Carol Mendelsohn
{{short description|American screenwriter (born 1951)}}
{{more footnotes needed|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Carol Mendelsohn
| image = CarolMendelsohn.png
| imagesize =
| caption = Carol Mendelsohn, November 2007
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1951}}
| birth_place = Chicago, Illinois
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation = Television writer
| movement =
| influences =
| influenced =
| website =
| alma_mater = Cornell University (B.A.)
George Washington University Law School (J.D.)
}}
Carol Mendelsohn (born 1951) is an American television producer, showrunner, and screenwriter, known for her work on the crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
Education
Mendelsohn grew up in Chicago, where her father was an attorney. She attended the Latin School of Chicago. Also she went to Smith College, but later transferred and in 1973 graduated from Cornell University. She then went to the George Washington University Law School and practiced at the Washington, D.C., office of the prominent Los Angeles–based firm Wyman, Bautzer, Rothman, & Kuchel.{{Citation needed |date=January 2021}} She also worked for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Film and television career
Realizing that she did not want to be a lawyer, she enrolled in an American Film Institute class. She moved to Los Angeles and started writing for the movie industry. Her early work included contributions to Hardcastle and McCormick, Stingray and Wiseguy. As producer for Cannell Studios, she worked on The Trials of Rosie O'Neill and Melrose Place.
In 2000, Mendelsohn joined the production of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and became its show runner and executive producer.{{Citation needed |date=January 2021}} In the fall of 2003, new long-term contracts made Mendelsohn and Ann Donahue "the two highest-paid female writers in television drama."{{cite news |last1=Weinraub |first1=Bernard |title=Respect, and $20 Million: Thank You, 'C.S.I.': For Two Female Writers, Hollywood Is No Longer the Scene of the Crime |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/92629587 |access-date=January 5, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=October 19, 2003 |page=AR 23|id={{ProQuest|92629587}} }}
In June 2014, it was announced that after 14 years Mendelsohn would leave CSI.{{cite news |last1=Goldberg |first1=Lesley |title='CSI' Loses Co-Showrunner Carol Mendelsohn (Exclusive) |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/csi-showrunner-carol-mendelsohn-exits-711124 |access-date=January 5, 2021 |work=The Hollywood Reporter |date=June 11, 2014 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140613180130/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/csi-showrunner-carol-mendelsohn-exits-711124 |archive-date=June 13, 2014}}
She was also co-creator and executive producer of CSI: Miami, CSI: NY and CSI: Cyber. In 2008, she wrote the episode "Fish in a Drawer" for Two and a Half Men. It is reported that she signed a deal with Universal in 2018.{{Cite web|last=Andreeva|first=Nellie|date=2018-07-23|title=Carol Mendelsohn Inks Overall Deal With Universal Television|url=https://deadline.com/2018/07/carol-mendelsohn-overall-deal-universal-television-1202431804/|access-date=2020-11-13|website=Deadline|language=en-US}}
In 2022, she signed a first-look deal with Fox Entertainment.{{cite web |last1=Porter |first1=Rick |title=Carol Mendelsohn Inks First-Look Deal at Fox |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/fox-csi-producer-carol-mendelsohn-first-look-deal-1235244662/ |website=The Hollywood Reporter |date=October 19, 2022}}
Awards and nominations
As part of the CSI team, she was nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award, the Producers Guild of America Award (twice), the Emmy Award (three times) and the Edgar Award.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Carol Mendelsohn}}
- {{IMDb name|0578856|Carol Mendelsohn}}
- [http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Nov05/Alum.focus.CSI.lm.html "Cornell alumni makes 'CSI' television's most-watched show"], article on the Cornell University website
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927015801/http://www.wga.org/writtenby/writtenbysub.aspx?id=831 In the Company of Women], article on the Writers Guild of America website
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendelsohn, Carol}}
Category:American soap opera writers
Category:Television producers from Illinois
Category:American women television producers
Category:Cornell University alumni
Category:Latin School of Chicago alumni
Category:Screenwriters from Chicago
Category:Television writers from Illinois
Category:American women television writers
Category:George Washington University Law School alumni
Category:American women soap opera writers
Category:Screenwriters from Washington, D.C.
Category:20th-century American screenwriters
Category:20th-century American women writers