Comedy Writer Niki Schwartz-Wright Inks 20th TV Overall Deal, Joins ‘Speechless’
Young comedy writer Niki Schwartz-Wright has signed her first overall deal, a 2 + 1 pact with 20th Century Fox TV. It stems from her stint as a producer on the studio’s Fox comedy series The Grinder this past season. Under the overall deal, Schwartz-Wright will join 20th TV’s new ABC comedy series Speechless as supervising producer and will also develop.
Speechless, from creator/executive producer Scott Silveri and exec producers Jake Kasdan and Melvin Mar, centers on Maya DiMeo (Minnie Driver) a mom on a mission who will do anything for her husband Jimmy, her kids Ray, Dylan, and JJ, her eldest son with special needs. The comedy landed a spot on ABC’s Wednesday comedy block in the fall at 8:30 PM.
“Niki has a fierce and original comedic voice and she did fantastic work for us on The Grinder last season,” 20th TV president of creative affairs Jonnie Davis said. “We knew we wanted to be in business with her exclusively, and she’s the perfect addition to the dream team Scott, Jake and Melvin are putting together for Speechless. She’s a big talent with a bright future and we’re thrilled to have her on our roster.”
Schwartz-Wright started writing when she was in film school at NYU. She wrote on the final season of NBC’s The Office and also worked on ABC’s The Goldbergs. On the feature side, she wrote a spec comedy about two young women called In It for the Cash with Robin Schiff, which Adam Schroeder is producing. It will go to market later this year. Schwartz-Wright is repped by WME and her attorney is Jared Levine at Morris Yorn.
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