OU alumnae Jacquelyn Reingold and Laura Jacqmin wrote for Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and more for the upcoming Netflix comedy Grace and Frankie, which will start streaming May 8.
Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin worked “9 to 5” in 1980 as two-thirds of the triumphant and unforgettable trio from the film of the same name. Now, the legends are back as a duo in their latest project, Grace and Frankie, a Netflix comedy that will premiere May 8.
Two Ohio University alumnae helped make this reunion of sorts happen — as part of the series' writing staff.
"One of my most memorable moments was for one episode, Jane ... asked me to run lines with her and Lily," said Jacquelyn Reingold, who graduated from the MFA playwriting program in 2003. "I will never forget correcting Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin on the lines from the script. It was both exhilarating and overwhelming."
In the show, Fonda and Tomlin play the title women whose husbands, played by Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston, announce they are in love with each other, thus forcing Grace and Frankie to come together to figure out how to move on.
Reingold serves as a writer/producer for the show, and Laura Jacqmin, who graduated from OU’s MFA program in 2007, is a story editor. The show was co-created by Marta Kauffman, who also co-created Friends.
Both Reingold and Jacqmin said they were interviewed to be part of the team after members of Kauffman’s company read each of their plays, but it was mere happenstance that the two hail from the same alma mater.
“I think it shows how great and beneficial the playwriting program is and how much work the MFA playwrights are getting now in theater, television and film,” Reingold said. “It’s a particularly exciting time in television now. … It’s a place where now you can really do quality, unusual writing in ways that perhaps weren’t true some years ago.”
Just like the OU alumnae, many others on the writing staff, including Kauffman and fellow co-creator Howard J. Morris, have backgrounds in theater, Jacqmin said.
Charles Smith, head of the MFA playwriting program, said nowadays playwrights often seek TV jobs for the paycheck, which they then use to fund their theatrical work.
Jacqmin said the people involved in Grace and Frankie and its pilot are what drew her into the project.
“I thought it was so tremendous that you could have a story about people this age, going through these issues, and I just loved the writing and thought it was really funny,” she said. “I don’t know that there’s somebody out there who’s approaching (this topic) with such a level of humanness and level of humor that Marta and Howard are.”
Grace and Frankie is Jacqmin's second TV writing job. Her first was on ABC's quickly canceled drama Lucky 7. In comparing Netflix with a traditional network, Jacqmin said Netflix and the other digital TV channels are more empowering than networks.
"They’re seen as having greater mobility and greater power to get things green-lit, because you’re not dependent on ratings to keep the lights on,” she said.
For the show’s first season, Reingold wrote and produced episodes No. 6 and No. 12. Jacqmin wrote episode No. 10. Though, each added that in comedy writing, rewrites are done by the entire team and is a very collaborative process.
The collaboration with Reingold, Jacqmin said, was something she appreciated. Reingold has done TV writing since she graduated OU, working on shows such as Daria, Law and Order: Criminal Intent and Smash. Reingold also said she just finished working on a still-untitled, one-hour drama for HBO.
"It's really thrilling to be on a show with people who have the same training as you do," Jacqmin said. "She’s already been working in TV for over a decade, so she’s much more experienced than I am. ... She’s functioning as a writer, as a creator as well as a mentor."
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