Jul 1, 2025
Award-winning writer and professor Georgia Jeffries joins
Cynthia Bemis Abrams to reflect on her pioneering work in
television and screenwriting. From her early magazine articles to
Emmy-winning work on Cagney & Lacey, China Beach
and Sisters, Jeffries reveals how she broke into
Hollywood’s writers' rooms and built a career defined by dramatic
integrity and feminist storytelling.
In this rich conversation, Georgia discusses:
- Her transition from journalism to writing TV scripts on spec
- Championing women writers through her work with the Writers Guild
- Launching USC’s first undergrad screenwriting thesis program
- How writing fiction compares to television
- Her 2024 novel The Younger Girl, based on real events in Illinois
Referenced episodes with Cagney & Lacey and Lou
Grant writer April Smith are linked in the resources.
Resources:
- Georgia Jeffries’ website: https://georgiajeffries.com/
- TV Writer April Smith on Lou Grant & Storytelling
https://traffic.libsyn.com/advancedtvherstory/April_Smith_mixdown.mp3 - Mrs. America & TV’s Dimensional
Feminism
https://advancedtvherstory.libsyn.com/mrs-america-3-dimensional-storytelling
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