October 21, 2014

Mitchell Hurwitz, the creator of the Emmy Award-winning comedy series ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, will visit Drexel on Tuesday, October 21 for an evening of lively discussion. The event, which is free and open to the public, will start at 6:30pm in Mitchell Auditorium in Bossone Research Center (31^st and Market Streets). While at Drexel, Hurwitz will also take time to meet with the cast and crew of Drexel’s NATAS award-winning, student-produced sitcom OFF CAMPUS.

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, which parodies reality television in its chronicles of the dysfunctional Bluth family, has received widespread critical acclaim including six Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe. It ran for three seasons on Fox starting in 2003, returning to its elated fans last year with an all-new 15-episode season on Netflix. Time magazine ranked it at No. 8 on its 2007 list of the “Top 100 All Time Best Television Shows.”

Hurwitz, who began his writing career on THE GOLDEN GIRLS, has a long career in television including co-creating THE ELLEN SHOW and RUNNING WILDE; running THE JOHN LARROQUETTE SHOW; and adapting numerous foreign TV programs including SIT DOWN, SHUT UP, based on a program from Australia, and THE THICK OF IT and ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS, from Britain. For several years he co-ran Tantamount Pictures, a TV production company at Sony TV.  He has also acted in episodes of WORKAHOLICS and COMMUNITY, but said “I don’t want that in the press release.  And you can quote me on that.” This spring, Hurwitz signed a multi-year deal with Netflix to create and produce a new original series – the first time the streaming company has signed a long-term pact with a writer/producer.

During his talk, beyond discussing ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, Hurwitz will speak to his career as a writer and producer, with a look ahead to the future of television.

 “Having someone like Mitchell Hurwitz come to campus and engage with students is the kind of thing that sets Westphal College of Media Arts & Design and Drexel University apart,” said Karen Curry, executive director of the Rudman Institute. “Getting a chance to pick the brain of someone who’s been wildly successful in the industry, while you’re also engaging in the rigors of experiential learning –that’s what being a student at Drexel is all about.”

In addition to Hurwitz’s six Primetime Emmy Awards – three each in the Comedy Series and Writing for a Comedy Series categories – he received the 2009 Outstanding Television Writer Award from the Austin Film Festival, and was named Comedy Writer of the Year at the Montreal Comedy Festival in 2013.

An Evening with Mitchell Hurwitz is sponsored by the Kal & Lucille Rudman Institute for Entertainment Industry Studies and the Sibby Merkel Brasler Lecture Series. A reception will follow the event.