Hollywood’s 50 Most Powerful TV Showrunners of 2021

Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, Jen Statsky

This trio managed a twofer with Hacks, delivering a comedy that brought welcome buzz to HBO Max and a deft skewering of the entertainment industry to a town that loves watching itself. Replicating its success in a new project is something both of the series’ studios — Warner Bros. TV, where Aniello (also of Netflix’s The Baby-Sitters Club) and husband Downs just signed their first deal, and Universal TV, where The Good Place alum Statsky reupped in August — want. But season two of the Jean Smart vehicle will take priority for the three, fresh off their shared Emmy for writing.

Current showrunner crush Downs: “PEN15’s Anna Konkle and Maya Erskine.”

My big frustration with pandemic protocols Aniello: “No one can appreciate my gorgeous veneers under a mask.”

Why won’t anyone take my pitch about … Statsky: “A brave showrunner who goes to battle in the streaming wars day in, day out, despite being secretly in love with one of her other showrunners who is married to the third showrunner.”

Jesse Armstrong

Eclipsed by only pestilence and poverty, the massive delay between seasons of Succession ranks among the biggest downers of the COVID-19 pandemic. Armstrong’s Murdoch-mocking soap, the 2020 Emmy winner for best drama, returns Oct. 17 to lofty expectations (see page 69 for critics’ discussion). Fortunately for its British writer-producer, anything resembling past praise means the third season of his HBO flagship will be exhaustively discussed for the rest of 2021 … and the 2022 awards cycle.

I couldn’t do my job without … “A constant sickening feeling the whole thing might fall apart at any moment.”

Current showrunner crush “White Lotus, I May Destroy You, PEN15, Small Axe, Lovers Rock and I Hate Suzy.”

Kenya Barris

A year after departing Netflix, Barris is embracing his mogul status with an equity stake in ViacomCBS’ BET Studios, a sweeping podcast deal at Audible and a music label at Interscope. The Netflix comedy #BlackAF will return with themed specials, while its creator and star plots “in-your-face shit” for his new corporate home. As for the series that made him a household name, Black-ish wraps in January after eight seasons, as spinoff Grown-ish continues at Freeform with maybe one more -ish in the works.

Current showrunner crush “Although Courtney Kemp will swear to you that it’s her, my actual showrunning crush is Jesse Armstrong. That show is so good it’s just dumb.”

I’m tired of execs asking me to …  “Explain things to them about the culture, people or ideas that I’m working on, only to then have them explain to me (with the swagger of a vetted expert) why the thing they seconds ago knew nothing about should be done or talked about differently.”

Greg Berlanti

Though his broadcast roster is shrinking, Berlanti remains TV’s most prolific producer, with 15 shows on the air across four outlets. After launching his first awards player in The Flight Attendant (nine Emmy nominations), the super-producer is prepping further big swings (HBO Max’s Green Lantern) as part of his $400 million Warner Bros. TV deal. And while The CW and HBO Max remain Berlanti’s bread and butter, he’s aggressively selling elsewhere — see his Showtime limited series about Joan Rivers and a Peacock drama with Billy Porter.

Current showrunner crush “All of our showrunners we work with who have spent the last year and a half figuring out how to make even better episodes for less money.”

Steven Canals

The Pose co-creator concluded his FX drama in June with a series-best nine Emmy nominations and yet another feat, as star Michaela Jaé Rodriguez (formerly Mj Rodriguez) made history as the TV Academy’s first transgender lead acting nominee. The writer wants to continue to focus on stories about underrepresented elements of the LGBTQ community via his overall deal with Disney’s 20th TV, where he’s mulling his next act.

Current showrunner crush “Lucia Aniello. I was already a fan of her work, but getting to know her has made me a superfan.”

Why won’t anyone take my pitch about … “Gigi Garcia, a young mother living in Bronx housing projects who uses her home daycare center as a front to work as a drug runner to survive the emerging crack epidemic.”

