Jenni Konner

Jenni Konner
Born Jennifer A. Konner
(1971-05-16) May 16, 1971
New York City, U.S.
Alma mater Sarah Lawrence College
Occupation
  • Writer
  • director
  • producer
Years active 1990s–present
Partner(s) Richard Shepard
Children 2
Parent(s) Lawrence Konner
Relatives Zoë Heller (step-mother)

Jennifer "Jenni" A. Konner (born May 16, 1971)[1][2] is an American director, writer and producer. She works mostly in television and is best known as the showrunner and writer of the HBO series Girls. In 2016, she directed the season finale of the fifth season of Girls entitled "I Love You Baby" and in 2017, she directed the episode "Latching," which served as the season and series finale; both episodes were co-written by Judd Apatow, Lena Dunham, and Konner.

With Lena Dunham, she runs a production company and is co-founder of the feminist newsletter, Lenny Letter, and its Random House imprint, Lenny Books.[3]

Early life

Konner was born to a Jewish family[4][5] in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in Los Angeles, California. She is daughter of American television writers Lawrence Konner and Ronnie Wenker-Konner (née Wenker).[6][7] Konner has a younger brother, Jeremy Konner.[8][9]

Konner graduated from Crossroads School, a progressive high school in Santa Monica.[10] In 1994, Konner graduated from Sarah Lawrence College.[11]

Career

After finishing school, Konner began working with friend and writing partner Alexandra Rushfield. They were both hired as writers for Judd Apatow's sitcom Undeclared. They then went on to create two short-lived network shows together: Help Me Help You and In the Motherhood. After that the pair stopped writing together and Konner began working as a script doctor. She was hired on a few big-budget Hollywood films to help the writers flesh out their female characters, most notably Transformers: Dark of the Moon.[9]

Girls

Konner was first introduced to Lena Dunham’s work through watching Dunham’s 2010 film Tiny Furniture. Konner was a big fan of the film and so jumped at the opportunity when HBO offered her the role of supervising Dunham for her new series Girls.[9][12] Since then Konner has become the show’s official co-show-runner, an executive producer and she has written occasional episodes. The show premiered on HBO in 2012 and has since won numerous awards. Dunham and Konner are good friends and have collaborated on several other projects. They also started a production company together called A Casual Romance, with the intent of addressing the gender imbalance in TV and film.[13] On her relationship with Dunham, Konner says “We just really love spending time together, which is good because we mostly have to be together all day every day.”[14]

In November 2017, Konner (and Girls actress Lena Dunham), briefly defended Girls writer Murray Miller — who actress Aurora Perrineau had recently accused of sexually assaulting her in 2012, when she was seventeen — saying "While our first instinct is to listen to every woman's story, our insider knowledge of Murray’s situation makes us confident that sadly this accusation is one of the 3% of assault cases that are misreported every year."[15][16] After an immediate backlash, Konner and Dunham quickly apologized for that statement.[17][16]

Other work

In January 2015, Dunham and Konner released a documentary for HBO about Hilary Knight, the illustrator of the children's books Eloise. Konner worked as the Executive Producer on the project and it was their first production with their company A Casual Romance. The production company's most recent work, Suited, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2016. The film is a documentary that looks at a Brooklyn-based tailoring company that tailors suits for members of the LGBTQ community. It was directed by Jason Benjamin and produced by Konner and Dunham. Suited will premiere on HBO in June 2016.[18]

Lenny Letter

Konner and Lena Dunham collaborated to create Lenny Letter, a weekly online feminist newsletter.[19] The pair started the project with the intention of giving a platform to young female voices to discuss feminist issues. The newsletter features political essays, personal stories, interviews, artwork and even an advice column from Dunham and Konner themselves called "Letters to Lenny."[20] One notable article was an essay written by actress Jennifer Lawrence about the gender wage gap in Hollywood.[21]

Lenny Letter is supported by Hearst Corporation advertising.[22]

Konner and Dunham are also working with Random House on a book imprint that will extend the aims of Lenny Letter to book publishing.[23]

Personal life

Konner lives in Los Angeles, California, with her two children and boyfriend Richard Shepard.[9][24]

Filmography

YearTitleRole
1999George and MarthaWriter
2001–2002UndeclaredWriter, Story Editor
2002What I Like About YouWriter
2003The O’KeefesWriter
2004The StonesExecutive Story Editor
2005Pool GuysWriter, Executive Producer
2006–2007Help Me Help YouWriter, Executive Producer
2008Bad Mother’s HandbookWriter, Executive Producer
2009In the MotherhoodWriter, Executive Producer
2012–2017GirlsWriter, Executive Producer
2015It’s Me, Hilary: The Man Who Drew EloiseExecutive Producer
2016SuitedProducer
2016MaxExecutive producer
2018LennyExecutive producer
2018CampingWriter, Executuve Producer

