Emily Spivey

Emily Spivey grew up in High Point, North Carolina, and she knew from the age of 7 that she wanted to write for Saturday Night Live. Her interest in writing and performing comedy grew throughout high school and college, and in 1993 she found herself in Los Angeles pursuing her MFA in screenwriting at Loyola Marymount University. After graduating with her MFA, she realized that she couldn't be in the same town as The Groundlings Theater without trying out for the improv troupe. She lived for The Groundlings and the excellent training they provided and ultimately worked her way up to the Sunday Company. Through that wonderful experience, she earned her first job at Mad TV. After Mad TV, she joined the writing staff of King of the Hill where she worked for two seasons. When her bestie Maya Rudolph was hired at SNL, she was offered a job there and, of course, could not resist. She started at SNL in 2001 along with Seth Meyers and her longtime collaborator, Amy Poehler. She also worked with and continues to work closely with Rachel Dratch, Tina Fey, Paula Pell, Kristen Wiig as well as Rudolph and Poehler. After a decade at SNL, she returned to Los Angeles to write for Parks and Recreation. She then developed her own show based on her and her husband Scott and their new son, Rowan, called Up All Night. From there she moved on to Modern Family and then went on to help her old Groundling's friend Will Forte develop his Emmy award-winning sitcom, The Last Man On Earth. At The Last Man On Earth, she reunited with an SNL writing partner and soul sister, Liz Cackowski. In 2018 their script Wine Country, which they wrote and produced, served as Amy Poehler's feature film debut starring Tina Fey, Rachel Dratch, Maya Rudolph, Paula Pell, Ana Gasteyer, Poehler and Emily. She and Liz recently sold another feature film to Netflix, and she continues to develop new projects.