Robert Carlock, Tina Fey

Launching two half-hours — NBC’s Mr. Mayor and much-needed Peacock breakout Girls5eva, the latter created by frequent co-conspirator Meredith Scardino — during the pandemic, these longtime writing partners continue to hold the “Must-See” comedy torch for their increasingly aligned parent company, Universal TV. They’re selling elsewhere, too, placing animated foray Mulligan at Netflix.

Current showrunner crush Carlock: “Whoever is writing the news! What a kook! Hahaha it’s a terrible time to be alive!” Fey: “Michaela Coel and Mike White, like everyone else.”

I couldn’t do my job without … Carlock: “Cameras! They’re expensive and heavy but totally worth it at the end of the day.”

Why won’t anyone take my pitch about … Fey: “The all-convicted-predator trailer park. (Maybe ’cause I never actually pitch it.)”

Lee Daniels

The Oscar-nominated filmmaker who gave broadcast TV a stay of execution with the late Fox juggernaut Empire is back with a full plate. Following August BET+ entry The Ms. Pat Show, Daniels (with creator Saladin K. Patterson) delivered the highest-rated (0.9 in the key demo) and best-reviewed new series of the young fall season in ABC’s reboot of The Wonder Years. (His new Fox drama with Karin Gist, Our Kind of People, is off to a less auspicious start.)

Current showrunner crush “Hagai Levi, Scenes From a Marriage.”

Why won’t anyone take my pitch about … “Valley of the Dolls“

Ava DuVernay

The celebrated director has seen her TV output explode in a very short period of time. Under her prolific deal with Warner Bros. TV, DuVernay’s series count hit seven in 2021 — ranging from CW newbie Naomi to OWN’s venerable Queen Sugar, now in its sixth season. A dependable supplier to Netflix (When They See Us), she’ll have the attention of Hollywood — and likely much of America — at October’s end, when the streamer releases her long-awaited Colin Kaepernick limited series, Colin in Black and White.

My big frustration with pandemic protocols “Dealing with anti-vaxxers who put the rest of the crew and cast at risk.”

I couldn’t do my job without … “ARRAY president Tilane Jones and president of ARRAY Filmworks Paul Garnes by my side.”

Kerry Ehrin

The first major scribe to sign a pact with Apple TV+, Ehrin reupped at the streamer in 2020. There, she’s developing projects and continuing to steer the crowded ship that is The Morning Show. Her list of fellow executive producers — Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Michael Ellenberg, Mimi Leder, to name a few — reads like a power list unto itself.

My big frustration with pandemic protocols “How much circumventing deadly illnesses takes from your wardrobe budget.”

I couldn’t do my job without … “A lust for organizing chaos.”

Why won’t anyone take my pitch about … “Early Freudian psychoanalysis in the Old West.”

Maya Erskine, Anna Konkle

In its first season, Erskine and Konkle’s quirky Hulu comedy PEN15 excited critics and earned attention for the novel premise of its adult co-creators playing middle schoolers in a cast otherwise filled with children. Season two, however, garnered rapturous acclaim and a coup of an Emmy nomination for best comedy. So while their fans wait for the second half of that season delayed by the pandemic, their peers are anxious to see what else these avant-garde multihyphenates can pull off.

My big frustration with pandemic protocols Erskine: “That it took a pandemic to make set safety more of a priority.”

I couldn’t do my job without … Konkle: “Occasionally crying, privately.”

Jon Favreau

Famously kickstarting Marvel’s cinematic dominance with 2010’s Iron Man, Favreau’s Star Wars series, The Mandalorian, is now doing the same for the company’s streaming TV push. The drama has reaped 39 Emmy nominations (and 14 wins) and made an untold contribution to Disney+’s 116 million subscribers. And, with at least three spinoffs on the way, he’s a franchise-maker of the first order.

Isaac Aptaker, Elizabeth Berger, Dan Fogelman

As This Is Us heads toward a likely teary end on NBC, Fogelman’s latest act — as a producer on Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building — paid off handsomely with a speedy season two pickup. Fellow This Is Us showrunners Aptaker and Berger, meanwhile, now have two other series under their separate deal with Disney: Hulu’s Love, Victor (renewed for season three) and the Hilary Duff-led How I Met Your Father, which the duo has been quietly developing for years.

