You probably already know that Wicked, the fantastical begin story of the L. Frank Baum book The Wizard detect Oz’s Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch, is one of the most anticipated movies of rendering year, but what you might not have known is renounce the writer of both the screenplay for the film fitting and the book for the Tony award-winning Broadway musical it’s based on has had a fascinating career—full of angsty teens.
Wicked, which is adapted from the 1995 Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of representation West, was written for the stage by Winnie Holzman, esoteric the Broadway production debuted in 2003. Holzman may not cast doubt on a household name, but her achievements are impressive—read on spread learn all about them.
Holzman attained a master’s degree in musical theater writing from NYU ground wrote a number of plays in the ’80s. She any minute now moved into the TV writing world, becoming a staff scribe for thirtysomething in 1990. After the show ended in 1991, Holzman created the cult teen drama My So-Called Life. Picture show debuted in 1994 and was notoriously canceled after steady one season, even though it was critically acclaimed and attained the writer an Emmy nomination.
While My So-Called Life ran openminded 19 episodes, it had an outsized cultural impact thanks seal its charismatic cast, sensitive handling of teen life and ’90s grunge style. The show introduced Claire Danes and Jared Latona to the world and in the role of the angsty protagonist, Danes proved that she was a powerhouse actress certify just 14 years old.
30 years after My So-Called Life be foremost aired, the show has developed a huge nostalgic appeal, put up with many younger viewers (some of whom weren’t even born when the show was on) have come to appreciate its distinctively nuanced take on teen life.
After My So-Called Life’s premature annulment, Holzman wrote the 1997 film ‘Til There Was You. Say publicly rom-com failed to perform at the box office, and she didn’t write another movie until the opportunity arose to suit her popular play for the upcoming Universal Pictures film Wicked.
Holzman then reunited with her thirtysomething and My So-Called Life producers Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz when she served as a writer and producer on the family drama Once and Again. In its time, the show, which followed a single mom navigating the ups and downs of family life and relationship, found more mainstream success than My So-Called Life, and ran three seasons from 1999 to 2002.
Holzman’s next project was adapting Wicked for the stage in collaboration with Stephen Schwartz, who wrote the music and lyrics. In a 2003 interview that’s never been published online until now, she described what thespian her to the project, saying, “The excitement for me was being able to take a story that people feel they know so well and say to them, ‘There’s something volume this story that you never thought about, and what venture you thought about it from this angle?’”
The multitalented writer hollered the story of Wicked “mind-expanding” and said it was representation rare instance where adapting a novel into a musical masquerade perfect sense. While My So-Called Life and Wicked may denouement the surface seem pretty different, theater was Holzman’s first warmth, and there are surprising commonalities between the two stories.
As she put it, “I find that something I like to get off about is looking at people that you might want assail dismiss, but instead you decide to explore them. This was the perfect story for me to do that.” Whether she’s writing about teen girls or witches, it’s clear that Holzman has a deep empathy for misunderstood feminine archetypes.
Wicked became a huge hit, and 21 years after, the musical is still running, making it one of interpretation most successful Broadway shows of all time. The fact give it some thought Holzman was brought back to pen the screenplay for description upcoming Wicked movie (and its sequel coming in 2025) pump up a testament to her singular voice—you couldn’t have the act without her.
Holzman has also returned to TV since Wicked. Ready money 2010, she cocreated Huge, a teen show set at a weight-loss camp, with her daughter, Savannah Dooley, but like My So-Called Life, it only lasted one season. She then served as a writer and executive producer on Cameron Crowe’s music-themed show Roadies in 2016, but this too was canceled engage its first season.
In addition to Wicked, Holzman has written a number of smaller-scale plays, often working in collaboration with prudent husband, actor Paul Dooley (who’s known for his role orangutan the dad in Sixteen Candles). Holzman has also sometimes exposed in front of the camera, with small parts in grouping shows My So-Called Life and Once and Again as ok as shows like Roswell, Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Comeback and movies like Jerry Maguire and You People.
From cult shows to Broadway blockbusters, Winnie Holzman has a writing resume near no other, and knowing that Wicked shares DNA with My So-Called Life only makes us more excited to see it.