TV Writer-Producer-Director Kellie R. Griffin on "Inside Urban Hollywood," Mon. April 5, 6pm PST/9pm

Writer-producer-director Kellie R . Griffin will discuss writing and producing for television and cable on the April 5th edition of "Inside Urban Hollywood." Kellie R. Griffin started her Hollywood career as a receptionist on the hit sitcom, "The Parkers" where Griffin worked her way up to become a Writers’ Assistant. During the show’s fifth and final season, Griffin wrote one of the show’s three-part episodes for the series finale, which allowed her membership into the WGA. Her pivotal career break came from a referral by Ralph Farquhar (“Moesha") to write a spec script for Tyler Perry and Reuben Cannon (“Woman Thou Art Loosed”) who were producing a new TV sitcom. Impressed by Griffin’s script, the duo offered her the position of Associate Producer and Head Writer for the runaway TBS hit “House of Payne,” where she personally hand-picked her own writing team of 8-11 writers and managed them as they wrote a mind-blowing 100+ episodes in less than a year! The show debuted as the highest rated comedy series in cable television history and the #1 TV show in African-American households. In 2008 and 2009, the show won three and four NAACP Image Awards, including Best TV Comedy Series both years. Despite the show’s success, it was not covered by the WGA. After fighting a good fight, Griffin and her staff were successful with getting Tyler Perry to join the WGA and now the current writing staff receives the benefits they deserve, one of Griffin’s proudest accomplishments. Currently, Griffin lives in Los Angeles and is in the process of creating a television drama based on her real life experiences as the director of a homeless shelter in Washington, D.C. and she’s co-writing her first action feature film.