Episode #141
141. Inside the Mind of a Showrunner
Inside the Mind of a Showrunner
What happens when you stop treating your career like a straight line and start trusting where your artistry actually takes you? This week, Jennifer sits down with writer, producer, and "The Gilded Age" co-showrunner and executive producer, Sonja Warfield, to talk about a creative career that has spanned comedy, drama, development, and showrunning. Sonja shares how improv led her to writing, the path to her first television writing job on "Will & Grace," what a showrunner actually does, and why so much of building a lasting career comes down to developing your voice and staying open to where it leads. They also get candid about the projects that never get made, prioritizing life outside of the work, separating your identity from your job title, and learning not to attach yourself to outcomes. With takeaways about kindness, flexibility, and embracing the pivot, this episode is a reminder that there is no color-by-numbers version of an artistic career and sometimes the unexpected path is the whole point.
About Our Guest
Sonja Warfield is a television writer/producer and author whose credits include her work on the Emmy Award-winning NBC sitcom Will & Grace as well as BET’s hit comedy The Game. Currently, she’s the Emmy-nominated Executive Producer and Co-Showrunner for the HBO’s highly awarded drama, The Gilded Age. Over the course of her 20+ year career, Sonja’s also earned credits from a diverse range of television shows including Disney Channel’s popular Liv and Maddie; BET’s Zoe Ever After, which featured pop star Brandy; the animated series She-Ra for Dreamworks/Netflix, where she also penned an original song; and the ABC comedy Jake in Progress. She’s developed and written pilots/projects for ABC, NBC, Netflix, Nickelodeon, Lifetime, Universal TV, Sony Pictures Television and HBO. She is currently adapting the novel, The Davenports, in partnership with Susan Fales-Hill for Alloy Entertainment, WBTV and Amazon Prime, which they will Executive Produce. In addition to television and film, Ms. Warfield is author of the entertaining, empowering and inspiring book Get Your Butt Off My Couch (And Your Hand Outta My Wallet), a woman’s guide to getting rid of her deadbeat husband, boyfriend or boo-thing. Sonja and her book have been featured on numerous radio and television programs including The Dr. Phil Show. Ms. Warfield has a B.A. in Cinema/Television-Critical Studies from the University of Southern California where she has taught television writing. She is represented by Anonymous Content.