Related: Complete Coverage of TCA Summer Press Tour
Beverly Hills, Calif. — Don’t expect to find typical female shows on The CW.
“They’re not traditional chick shows,” said Gabrielle Stanton, executive producer of The Flash. “We’re up here doing all sorts of different kinds of shows. I think that’s definitely kudos to The CW for that for not pigeonholing women into ‘you can only run this kind of show.’”
Stanton made her comments Tuesday during the TCA summer press tour panel “Running the Show: The Women Executive Producers of The CW.”
“You definitely feel that female voices and female stories are welcomed enthusiastically,” said Aline Brosh McKenna, executive producer of the network’s lone fall freshmanCrazy Ex-Girlfriend.
The network’s female-led series feature a variety of women, including an accidentally artificially inseminated writer (Jane), a medical resident and zombie (iZombie), the Queen of Scotland (Reign) and a young woman looking for love in West Covina, Calif. (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend).
“Once you start breaking it down to what men are good at and what women are good at and what they bring to the table, you take away from the fact that we’re writers,” said iZombie EP Diane Ruggiero-Wright. “We’re creative people. We’re thinking of characters. Whether or not they’re men or women, our job is to tell a story.”
With the success of shows like Jane -- which earned The CW its first Golden Globe -- and iZombie, the future for women showrunners on The CW is bright.
“I hope that we are kind of the first wave,” said Stanton.
Other highlights form the panel included:
—Jane the Virgin’s Jennie Snyder Urman elaborated on Britney Spears’ role in the next season of the show. Urman said Spears will play Rogelio’s nemesis. “When we found out she was a fan we said, 'please, please be on the show,'” said Urman.
—Brosh McKenna said that the reason she has a show at all is because of Urman. After Showtime passed on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend she watched Jane and got the idea to pitch the show to CW, which is owned by Showtime parent CBS.
—Ruggiero-Wright said that as a female showrunner she has the freedom to hire more female writers. And if a female writer and male writer with the same qualifications, she would choose the female to “support the sisterhood.”