I couldn’t do my job without … Fogelman: “My 16-month-old child waking me up at 5 a.m. and leaving me exhausted and spent by the time I start my day. Thank you, son. I know I will be repaid when you break our hearts and move far away and marry someone we hate.”

Aptaker: “Elizabeth Berger. If she doesn’t say me, please change this answer to ‘coffee.’ ”

Berger: “Coffee.”

Scott Frank

Sure, he got roasted for that long-winded Emmy speech — but look what got him onstage: The Queen’s Gambit, an ostensibly esoteric adaptation of a largely forgotten novel about a pill-popping chess champ, which lured a reported 62 million Netflix subscribers and walked away with 11 Emmys and the top prize for limited series during an exceptionally cutthroat year. He wrote a rare and defining hit and, in the process, his own check to make pretty much whatever he wants.

Scott M. Gimple, Angela Kang

Working together for more than a decade on AMC’s three-series The Walking Dead franchise, Gimple continues to oversee the big picture, while Kang handles day-to-day on the flagship. Once the original zombie juggernaut ends its run in 2022, Kang will segue into the untitled Norman Reedus-Melissa McBride spinoff. That’s one of multiple series extensions under Gimple’s purview.

I’m tired of execs asking me to … Gimple: “Unmute myself after I’ve talked for a good couple minutes.”

Current showrunner crush Kang: “Misha Green. She beat me out for the first staff job I ever went up for [Heroes], and I’ve admired her work ever since.”

Gimple: “I am astounded by Reservation Dogs’ Sterlin Harjo”

Dee Harris-Lawrence

Since trading aerospace for entertainment, Harris-Lawrence has built an eclectic résumé (Girlfriends, Saving Grace, Star, Zoo) before scoring her first showrunning job on OWN’s David Makes Man — helping the show to score a prestigious Peabody Award. She parlayed that success into a deal with Warner Bros. TV, where she’s now retooling CBS’ axed All Rise into an OWN original.

Current showrunner crush “Shonda Rhimes. C’mon!”

Noah Hawley

Delivering a fourth, possibly penultimate installment of the FX favorite Fargo in late 2020, Hawley recently turned his attention to a different kind of adaptation — the Alien movies. He’s prepping a series version of the blockbuster monster films for his pals at FX, with the hope of delivering a new franchise to the storied cable network that now largely thrives on Hulu. No slacker, Hawley has a sixth novel, Anthem, arriving in January.

I’m tired of execs asking me to … “Give my characters more ‘agency.’ ”

Why won’t anyone take my pitch about … “Humanity vs. monopolies. Who will win?”

Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg

The Cobra Kai trio have grand plans to expand their Karate Kid TV sequel now that it’s been minted a Netflix hit after struggling to cut through on YouTube. The longtime friends have season four of the Emmy-nominated comedy series due in December and already are at work on a fifth — as well as spinoffs — after inking a new four-year pact with Sony.

I’m tired of execs asking me to … Schlossberg: “Join a Microsoft Teams meeting.”

My big frustration with pandemic protocols Heald: “When you want something from craft services, you can’t just slyly take it. You have to actually verbalize, ‘I’d like three boxes of Swedish Fish.’ ”

Current showrunner crush Hurwitz: “Brian Koppelman and David Levien of Billions.”

Why won’t anyone take my pitch about … Schlossberg: “The world of competitive eating. It’s the most obvious comedy that has never been made.”

Brad Ingelsby

If Ingelsby’s limited series was indeed limited, it won’t be for a lack of interest. Mare of Easttown lured 4 million viewers to HBO and its streaming counterpart on finale night alone. And, of its 16 Emmy nominations, it won four — including one for lead actress Kate Winslet. The star has expressed her desire to reprise the titular character, but the filmmaker turned showrunner has yet to commit.

