Winnie Holzman - Wicked's Bookwriter

Winnie Holzman

Writer for Wicked, TV shows, etc.

DVDs of Holzman's TV shows
Info on Winnie Holzman's next project
Winnie Holzman bio
Winnie Holzman Interviews
Awards
links and libretto
All about Wicked

TV Shows by Winnie Holzman on DVD

NOW AT NETFLIX - If you sign up with Netflix, you can rent Holzman's My So-Called Life and a show to which she contributed: Once and Again:

Rent it: Netflix - Only $4.99 a month! 85,000 Titles. No Late Fees. Try it for Free!

My So-Called Life

BUY it or read Amazon.com reviews at My So-Called Life (Complete Series)

TV series running 1994-1995

"My So-Called Life" is a realistic mid-nineties teen drama series that takes a look at a 15 year-old girl and her trials and tribulations with being a teenager and dealing with friends, guys, parents and school.

Once and Again

BUY it or read Amazon.com reviews at: Once and Again - The Complete First... 1999 - 2002

Holzman was a contributing writer.

'Til There Was You (on DVD from Amazon.com)

Screenwriter: Winnie Holzman

Winnie Holzman projects

Winnie Holzman is the writer for a forthcoming Ron Howard directed film The Look of Real, in production for a 2009 release. The drama is abouit "A group of young women work together in the garment industry."

Interviews - Winnie Holzman on Wicked

Photograph: Broadway PBS DVD Cover. The DVD version of this landmark new PBS documentary about Broadway includes, among others, bonus features: "Wicked: The Road to Broadway" (16 minutes) and rehearsal of "For Good." It includes interviews with Winnie Holzman, Stephen Schwartz, all the stars, and much more.

Broadway: The American Musical - DVD at Amazon.com

Rent it: Netflix - Only $4.99 a month! 85,000 Titles. No Late Fees. Try it for Free! Under browse selections - enter "Broadway: American Musical" to get it. Netflix carries thousands of Music & Musicals DVDs. Total of all DVDs: more than 85,000 titles.

(In Europe: Broadway... - Amazon.co.uk)

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Broadway.com: Winnie Holzman interview

Playbill.com - Highlights from an interview:

Prior to Wicked, Winnie Holzman did not know Schwartz, but their friendship has developed during the four years they've worked on the musical. "I love him so much! He's incredible! He says that we met once when I was a student, when I was in my twenties. But we really met through a mutual friend who was working at Disney and had the idea that we would write an animated feature together.

"Over lunch, Stephen mentioned the book 'Wicked.' He had tried for maybe a year to get the rights to do it on Broadway. I said, 'That would make an incredible musical.' A few months later, he called and said, 'I've convinced them to let me do "Wicked." Maybe we should talk about doing it together.' I live in L.A. and Stephen's in Connecticut. We started talking on the phone to see if we, or our ideas, were compatible.

"Beat by beat, we started outlining the show — how we were going to unfold the plot. That took a very long time. I was very fortunate to have Stephen as a collaborator. He understands musicals intrinsically. He understands structure, the nature of the beast — and I use that word specifically. [Laughs] To get an outline we felt really comfortable with took almost a year. When Joe [Mantello, who directed] came in, a lot of things changed, but basically that outline is the shape of the show."

The experienced Schwartz "tried to warn me how intense it would be," Holzman recalls. "I thought I was listening, but you never really listen to someone trying to warn you. You have to live it yourself."

For full interview read: Playbill June 04

Winnie Holzman Bio

Winnie Holzman was born in New York City and raised on Long Island. She attended Princeton University where she majored in English & creative writing. She received numerous poetry awards, including the Academy of American Poets Prize and the Ward Prize. After college, Winnie moved to New York City, studied acting and collaborated on several plays. Later the executive producer of Thirtysomething liked the script she submitted and immediately hired her.

Stephen Schwartz explained the rest of her story in a newsletter in 2000: "I am writing music and lyrics for WICKED and Winnie Holzman is writing the book. Winnie began her career by writing book and lyrics for an off-Broadway musical called BIRDS OF PARADISE, but shortly thereafter moved to Los Angeles with her husband, actor Paul Dooley. Since then, she has mostly written for television, and what made me think of her for this project is a wonderful television series she created and wrote called MY SO-CALLED LIFE. ...Winnie is particularly good at writing female characters who are funny, real and believable, and that seemed to me to be particularly apt for a show like WICKED."--Stephen Schwartz

Reviewer Pat Craig wrote of the San Francisco production of Wicked, "...the attitude of Holzman's script has the sort of comic edginess that could make the show appeal to a wider audience, one which may not necessarily be in the thrall of classic Broadway musicals. In short, it ain't all June and moon here." (Contra Costa Times)

Winnie Holzman Awards

For Wicked, Winnie Holzman was nominated for a 2004 Tony for Best Book of a musical, and she won the 2004 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical.