Monica Johnson (February 21, 1946 – November 1, 2010) was an American screenwriter whose film credits includedMother,Lost in America,Modern Romance,Jekyll and Hyde... Together Again andThe Muse. Her television credits includedThe Mary Tyler Moore Show,Laverne & Shirley andIt's Garry Shandling's Show.^[1] She was a frequent collaborator withAlbert Brooks.^[1]

Johnson was bornMonica Lenore Belson in 1946 inColorado, but was raised inEl Centro, California^[1] and spent her early years in medical and dental assistants' school.^[2][3][4][5]

Her brother,Jerry Belson, anEmmy Award-winning screenwriter and film producer, hired her to type scripts for the TV seriesThe Odd Couple around 1972; noticing that his sister added jokes to the scripts which met with the producers' approval, he suggested that she partner withMarilyn Suzanne Miller to form a writing team. Initially working under her married name ofMonica Mcgowan in 1973, she and Miller wrote one script forThe Paul Lynde Show and three scripts forThe Mary Tyler Moore Show. For the second script, having remarried, she was credited asMonica Mcgowan Johnson. By the time of the third script in 1974, she was credited asMonica Johnson, the professional name she used for the rest of her career.

Miller and Johnson broke up as a writing team in 1974; Miller became one of the original writers forSaturday Night Live in 1975, while Johnson wrote two scripts for thePaul Sand seriesFriends and Lovers. Johnson wound up making uncredited contributions to the first season ofSNL, when she began to collaborate withAlbert Brooks andHarry Shearer on the scripts for Brooks's series of seven short films for the show.^[6]

In 1976, Johnson co-created the NBC pilotThe Cheerleaders, which did not go to series. Following this, she became a writer/producer onLaverne & Shirley and co-created the CBS sitcom pilotThe Plant Family, which was not picked up to series. Following this, she began her long-term screenwriting collaboration withAlbert Brooks, co-writing the 1979 filmReal Life with him and Shearer. Shearer fell out of Brooks's orbit following this movie, leaving Brooks and Johnson to become a writing duo. The two co-wrote five more of Brooks' films over the following two decades,Modern Romance,Lost In America,The Scout,Mother, andThe Muse.^[7]

Johnson also co-wrote the 1979 filmAmericathon, the 1982 filmJekyll and Hyde... Together Again (with her brother Jerry Belson, who also directed), and wrote for the fourth season ofIt's Garry Shandling's Show and the one-seasonAlan Zweibel-created sitcomGood Sports. She wrote the unpublished bookPenny Saver and an unproduced screenplay for a movie calledMarrying for Money.^[2]

Johnson, a resident ofPalm Springs, California, died ofesophageal cancer atCedars-Sinai Medical Center inLos Angeles on November 1, 2010, aged 64.^[1][8]

• National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay, 1985,Lost in America
• National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay, 1996,Mother

• The Paul Lynde Show (1973, TV)
• The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1973–1974, TV)
• Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers (1974, TV)
• The Cheerleaders (1976, TV pilot)
• Laverne & Shirley (1977–1978, 1982, TV)
• The Plant Family (1978, TV pilot)
• Real Life (1979)^[9][10]
• Americathon (1979)
• Modern Romance (1981)^[11]
• Jekyll and Hyde... Together Again (1982)
• Lost in America (1985)^[12]
• It's Garry Shandling's Show (1989–1990, TV)^[13]
• Good Sports (1991, TV)
• The Scout (1994)
• Mother (1996)^[14]
• The Muse (1999)^[15]

• Monica Johnson atIMDb
• https://www.primoquotes.com/author/Monica+Johnson