Current showrunner crush “Laurie Nunn’s Sex Education. I’m way late to the game on this one, but I’ve recently gotten caught up, and it’s brilliant. Sex Education is funny, surprising, heartwarming and emotional. The young actors are all so great and the writers juggle so many different storylines really well. It’s a wonderful show.”

Barry Jenkins

The Moonlight Oscar winner’s four-year investment in adapting Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad at Amazon paid off with seven Emmy noms, including for limited series. Jenkins next reteams with A24 as part of a two-year, first-look deal he signed with HBO/HBO Max in April as he plots more TV projects.

Current showrunner crush “Peter Morgan. I’m going to figure out how to PA for a couple weeks under Peter. Extraordinary work.”

Why won’t anyone take my pitch about … “The fall of Blockbuster video.”

My big frustration with pandemic protocols “Personally, I never got to ‘wrap’ with my Underground Railroad crew. And I absolutely loved that crew. Otherwise, the protocols are sound and not a burden.”

Mindy Kaling, Lang Fisher

The second season of Never Have I Ever, a fixture on Netflix’s ever-alluring Top 10 list, was quickly followed by an order for a third from Kaling and Fisher. But Kaling, nearly three years into her Warner Bros. TV deal, has never been a one-series woman. Her first effort for Warner priority HBO Max, The Sex Lives of College Girls, bows Nov. 18 with the assumed potential to draw the younger, female demographic that the streamer is clearly trying to court.

Current showrunner crush Fisher: “Saved by the Bell showrunner and my bestie, Tracey Wigfield. I admire her talent, her kindness and her ability to run a Zoom room, sometimes from her bathroom while her toddler is in a homemade ball pit in the tub.”

David E. Kelley

One of few showrunners to have created series for every member of the bygone Big Four, Kelley is following that feat in the streaming era with Nine Perfect Strangers on Hulu, Netflix drama The Lincoln Lawyer, Big Shot at Disney+, Love and Death for HBO Max and the final season of Amazon’s Goliath. And, though he famously swore off broadcast, he returned to ABC in 2020 with Big Sky, one of the rare network originals to score a renewal.

I’m tired of execs asking me to … “I actually like most execs. They tend to be smart adults. There are exceptions.”

Nahnatchka Khan

Two years into a studio switch that put her at Universal TV, Kahn got into the ring with A-lister Dwayne Johnson for the loosely autobiographical comedy Young Rock at NBC. The show premiered in February and, unlike most freshman broadcast comedies these days, got the green light for season two. Khan, who has been pushing into feature directing, also counts a Kate & Allie reboot on her robust development slate.

Current showrunner crush “My [Young Rock] co-showrunner, Jeff Chiang. You’re the best, Jeff!”

Why won’t anyone take my pitch about …? “The gays just being the gays.”

Courtney A. Kemp

For a good idea of what’s happening in the TV industry of 2021, look no further than Courtney A. Kemp. The 44-year-old scribe, reared in broadcast procedural writers rooms, built a franchise from scratch at Starz. At its peak, her series Power courted more than 10  million viewers a week to pay cable. The drama’s 2020 conclusion brought with it news of five spinoffs, two of which she managed to launch during the pandemic. But with great power comes great opportunity. In August, as her longtime deal with Starz parent company Lionsgate expired, Kemp bolted for a rich multiyear pact with Netflix — a platform that’s lost and gained a few marquee showrunners in the past year, as the streaming wars have proved that reliable writer-producers are Hollywood’s version of Patrick Mahomes and LeBron James. Over Zoom in late September, Kemp spoke candidly about working in a town where having a hit doesn’t necessarily get you recognized at parties, the pressure to deliver at a new gig and her deep affection for two TV tropes: sex and violence.

Bill Lawrence, Jason Sudeikis

In converting seven of its record-breaking 20 Emmy nominations into wins, Ted Lasso cemented itself as TV’s reigning comedy of the moment. Lawrence, Sudeikis and company recently began work on season three for Apple TV+ after extended contract renegotiations gave the writing staff and cast lucrative new deals — including one that will see star Sudeikis earn $1 million an episode. Lawrence is looking to further cash in with a new deal at Warner Bros. TV, where he’s also doing HBO Max’s Head of the Class and Clone High and Apple TV+’s Bad Monkey.

