Anne Beatts

Anne Beatts (1947-2021) says of getting her break in comedy writing: "I always say very freely when people ask, 'how did you get into comedy?' I say 'the same way that Catherine the Great got into politics.' It wasn't like some Machiavellian scheme on my part, it was just that I was attracted to people who were doing things that I wanted to do." Anne Beatts was among the original writers of Saturday Night Live and created and executive-produced the influential comedy series Square Pegs. 

In her two-hour interview, Beatts talks about working on the National Lampoon magazine with then-boyfriend Michael O'Donoghue. She describes how the two of them were hired by producer Lorne Michaels for Saturday Night (Live). For Saturday Night Live, she looks back on working with the original cast members, and describes sketches she wrote, several of which were problematic for the network's Standards & Practices. She recounts how she left Saturday Night Live and came to create and pitch Square Pegs to CBS. 

On Square Pegs, she describes the casting of the leads and gives insight into serving as the series' executive producer, including hiring an all-female writing staff. On being one of television's first female showrunners, she admits that she was treated "with some degree of disbelief and disrespect. I don't think it was easy."

She comments on her difficulty in producing the first season of A Different World, and her satisfying experience as executive producer/writer of The Stephanie Miller Show. Additionally, she relates how she came to write an episode of Murphy Brown and serve as one of the writers for the reunion special Saturday Night Live 25. Jim McKairnes conducted the interview on May 7, 2009 in North Hollywood, CA.