Bill Lawrence (TV producer)

William Van Duzer Lawrence IV(born December 26, 1968) is an Americantelevision producer,screenwriter,anddirector.He is the creator of the seriesScrubsand co-creator of shows including the live-actionCougar Town,Spin City,Ground Floor,Ted Lasso,andShrinking,and the animated seriesClone High,in which he also voiced the leader of the shadowy figures. He has written for many other shows, includingThe NannyandBoy Meets World.

Bill Lawrence
Lawrence in 2015
Born	William Van Duzer Lawrence IV (1968-12-26)December 26, 1968 Ridgefield, Connecticut,U.S.
Alma mater	College of William and Mary(BA)
Occupations	Television producer screenwriter director
Years active	1993–present
Spouse	Christa Miller ​ (m.1999)​
Children	3, includingCharlotte

The name of Lawrence's production company,Doozer,is a wordplay on his middle name.

Career

Lawrence receiving thePeabody Awardin 2007

Lawrence is a graduate of theCollege of William & Mary,where he studied English and was a member ofKappa Alpha (KA)social fraternity. After graduating, his first writing job was as a staff writer on the short-lived ABC sitcomBilly.He briefly wrote forBoy Meets World,Friends,andThe Nanny.In 1996, he wrote for the short-lived sitcomChamps.

Lawrence's first show as creator was the ABC multi-camera sitcomSpin City,co-created withChampscreatorGary David Goldberg,which originally starredMichael J. Foxas a deputy mayor of New York City. The show lasted for six seasons and won aPrimetime Emmy Awardand fourGolden Globes.

He went on to create the single-camera sitcomScrubs,which followed the lives of hospital staff. The show premiered in 2001 and ran for 9 seasons in total, 7 on NBC and 2 on ABC. Lawrence wrote, produced and directed the series. The show received critical acclaim, and won aPeabody Awardin2006,and twoEmmy Awardswith 17 nominations.

His next project was co-creating the 2002 animated sitcomClone HighforMTVwithPhil Lord and Chris Miller.The show lasted a single 13-episode season. In 2005, Lawrence co-created the failedThe WBpilotNobody's WatchingwithNeil Goldman and Garrett Donovan.Lawrence was preparing for his film-directing debut with the filmFletch Won,a prequel to the previousFletchfilms, but ultimately left the project afterScrubsstarZach Braffexited the project.

Lawrence co-created the single-camera sitcomCougar Town,which premiered in 2009 on ABC, withKevin Biegel.The show is executive produced by series starCourteney Coxand her then-husbandDavid Arquette.Courteney Cox had been a guest star on Lawrence's previous sitcomScrubs.The show ran from 2009 to 2012 on ABC, then moved toTBSin 2013.

In 2013, Lawrence was involved with three shows that made it to series. He co-created and executive produces the TBS sitcomGround Floorwith Greg Malins. He is also an executive producer of the Fox sitcomSurviving Jackand the NBC sitcomUndateable.After running two seasons,Ground Floorwas cancelled.In 2014, Lawrence and four other cast members fromUndateabledid a standup comedy tour to promote the show.Undateablewas cancelled in 2016 after three seasons.

Lawrence wrote a script for theRush HourTV series, though it was ultimately canceled, after a single season.

In 2017, Lawrence started developing a new multi-camera comedy series calledSpaced Out,a show set in the world of commercial space travel.Lawrence is an executive producer forWhiskey Cavalier,described as an actiondramedystarringScott FoleyandLauren Cohan,which was ordered to series at ABC but canceled after 10 episodes.

Lawrence co-created theApple TV+seriesTed Lasso,which premiered in 2020 and has gone on to win twoPrimetime Emmy AwardsforOutstanding Comedy Series.In 2022, Lawrence signed a new five-year overall deal withWarner Bros. Television Groupthrough 2028.

Personal life

Lawrence married actressChrista Millerin 1999.They have three children together. Miller has been cast in Lawrence projectsScrubs,Clone High,Cougar Town,andShrinking.

Lawrence is the great-great-grandson of Sarah andWilliam Van Duzer Lawrence,whose home becameSarah Lawrence College.

On July 21, 2017, Lawrence was involved in aplane crashon the East River in New York City with his family. Everyone aboard survived unscathed.

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Creator/Showrunner	Director	Writer	Producer	Executive Producer	Notes
1992	Billy	No	No	Yes	No	No	Episode: "Gimme Some Credit"
1993	Boy Meets World	No	No	Yes	No	No	Episode: "The Father/Son Game"
1994	The Nanny	No	No	Yes	No	No	2 episodes
1995	Friends	No	No	Yes	No	No	Episode: "The One with the Candy Hearts"
1996	Champs	No	No	Yes	No	No	2 episodes
1996–2002	Spin City	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
2001–2010	Scrubs	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
2002–2003, 2023–2024	Clone High	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
2006	Nobody's Watching	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	Unaired TV pilot
2009–2015	Cougar Town	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
2013–2015	Ground Floor	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
2014	Surviving Jack	No	No	No	No	Yes
2014–2016	Undateable	No	No	No	No	Yes
2016	Rush Hour	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
2018	Life Sentence	No	No	No	No	Yes
2019	Whiskey Cavalier	No	No	No	No	Yes
2020–2023	Ted Lasso	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
2021	Head of the Class	No	No	No	No	Yes
2023–present	Shrinking	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
2024–present	Bad Monkey	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes

External links

• "'Scrubs,' Near Death, Is Given a Miracle Cure"inThe New York Times
• Bill LawrenceatIMDb