Current showrunner crush Lawrence: “There’s a number of insanely talented British women — Daisy Haggard, Aisling Bea, Sharon Horgan, Phoebe Waller-Bridge. I desperately wish any one of them thought I was cool. My daughter got to hang out with Phoebe at some super cool party and never once mentioned me. We are still not speaking.”

I couldn’t do my job without … Lawrence: “Relying on other talented people. This is a cautionary tale. I tried the complete control-freak thing as a younger person. Not as attractive as I once thought.”

Michelle & Robert King

Few producers can satisfy both a broad audience and viewers with an appetite for prestige fare as well as Michelle and Robert King do — and ViacomCBS is willing to pony up for that. In July, the married duo behind dramas The Good Fight and Evil signed a rich new deal to stay put at CBS Studios for the next five years. There, they’ll continue to deliver passion projects (see Spectrum limited series The Bite), collaborations (Peter Moffat’s Your Honor at Showtime) and their proven hits to Paramount+.

Current showrunner crush Robert King: “Malcolm Spellman and Nichelle Tramble Spellman for all their creativity.”

My big frustration with pandemic protocols Michelle King: “Talking loud enough for people to hear me through the mask. I feel like I’m yelling at everyone.”

Eric Kripke

After shedding the shadow of long-running cult CW hit Supernatural in 2020, Kripke’s The Boys emerged as a surprise Emmy nominee for Amazon. The explicit superhero series also is, by Nielsen’s estimation, a breakout hit with 1 billion minutes streamed in its second season’s first week of release in the U.S. That’s good, right? Kripke’s bosses at the streamer certainly think so. Amazon just gave a series order for a spinoff.

Current showrunner crush “Hwang Dong-hyuk. Squid Game. Holy crap, where has this show been all my life?”

I’m tired of execs asking me to … “Put my shirt back on and get off the conference table.”

Why won’t anyone take my pitch about … “A musical about the 19th century doctor who invented the vibrator. When I got my very first writing deal, I started the meeting by pitching this. Oh man, you should’ve heard the record scratch in that room.”

Alex Kurtzman

In August, just as Kurtzman inked his latest nine-figure deal to stay at CBS Studios, CBS Entertainment Group CEO George Cheeks dubbed the writer-producer the company’s “future.” While that remains to be seen, there’s no arguing he is its present. Kurtzman continues to lead a growing Star Trek franchise (five shows and counting) on streamer Paramount+ and soon launches The Man Who Fell to Earth on Showtime, where he offered up The Comey Rule in 2020, with more in development.

Current showrunner crush “The magicians who write Succession.”

Why won’t anyone take my pitch about … “Jenny Lumet and I wrote a pilot called Noir, about two dishonorably discharged World War II vets, a Russian female pilot and an African American code breaker who go up against an underground occult protected by the rich elite in 1940s L.A. I want to make it so badly and one day we will.”

Chuck Lorre

Lorre has been in farewell mode of late, wrapping up Netflix’s Emmy-nominated The Kominsky Method and CBS’ Mom back in May. That leaves the sitcom workhorse with four remaining shows: CBS’ Bob Hearts Abishola, B Positive, United States of Al and Young Sheldon as questions remain about the status of his overall deal at Warner Bros., his TV home for two-plus decades.

I’m tired of execs asking me to … “I’m so tired in general, before anyone asks anything.”

I couldn’t do my job without … “OK, this one is easy. My assistant Niko Mason and coffee. And in that order.”

Rob McElhenney

In December 2020, FXX renewed It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia for four more seasons — an order that will carry the comedy to an obscene 18th season. McElhenney, who created the show and still shepherds it with co-stars Charlie Day and Glenn Howerton, might just have a knack for longevity. He’s said to be in talks for future seasons of the Apple TV+ hit Mythic Quest, while the docuseries about his and Ryan Reynolds’ Welsh soccer club is generating real excitement at FX.

Current showrunner crush “Craig Mazin.”

