us - a lot of the people I work with are real bit monsters and joke slingers. So you kind of create, and this is something I learned from Tina and Robert [Carlock], because they did it on Kimmy Schmidt, which is you just create this giant board on the wall divided by character… it would be like something as small as Percy, John Lutz's character, Janine Brito who's the writer in the room that had an idea that he gets nauseous when he reads road signs. So, you just put that on the board - that's not going to be a story. But that might be in the background of a scene, and we all think it's funny. But then you might have the bigger story of Dawn, appreciating her old self and that feel like more story-story. So that might also be up there.

And so, you end up with this big tapestry of a potential season, I mean, you always have way too much, you’re just generating a tremendous amount of material. And you try to start to try to match stories up…so you just start to pair things and beat them out and then line them up and do your best to create a cohesive story that bounces around between an A and B and maybe a runner, or a C story. But yeah, the short answer is it can happen either way. You might have the bit first or you might have the story first, and then you find a funny way to express it.

Sadie: In terms of the songs, how much is that written into the script? Or do you land on a thematic element you want to hit lyrically, and then work with Jeff Richmond to further flesh it out for a specific episode?

Meredith: We try our best to have a snippet of it for when we do table reads, so that you can needle drop, or have it sung live, just so that you can get a taste of how it feels within the body of the show. I mean, the songs are always born out of story. We don't step out and do a full song except, we did in the finale, we did most of a song, but it is very pivotal to the scene. But usually, it's very much connected to the storyline. And they're short usually a snippet or maybe it's a minute tops…

Sometimes I'll take a lot of ideas from the writers’ room…because it's kind of hard to group write lyrics - so everybody has genius pitches, and then I will take it after hours and just try to come up with OK, this feels like it's getting a shape and bring it back to the room. And then I'll send it over to Jeff and the music team. And sometimes I'll sing like a really bad demo to be like, ‘this might be what it could sound like,’ I have a bad voice. [laughs] And they're very kind to me. And don't make too much fun of me, at least in front of my face, when I send them these horrible demos, but then they do their magic. Sometimes Jeff will be like, ‘is there a vibe of song that you like that is sort of like the thing that you guys are picturing?’

And he's incredible at every genre. I mean, he did that at Second City, he did that SNL - he's just incredibly gifted and hardworking. So, he's awesome to work with. And you send like a vibe and then maybe the lyrics and sometimes I'll sing. And then basically, they'll take that stuff and come back with something that actually sounds really earwormy, poppy, or whatever it calls for, and it's so much better than I ever could have done. [laughs] And Jeff is great about being like, sometimes we'll flesh these songs out to longer versions, and he'll go like, ‘hey, we could maybe use a bridge here, or could you give me a couplet that scans the same way the next one does, because it would just help beef up the top here.’ And that's really helpful to be like, what does it need to sound more authentic? And sometimes they'll dummy in something that is really good, and we keep it lyrically. It's a really, really fun process of going back and forth.

It was such an unexpected kind of gift that I didn't know going into making the show that that would ever happen. I always thought we would kind of keep them small and tight and little. And then we've made three albums of full songs.

Sadie: That’s amazing. What inspired you to become a comedy writer?

Meredith: Well, it's so interesting, because I always in the deep back of my head, thought I would be in comedy - as a child. I wrote SNL a letter when I was, I think I was in fourth grade. I was like, ‘it'd be really cool if you had a layman host. And I think that would get you guys a lot of attention. And maybe it's a fourth-grade girl in suburban Philadelphia.’ I was always obsessed with comedy. I was obsessed with sketch comedy. I loved cartoons. I loved comics. I loved Charles Addams comics. I loved Gary Larson. I devoured that stuff as a kid. In high school, I used to write top 10 lists with a couple of guys that were super funny. And I just was always really interested in comedy, but I had no idea how on earth to get into it. I didn't have a clue. And I was pursuing visual arts because I liked to draw and paint. And so, I went to college for painting. [laughs] And then I moved to New York and went to grad school for painting - really youngest child stuff, my oldest sister is a lawyer, so the youngest can go to painting school.

