A Peek Inside the Writers’ Room Process

Maggie Cohn

The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story

“I had the opportunity to work on a show with male characters, a male perspective, and have my femaleness not be a problem, which I think is important, generally speaking — that women aren’t relegated to working on shows just about women.” | 20 June 2018

Variety’s ‘A Night In The Writer’s Room’ – Drama Panel

Parity and diversity were the hot topics on everyone’s mind during the drama panel discussion for Variety’s “A Night in the Writers’ Room.

”The panel was comprised of Salim Akil (“Black Lightning”), Joel Fields (“The Americans”), Soo Hugh (“The Terror”), Raamla Mohamed (“Scandal”), Chris Mundy (“Ozark”), George Pelecanos (“The Deuce”), Matthew Roberts (“Outlander”), Sarah Gertrude Shapiro (“UnReal”), David Shore (“The Good Doctor”), Krista Vernoff (“Grey’s Anatomy”), Ayanna Floyd Davis (“The Chi”), Maggie Cohn (“The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”), and Jessica Queller (“Supergirl”).

In providing more inclusive writers’ rooms, Akil urged that, “diversity is not diversity for the sake of filling quotas,” he said. “We’re not doing anyone any favors when we talk about the idea of inclusion. It’s good business.” | 18 June 2018

Parity Takes Center Stage at Variety’s ‘A Night in the Writers’ Room’ Drama Panel

Write-producer of “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” Maggie Cohn was glad her experience on the FX anthology series “gave me the opportunity to work on a show I think normally would have been staffed predominantly by men. I had the opportunity to work on a show with male characters and a male point of view and have my femaleness not be a problem, which I think is important moving forward, that women are not relegated to working on shows just about women, female problems, and mothers.”