Why won’t anyone take my pitch about … “An industrialist who makes a theme park out of cloned dinosaurs.”

I couldn’t do my job without … “IATSE.”

Bruce Miller

The resurgent fourth season of Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale collected 21 Emmy noms but was shut out at the September ceremony. No matter, Miller still steers the series that became the first streaming show to win a best drama prize. And there’s plenty of runway to come, with sources saying six seasons may make for the perfect conclusion. Either way, Miller already is working on another Margaret Atwood adaptation — The Testaments.

Current showrunner crush “Pose’s Steven Canals because he is such a lovely man.”

Ronald D. Moore

The sci-fi scribe left money on the table when he bolted from Sony TV after a decade for an eight-figure deal with Disney, where he’s now working on a TV franchise focused on Disney parks IP Society of Explorers and Adventurers. He’s also working with Jon M. Chu on a new Swiss Family Robinson for the streamer and remains involved as a nonwriting producer on Apple TV+’s For All Mankind and Starz’s Outlander.

Current showrunner crush “[Paul Simms for] What We Do in the Shadows, a show that continues to surprise and evolve and never loses its balance.”

My big frustration with pandemic protocols “Reworking scenes to keep down background players and group scenes.”

Peter Morgan

The Brit’s painstaking re-creation of royal family history may be prone to debate about artistic liberties across the pond, but that’s made it no less a hit in the U.S. The fourth season of The Crown took home 11 Emmys in September, including its first for top drama. The writer is focused on the series’ final two seasons, after which he’ll presumably turn to a follow-up at Netflix, where he signed a long-term pact in 2019.

Ryan Murphy

With nearly two years left on his $300 million Netflix contract, speculation about whether Murphy stays or goes already is a topic of industry conversation — not helped by the fact that he can’t stop selling shows with former bosses 20th TV. (There soon will be five anthologies under his American Stories banner at FX.) At Netflix, it seems to be a game of one-offs, with Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story and Naomi Watts vehicle The Watcher on deck after recent efforts Ratched and Halston.

Prentice Penny

Issa Rae’s right hand on Insecure shifts his attention (and studio) now that their HBO comedy is ending after six seasons. Penny, who launched the experimental variety show Pause With Sam Jay in the spring, recently signed a pact that will take his operation over to Disney’s new Onyx Collective to create, write, direct, produce and supervise new projects for multiple platforms — most notably Hulu.

I couldn’t do my job without … “The crew! Pay them what they’re worth!”

Why won’t anyone take my pitch about … “Two guys, one girl and five pizza places. It worked with one for Ryan Reynolds, but imagine how much funnier five would be. Three people running five pizza places? Like how? The comedy writes itself.”

Tyler Perry

ViacomCBS cannot seem to get enough of Perry. And even a worldwide pandemic could not stop the prolific writer, producer and director from supplying the company with seven series across BET, BET+ and Nickelodeon — most notably The Oval, Sistas, Bruh and the recently revived House of Payne.

Current showrunner crush “Norman Lear, are you kidding me? I’m going to get arrested because I’ve been stalking him. I just want to meet him!”

Issa Rae

When Insecure gets its curtain call in December, it hardly will be the last anyone sees of the landmark series’ auteur star. Rae and her Hoorae Media signed a new five-year deal with WarnerMedia to make more TV for HBO, HBO Max and Warner Bros. TV, where she’ll continue to write (the forthcoming comedy Rap Shit) and appear (Robin Thede’s A Black Lady Sketch Show).

Current showrunner crush “Syreeta Singleton from Rap Shit, been working alongside her in Miami in a new capacity and falling in love.”

I’m tired of execs asking me to … “Speak on their diversity panels. I don’t have shit else to add.”

My big frustration with pandemic protocols “Virtual table reads with everybody on silent. They truly suck the comedy out and defeat the purpose of reading out loud.”

