Q&A
Setting Us Up for Laughs
TV writer Tracey Wigfield produces a new workplace comedy
INTERVIEWED BY LAURA ADAMS STIANSEN
“I FEEL LIKE GIRLS WHO
ATTEND ALL-GIRLS SCHOOLS
OFTEN BECOME CONFIDENT
AND DRIVEN WOMEN.”
TRACEY WIGFIELD
Age: 34
Hometown: Wayne
High School: Immaculate Heart
Academy, Washington Township
You might recognize her: Beth on the
new NBC comedy Great News and
Lauren on The Mindy Project
HAT WAS IT LIKE GROWING UP IN
WAYNE? I loved growing up
in Wayne. It was an idyllic
suburban childhood, and I have so
many fond memories of spending
summers at the Preakness Pool and
the Wayne Public Library. Skater’s
World! Positano! Wayne Hills Mall!
Q-Zar! If you want me to keep listing
places I lived in Wayne in the ’90s,
just let me know. I have 10,000
more. Because my show shoots in
Los Angeles, I am resigned to being a
California resident. But my house is
in Studio City in the Valley because
the suburban feel and multiple malls
remind me of where I grew up.
HOW DID YOU BECOME INVOLVED WITH WRITING
AND PRODUCING TV? Growing up, I loved
writing and acting, but didn’t know
exactly what I wanted to do. When
I graduated college, I tried to get a
job working in television, and was
hired as a page at The Late Show
with David Letterman. It wasn’t
until I started working that I figured
out what TV writers and producers
actually do. It was only once I was a
writers’ assistant, sitting in a writers’
room and taking notes while the
writers pitched storylines and jokes,
that I decided, “That looks so fun
and scary. I want to do that.”
30
FALL 2017 WAYNE MAGAZINE
Q. YOU WERE A STAFF WRITER AND THEN
PRODUCER FOR 30 ROCK — WHAT WAS IT LIKE
WORKING ON THAT SHOW AND BEING ABLE TO BE
INVOLVED IN BOTH WRITING AND PRODUCTION
ASPECTS? 30 Rock was a really special
experience for me. I started as a writ-
ers’ assistant in Season 2, and over
the next six seasons worked my way
up to being a writer and producer. I
think it’s rare as a TV writer to land
on a show that you truly love and feel
is a perfect match for your comic
sensibilities. I learned everything I
know about how to make a television
show from TINA FEY and head writer
Robert Carlock. They are producers
on my show Great News and it has
been so gratifying to be able to work
with them in this new capacity, and
put to use everything they taught me.
WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION TO WINNING AN
EMMY FOR OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A
COMEDY SERIES? It was a real thrill. I also
don’t remember it. I think I blacked
out from nervousness. I remember
holding the little piece of paper
where I had written down what I was
going to say on. And then they called
our names, and then I was backstage.
I watched the video after and was
I READ THAT YOUR GREAT NEWS CHARACTER
CAROL WAS INSPIRED BY YOUR OWN MOM
KATHY. WHAT DOES SHE THINK OF THE SHOW?
HAS SHE OFFERED ANY SUGGESTIONS, OR DONE
ANYTHING RECENTLY THAT WILL MAKE
ITS WAY INTO AN UPCOMING
EPISODE? She loves the
show. She is a really
good sport. It is a
loving portrayal, but
I think most people
would be a little
weirded out if their
daughter made a TV
show about them, and
how funny they are. She
knows even when I make fun of her
I do it out of love. She does funny
things literally every day that I can
steal for the show. She also pitches
funny ideas. Her latest one, based a
little on real life, was “What if Carol
does ancestry.com and finds out Dave
is descended from British royalty and
she has to start being nice to him?”
Totally solid pitch.
ARE YOU WORKING ON ANY NEW PROJECTS OR
IDEAS? No! I have to make another
whole season of a television show!
My only other ideas are the kinds of
naps I can take. ■
EVANS
W
like, “I hugged LL Cool J?!” I had
no memory. My parents and sister
came to the Emmy’s with me and
we all went to the Governors Ball
together afterwards and my mom
tried to meet celebrities.