DAWSON’S CREEK, LIFE UNEXPECTED, and Beyond: Liz Tigelaar Reflects on Her Writing Career (So Far)

Television writer and executive producer Liz Tigelaar has had a fascinating career — fascinating enough to warrant sitting down with and talking in depth about its trajectory and the various lessons she has learned along the way.

Tigelaar got her start in the writer’s room of DAWSON’S CREEK, a dream project for many television fans and writers of a certain age who wanted to work on relationship dramas. That first show immediately set the tone for her career and her niche. She went from there to shows like AMERICAN DREAMS, WHAT ABOUT BRIAN, and BROTHERS & SISTERS before creating her own beloved — but sadly short-lived — family drama LIFE UNEXPECTED on The CW.

And it was after the cancellation of LIFE UNEXPECTED that things got really interesting, though. Tigelaar signed an overall deal with ABC Studios and ended up making the rounds on some of their highest profile dramas before doing a stint with A&E,  and, oh, at times she was pulling double duty preparing her own pilot, too. Tigelaar went from being the boss — the person who created the world of the show and knew it inside and out — to working in a room on a show whose world had been established before she came aboard. Many writers who had already achieved what she had might have balked at the idea of working for someone else again, but Tigelaar not only took the opportunity but welcomed it to grow even further.

“So much of the external success — getting your show picked up, selling pilots — it’s all such a matter of someone else’s taste and of their perception of you. Those are really the things you can’t control,” Tigelaar said. “I mean, I feel very fortunate that The CW put LIFE UNEXPECTED on. Of course I was really disappointed they canceled it, but they put it on and gave it two seasons and it was an amazing opportunity. But by no means do I think because I ran that show that I don’t have anything more to learn about writing or show running! I feel like if anything probably running a show shows you how much you have to learn.”

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