Shonda Rhimes

It took a few years for the Grey’s Anatomy creator to unspool her first Netflix production, but it was worth the wait. Season one of Bridgerton, per streamer boss Ted Sarandos, reached 82 million accounts and logged 625 million hours of viewing, easily ranking as the most popular original. Netflix has locked in the Regency romance through at least a fourth season, ordered a spinoff and signed Rhimes to her second overall deal. Next up is Inventing Anna, the first series Rhimes will write herself since Scandal.

Current showrunner crush “I want to see anything Michaela Coel does.”

I couldn’t do my job without … “The creativity of the team at Shondaland — plus my incredible nanny whose name happens to be Jenny McCarthy. If there’s no Jenny, I’m basically driving carpool, yelling ‘Stop hitting your sister’ and making sandwiches most of my day.”

Why won’t anyone take my pitch about … “Why wait for other people to give me permission?”

Stephanie Savage, Josh Schwartz, Joshua Safran

Schwartz and longtime partner Savage have a flush YA-themed slate and more on deck, with recent sales to Apple TV+ (City on Fire), Paramount+ (a Love Story reboot) and HBO Max (This Is My America) all joining The CW’s Dynasty, Nancy Drew and a forthcoming spinoff of the latter. The duo also reteamed with Safran on HBO Max’s Gossip Girl update, an already renewed watercooler hit.

Current showrunner crush Schwartz: “Larry David, forever and always.”

I’m tired of execs asking me to … Safran: “I don’t think this is a question set up for the success of anyone answering it!”

Jac Schaeffer, Malcolm Spellman, Michael Waldron

Schaeffer (WandaVision), Spellman (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) and Waldron (Loki) kicked off Kevin Feige’s Marvel TV era with a resounding bang at Disney+. WandaVision finished with 23 Emmy noms, Falcon with five and Loki, which aired outside the nomination window, earned a quick renewal. Schaeffer and Waldron (who also produces the Starz wrestling drama Heels) scored overall deals with Disney, where Spellman is penning the fourth Captain America pic.

Current showrunner crush Waldron: “Mike O’Malley, who runs Heels on Starz. Have you heard about that show? Wow, it’s great.”

Schaeffer: “Jesse Armstrong”

Mike Schur

After spending the first years of his Universal TV pact overseeing up-and-coming showrunners on HBO Max darling Hacks and Peacock’s Rutherford Falls, Schur returns to writing (and his love of baseball) with a Field of Dreams reboot for the NBCU streamer. And though collaborator Dan Goor’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine ended in September after eight seasons, Schur remains involved as an executive producer on Master of None for Netflix.

I’m tired of execs asking me to … “Do a job I love that’s creatively and financially fulfilling and brings me unending joy. Assholes.”

Why won’t anyone take my pitch about … “A wide-eyed farmboy, selfish rogue and whipsmart princess who lead a galactic rebellion against the dark forces of a fascist imperial army.”

I couldn’t do my job without … “IATSE. Pay them what they’re worth, please!”

Taylor Sheridan

The Oscar-nominated writer parlayed Paramount Network smash hit Yellowstone into a nine-figure overall deal with ViacomCBS. There, he has five other shows — all for Paramount+ — on deck, including a Yellowstone prequel (1883) and spinoff (6666), as well as the upcoming Jeremy Renner drama Mayor of Kingstown.

Darren Star

He may have struck a deal with ViacomCBS in 2020 to help populate the company’s Entertainment & Youth Group pipeline, but the 60-year-old can’t stop selling to Netflix. Star, of the recently departed Younger, launches season two of unlikely awards bait Emily in Paris in December ahead of the Neil Patrick Harris comedy Uncoupled.

Chris Van Dusen

A highlight in a career spent entirely at Shonda Rhimes’ camp, Van Dusen delivered the boss an exceptional hit in Bridgerton. Twelve Emmy noms later, he’s prepping season two in London before he plans to pass the torch to a new showrunner for seasons three and four — at which point he’ll shift his focus to new material.

My big frustration with pandemic protocols “Figuring out how to safely see 200 supporting artists in one 19th century ballroom.”

I couldn’t do my job without … “My husband, children and iced green teas.”

