Meredith Scardino, a four-time Emmy Award-winning screenwriter and showrunner, visited Kelly Writers House on Tuesday to speak about navigating professional comedy writing.
Scardino spoke with Penn professor and fellow screenwriter Kathleen DeMarco Van Cleve before a crowd of about 50 Penn students, Philadelphia residents, and KWH community members. The conversation is the latest installment of the Hartman Screenwriting Symposium, a speaker series dedicated to stories of the screenwriting profession.
“I truthfully had wanted [Scardino] to come for 10 years,” Van Cleve said. “She came tonight because she has a wonderful energy. I think she’s a great model for all my students who are interested in writing.”
During the conversation, Scardino reflected on her journey in the screenwriting industry and gave advice to aspiring writers.
KWH Program Director Alli Katz introduced Scardino before handing the microphone to Van Cleve, who began by discussing the “running through line” in contemporary conversations “that women can’t be funny.” She immediately refuted the claim by pointing to Scardino’s many successful projects.
Scardino's comedy series "Girls5eva" follows four women in a parody of a one-hit-wonder girl group from the 1990s. The show received three Emmy Award nominations between 2021 and 2024.
After a brief clip reel featuring Scardino’s writing, Van Cleve shifted the discussion to the pre-professional anxiety felt among many Penn students.
“Many of my students who are interested in writing and who are here tonight are definitely worried about the whole idea of finding a stable career," Van Cleve noted,
Scardino’s advice was to “decide to be all in … no matter what happens.”
“I got rejected constantly,” she said. “My path was very circuitous. I loved cartoons. I was an animator for a while and then, eventually, I wrote enough packets and tried to write comedy enough times.”
Following a question from Van Cleve, Scardino also commented on the pipeline of college students to business and finance professions, and the resulting pressure for students interested in the arts and humanities.
“I felt like I didn’t have a lot in common with people that necessarily wanted to go into finance,” Scardino said. “For me … the most fun thing is when you’re making something.”
The program ended with a question and answer session in which Scardino replied to questions about entering the industry, staffing production teams, and her experience rehousing "Girls5eva" on Netflix after the show was canceled by Peacock in 2022.
Swarthmore College first-year Dilahan Cavusoglu commented on how Scardino's story resonated with her.
"The moment I saw what this event was about and who was at this event, I freaked out because I realized this is something that I want to do in my future," Cavusoglu said. "I wanted to hear from someone who had excelled in this career already, to see what I can aspire to do.”
Behavioral and Decision Sciences first-year graduate student Nisha Waghmare shared a similar sentiment before the event.
“I’m fascinated by the world of television and film," Waghmare said. "I want to just listen to [Scardino’s] perspective and get to know her better.”
Scardino expressed her gratitude and admiration for KWH.
“One of my huge drives is my mom, and she’s incredibly impressed by me being invited by a prestigious institution to talk about writing," Scardino said. "I think the [Kelly Writer’s] house is so cool. And I don’t think we had anything like this at Cornell — maybe we did, I just didn’t know it existed.”
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