Awards and nominations

YearAssociationCategoryNominated WorkResult
2012Primetime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Comedy SeriesGirlsNominated
2013Primetime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Comedy SeriesGirlsNominated
2013BAFTA AwardsBest InternationalGirlsWon
2013Online Film & Television AssociationBest Writing in a Comedy SeriesGirlsNominated
2013Writers Guild of AmericaComedy SeriesGirlsNominated
2013Writers Guild of AmericaNew SeriesGirlsWon
2013Golden GlobesBest Television Series - Comedy or MusicalGirlsWon
2014Golden GlobesBest Television Series - Comedy or MusicalGirlsNominated
2015Golden GlobesBest Television Series - Comedy or MusicalGirlsNominated

References

  1. ↑ Konner, Jenni (@jennikonner) (16 May 2014). "Thank you everyone for your birthday wishes and linkedin invites". Twitter.
  2. ↑ Leive, Cindi. "How *Girls*' Executive Producer and Writer Jenni Konner Gets Ahead". Glamour. Retrieved 2016-04-18.
  3. ↑ "SOUR HEART by Jenny Zhang: Announcing the first book in the LENNY imprint". Lenny Letter. 1 June 2017.
  4. ↑ New York Times: "Relationships; Confirming A Child in a Faith" by Andree Brooks February 25, 1985 |"Ronnie Wenker-Konner, a television scriptwriter, let her daughter, Jenny, choose the style and color scheme for the invitations and place settings for the party that accompanied her bas mitzvah"
  5. ↑ Interfaith Celebrities: "The Updates Column" By Nate Bloom. May 15, 2012
  6. ↑ "Ronnie Wenker Conner - United States Public Records". FamilySearch. February 2001.
  7. ↑ Konner, Jenni; Konner, Ronnie; Appet, Leah (23 October 2015). "Why You Should #AskYourMother About Abortion". Lenny Letter.
  8. ↑ Wenker-Konner, Ronnie; Appet, Leah (7 September 2008). "A Picture of Health: A Stroke in Prime Time". Los Angeles Times.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Martin, Denise (17 January 2013). "The Grown-up Behind Girls: Showrunner Jenni Konner". Vulture. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  10. ↑ Del Barco, Mandalit (24 March 2017). "Meet Jenni Konner, The Off-Screen 'Grown-Up' Who Helped Make 'Girls'". All Things Considered. NPR.
  11. ↑ "Notes from One Mead Way: Summer 2012 - Sarah Lawrence College". Sarah Lawrence College. Summer 2012.
  12. ↑ Leive, Cindi (3 December 2014). "How Girls' Executive Producer and Writer Jenni Konner Gets Ahead". Glamour. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  13. ↑ Kang, Inkoo (23 April 2015). "Lena Dunham and Rose Byrne Launch All-Female Production Companies". Indiewire. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  14. ↑ Fallon, Kevin (8 March 2013). "Jenni Konner Talks 'Girls,' Lena Dunham, and 'The Facts of Life'". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  15. ↑ Time Magazine: "Lena Dunham Defends Former Girls Producer After Sexual Assault Allegations" By Jamie Ducharme November 18, 2017
  16. 1 2 "Lena Dunham sorry for comment on writer accused of sexual assault". BBC News. November 19, 2017.
  17. ↑ The Guardian: "Lena Dunham apologises for defending Girls writer accused of sexual assault" November 19, 2017
  18. ↑ Siegel, Tatiana (20 January 2016). "Sundance: Lena Dunham-Produced Doc 'Suited' Takes Viewers Inside Bespoke Brooklyn LGBTQ Tailor". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  19. ↑ Jagannathan, Meera (29 September 2015). "10 fast facts about Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner's first Lenny Letter". New York Daily News. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  20. ↑ "The Girls collaborators want to change the voice of online feminism—and make some money too". Fast Company. 12 October 2015. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  21. ↑ "Jennifer Lawrence: "Why Do I Make Less Than My Male Co‑Stars?"". Lenny Letter. 13 October 2015. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  22. ↑ Owen, Laura Hazard (4 March 2016). "Lena Dunham's Lenny Letter has grown to 400,000 subscribers with a 65 percent open rate". NiemanLab. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  23. ↑ "Lena Dunham Sets 'Lenny' Book Imprint and HBO Short-Film Series". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
  24. ↑ Kaufman, Amy (16 April 2017). "Q&A: Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner break down the series finale of 'Girls'". Los Angeles Times.
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