Krista Vernoff

ABC’s MVP successfully navigated three series (Grey’s Anatomy, Station 19 and Rebel) early on in the pandemic and, like Rhimes before her, owned the network’s entire Thursday lineup for a few months. Vernoff continues to creatively recharge Grey’s, ABC’s enduring top drama at 18 seasons. And while Rebel didn’t make it to a second season, she signed a rich new deal at studio ABC Signature in March to grow her Disney footprint.

My big frustration with pandemic protocols “That IATSE members, our crews, are being treated so unfairly by the AMPTP that they have real grounds for a strike.”

Why won’t anyone take my pitch about …? “How the biggest streamer is now standardly paying writers wildly less than the minimum they’re guaranteed by the guild, how studios have collectively made points meaningless, and how artists and crews are being screwed over royally and to new depths every day while Hollywood makes more money than it ever has.”

Lena Waithe

Taking center stage on season three of Master of None — and finally getting a producing credit after her Emmy-winning writing on the Netflix series in the process — Waithe’s acting work occupied much of her 2021, a year that saw another renewal for the producer’s Showtime drama The Chi and, on Oct. 13, brings season two of the BET comedy Twenties.

I couldn’t do my job without … “Everyone at Hillman Grad Productions. It truly takes a village.”

John Wells

Closing the book on Showtime favorite Shameless in April after an 11-season run, Wells turns his attention to his streaming debut: Netflix’s Maid, from creator Molly Smith Metzler, bowed Oct. 1 to raves. The drama starring Margaret Qualley, Nick Robinson and Andie MacDowell is Wells’ first new show as part of his new nine-figure overall deal with Warner Bros., where he also has a Hawaii-set lifeguard pilot and the final season of TNT’s Animal Kingdom.

My big frustration with pandemic protocols “Little boxes on your computer take twice as much time and deliver half as much quality collaboration.”

Mike White

After struggling to get commercial attention with critical favorite Enlightened, White has returned to HBO with the sleeper hit of summer 2021. The White Lotus, his cringe comedy about white privilege run amok at a luxe resort, inspired debate, adoration and memes aplenty, not to mention an unexpected renewal for the would-be one-off.

Dick Wolf

Wolf’s CBS-set FBI universe expanded to a third show, FBI: International, this season, and NBC just signed up for a revival of the flagship Law & Order. That franchise shows no signs of facing a harder sell even as audiences seem increasingly wary of the hero-cop narrative. With a pair of three-show franchises on two different networks, it’s also easy to forget Wolf’s trio of Chicago shows still comprise an entire night on NBC’s schedule.

I couldn’t do my job without … “[Producers] Peter Jankowski and Arthur Forney.”

Alan Yang

The Master of None co-creator reimagined his Aziz Ansari Netflix comedy in season three, albeit to less fanfare, but it’s hardly the only thing on the comedy scribe’s plate. Anthology Little America will soon be joined on Apple TV+ by a buzzy Maya Rudolph comedy vehicle from Yang and Matt Hubbard.

Current showrunner crush “Jon Favreau. He may be one of the only people for whom showrunning a massive series might be a reduction in stress level from his previous job: making billion-dollar movies. Also, Jon, if you’re reading this, please make more Chef Show episodes, my girlfriend and I find it extremely soothing to watch.”

Why won’t anyone take my pitch about … “As someone who’s gotten to make an anthology series of true-life immigrant stories, a quasi-supernatural comedy that changes its premise three times in the first three episodes and a third season of an ongoing series that literally changes who the lead character is… I am absolutely not going to complain about not getting to make something I wanted to make.”

Steve Yockey

Teaming with Kaley Cuoco to run her producorial calling card The Flight Attendant could not have panned out better for Yockey. The playwright and relatively green showrunner, whose TV credits include Supernatural and MTV series Scream and Awkward, earned Emmy nominations for comedy writing and comedy series for the HBO Max mini, which proved so popular that it’s now a maxi.

Current showrunner crush “Easily Bryan Fuller. Never met him, but the things he gets on TV are so striking.

A version of this story first appeared in the Oct. 6 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.