And it was really once I moved to New York that I started taking classes at UCB theatre, I started just getting opened up to all the comedy that was in New York and I started working as an animator to kind of make money, but also, I loved cartoons, and I was interested in animation. So, my first job was for Bill Plympton, this independent animator who's super prolific and then I did stuff for Comedy Central for different random directors. And I just kept going for the writing side of things and the comedy side of things and wrote a million packets for every late night Show and got rejected. I was so used to getting rejected to like, that's a key part of it. I got rejected from I think 12 MFA programs before I went to grad school, [laughs] I’m very used to being rejected. I think being constantly rejected from late night shows that I was writing packets for was not a huge new experience for me.

So, I just kept going and then eventually got my first job at Best Week Ever on VH1, which was all my heroes that I was going and seeing at Asssscat and stuff at UCB - and I got to write jokes for them. And it was so fun. I just absolutely loved it. And then from there, it was like, OK, now I'm working as a writer, and then it was easier to get actual representation. And then I eventually got WGA jobs and ended up in late night and worked for The Colbert Report for six years. I was so happy there. I didn't necessarily want to leave. I loved it. I loved going to work every day. I just read Tina and Robert’s script for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and it was so exciting and all I wanted to do was write for that show. And so, I was like, ‘I think I'm gonna try and do it.’ And they thankfully hired me, but I always want to do all of the things. I still wish I got to work with the people. I worked with at The Colbert Report every day - I love everybody I worked with at Kimmy Schmid,t I love everybody I work with at Girls5eva. I love being in a writers’ room. It's really fun, I’m very comfortable in that environment. It's been a while now I guess that I've been a comedy writer. [laughs]

I like making things. I just want to keep being able to be a clown and think of stupid bits and write them on a wall and get them in a script and get actors to say them that bring something and make it even funnier than you ever could have imagined. This is such a cool process. I’m really grateful that I've gotten to do it and hopefully keep getting to do it.

Sadie: When did you discover or tap into your own voice as a comedy writer?

Meredith: Probably started with me mimicking stuff. I used to watch Conan a lot. I loved Late Night with Conan O'Brien. And I think because the bits were so stupid, I thought I could write them - but they were smarter than they looked. You know? But I was like, I know I could do that. [laughs] I had a very high confidence that I could absolutely be part of that group. [laughs] And of course, I got rejected. But I think I felt like…there was like a language of absurd bit comedy that I felt very much I could play on the team or I wanted to really badly be part of.

But as far as like developing my own voice I mean, I guess in the beginning, it's just like, what do I find funny? So, I just pitched and then hope it resonates with other people. And then I think this show really, is cool because you get to put yourself into it so much, but I've also done that with every show I've worked on, there's like a huge part of myself, that, I mean, every writer does that too where you just filter it through the show. And so, you filter yourself through a character or a stupid bit, whatever it is, there's a lot of each of us in all of the show…the writers’ room is really like all of these people somehow kind of found their way into the characters. And so, I think I was used to doing that at Kimmy Schmidt.

But then it like jumped up a level with Girls5eva because it would be like, is there really room for this song about basically my son? [laughs] There was another writer that was on Kimmy Schmidt, Lauren Gurganous who wrote on Girls5Eeva, and we were both pregnant at the same time. And I got so sick of everybody asking me when I was having another one. And so, I started just saying, ‘he's a New York Lonely Boy, he is a one-off. He is born to older parents. He likes sushi.’ And so, we just started exploring that idea through Dawn, who has some similarities to me. I mean, we're not 100% the same, but there's definitely some similarities. And you're like, oh, yeah, let's do something about that.

You just bring in things from life. And I think that's what's so fun about this show - I've really enjoyed and found freedom in working on it - you can write relatable things. But then also write about pop culture, and the music business and celebrity and kind of those candy-coated things that are fun and flashy and kind of make the show bright and colorful and fast and exciting. But you also get to write real stuff. And at the core, the show is very grounded in what it feels like to be in your 40s and start to feel a little invisible and getting into routine and making your life smaller. And I just love the idea that these ladies are like, ‘No, I'm going to try and fight against all that stuff and make my life bigger.’ And so, you kind of have these multiple levels of the types of stories you get to tell which is really fun and freeing. 

Girls5eva is now streaming on Netflix.