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Erika Green Swafford is an American writer, producer, and performer known for her writing on The Mentalist, How to Get Away with Murder, Reverie,[1] and on NBC’s New Amsterdam.[2]
Early Life[edit]
Erika Green Swafford was born in Washington D.C. to Melba Swafford, M.D. and Matthew J. Green Jr. esq. Green Swafford’s mother earned a medical degree at Howard University School of Medicine while raising her daughter as a single parent.[3] Watching her mother, then primarily a homemaker, change the trajectory of her life, made a lasting impression on Green Swafford. Dr. Swafford married classmate, Joseph Swafford M.D., and the family, now including younger sister Jessica, moved to Houston, Texas when Green Swafford was 10 years old.[4]
Green Swafford’s love for theater arts was nurtured at the Kinkaid School, but her desire to be a chef like her childhood idol, Julia Child, led her to pursue a degree at Cornell University’s world renown School of Hotel Administration.[5] While at Cornell, Green Swafford lettered in track (shot put and discus) and became a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.[6] After graduation, Green Swafford worked in hospitality management in Washington DC. Several years in, she realized hospitality was not her calling. To facilitate her long simmering passion to become a creative in entertainment, Green Swafford moved to LA. She attended UCLA’s Anderson School of Management while pursuing writing and performing.[7]
Career[edit]
Green Swafford landed her first job in entertainment at Oxygen Network in the fall of 1999 just before its launch.[8] Over the next seven years, she rose up the ranks, becoming an acquisitions executive as the network acquired well known films and series such as Snapped. Green Swafford, ever committed to becoming a creative, spent her nights writing sketch comedy and performing shows at places like Improv Olympic.[7] In 2004, Erika wrote and produced her first one-woman show, Wookin Pa Nub, which premiered at the LA Women’s Theater Festival.
During the acquisition of Oxygen by NBC/Universal, Erika was accepted to the 2007 WB Writers Workshop.[1] After the WGA strike of 2007/2008, Green Swafford became a staff writer on the CBS light procedural, The Mentalist. She spent the next six seasons there. In 2014, she became a supervising producer and later a co-executive producer on ABC’s How to Get Away with Murder starring Viola Davis.[1] It was here that Green Swafford penned some of the show’s iconic scripts. In 2017 she wrote for NBC’s Reverie, before inking an overall deal with Universal Television.[1] Beginning in 2018, Green Swafford became a consulting producer on NBC’s highly regarded hospital drama New Amsterdam.[9][2]
Personal Life[edit]
Green Swafford feeds her culinary passions by teaching cooking classes[9] and continues to write and perform stories for the likes of Write Club, True Story, and other collectives around Los Angeles.
Awards[edit]
| Year | Award | Category | Series | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | NAACP Image Award | Outstanding Writing for a Dramatic Series | How To Get Away With Murder | WON |
| 2016 | NAACP Image Award | Outstanding Writing for a Dramatic Series | How To Get Away With Murder | Nominated |
- ^ a b c d Andreeva, Nellie; Andreeva, Nellie (2018-04-17). "Writer Erika Green Swafford Inks Overall Deal With Universal TV". Deadline. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- ^ a b "Disparate medical treatment for black women the focus of New Amsterdam". Rolling Out. 2019-11-01. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- ^ "OTC Beauty Magazine, April 2019". Issuu. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- ^ "OTC Beauty Magazine, April 2019". Issuu. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- ^ Grayson Cardinell (2016-08-15). "CadillacMagazine_Vol3_Issue1".
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Kemp, Kitty (2016-09-07). "Murder, She Writes". Cornell Alumni Magazine. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- ^ a b "UCLA Anderson M.B.A. helped TV writer get her foothold in Hollywood". UCLA. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- ^ "UCLA Anderson M.B.A. helped TV writer get her foothold in Hollywood". UCLA. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- ^ a b "Erika Green Swafford's schedule for 2019 Austin Film Festival & Conference". 2019austinfilmfestivalconfe.sched.com. Retrieved 2020-11-05.