Bill Lawrence
Lawrence in 2024
Born	William Van Duzer Lawrence IV[1] (1968-12-26)December 26, 1968 (age 56) Ridgefield, Connecticut, U.S.[1]
Alma mater	College of William and Mary (BA)
Occupations	Television producer screenwriter director
Years active	1993–present
Spouse	Christa Miller ​ (m. 1999)​
Children	3, includingCharlotte

William Van Duzer Lawrence IV (born December 26, 1968) is an Americantelevision producer,screenwriter, anddirector. He is the creator of the seriesScrubs and co-creator of shows including the live-actionCougar Town,Spin City,Ground Floor,Ted Lasso, andShrinking, and the animated seriesClone High, in which he also voiced the leader of the shadowy figures. He has written for many other shows, includingThe Nanny andBoy Meets World.

The name of Lawrence's production company,Doozer, is a wordplay on his middle name.

Lawrence is a graduate of theCollege of William & Mary, where he studied English and was a member ofKappa Alpha (KA) social fraternity. After graduating, his first writing job was as a staff writer on the short-livedABC sitcomBilly. He briefly wrote forBoy Meets World,Friends, andThe Nanny.^[2] In 1996, he wrote for the short-lived sitcomChamps.

Lawrence's first show as creator was the ABC multi-camera sitcomSpin City, co-created withChamps creatorGary David Goldberg, which originally starredMichael J. Fox as a deputy mayor of New York City. The show lasted for six seasons and won aPrimetime Emmy Award and fourGolden Globes.^[3]

He went on to create the single-camera sitcomScrubs, which followed the lives of hospital staff. The show premiered in 2001 and ran for 9 seasons in total, 7 onNBC and 2 on ABC. Lawrence wrote, produced and directed the series. The show received critical acclaim, and won aPeabody Award in2006, and twoEmmy Awards with 17 nominations.^[4][5]

His next project was co-creating the 2002 animated sitcomClone High forMTV withPhil Lord and Chris Miller. The show lasted a single 13-episode season. In 2005, Lawrence co-created the failedThe WB pilotNobody's Watching withNeil Goldman and Garrett Donovan.^[6] Lawrence was preparing for his film-directing debut with the filmFletch Won, a prequel to the previousFletch films, but ultimately left the project afterScrubs starZach Braff exited the project.^[7]

Lawrence co-created the single-camera sitcomCougar Town, which premiered in 2009 on ABC, withKevin Biegel. The show is executive produced by series starCourteney Cox and her then-husbandDavid Arquette. Courteney Cox had been a guest star on Lawrence's previous sitcomScrubs. The show ran from 2009 to 2012 on ABC, then moved toTBS in 2013.^[8]

In 2013, Lawrence was involved with three shows that made it to series. He co-created and executive produces the TBS sitcomGround Floor with Greg Malins. He is also an executive producer of the Fox sitcomSurviving Jack and the NBC sitcomUndateable.^[9] After running two seasons,Ground Floor was cancelled.^[10] In 2014, Lawrence and four other cast members fromUndateable did a standup comedy tour to promote the show.^[11][12][13]Undateable was cancelled in 2016 after three seasons.^[14]

Lawrence wrote a script for theRush Hour television series, though it was ultimately canceled, after a single season.^[15]

In 2017, Lawrence started developing a new multi-camera comedy series calledSpaced Out, a show set in the world of commercial space travel.^[16] Lawrence is an executive producer forWhiskey Cavalier, described as an actiondramedy starringScott Foley andLauren Cohan, which was ordered to series at ABC but canceled after 10 episodes.^[17]

Lawrence co-created theApple TV+ seriesTed Lasso, which premiered in 2020 and has gone on to win twoPrimetime Emmy Awards forOutstanding Comedy Series. In 2022, Lawrence signed a new five-year overall deal withWarner Bros. Television Group through 2028.^[18]

Lawrence married actressChrista Miller in 1999.^[1] They have three children together. Miller has been cast in Lawrence projectsScrubs,Clone High,Cougar Town, andShrinking.

Lawrence is the great-great-grandson of Sarah andWilliam Van Duzer Lawrence, whose home becameSarah Lawrence College.^[1]

On July 21, 2017, Lawrence was involved in aplane crash on the East River in New York City with his family. Everyone aboard survived unscathed.^[19]

• "'Scrubs,' Near Death, Is Given a Miracle Cure" inThe New York Times
• Bill Lawrence atIMDb

• 1968 births
• Living people
• 20th-century American male writers
• 20th-century American screenwriters
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