Georgia Jeffries: Writing TV, Fiction & Feminist Stories

By Cynthia Bemis Abrams | 07/01/2025

Award-winning writer and professor Georgia Jeffries joins Cynthia Bemis Abrams to reflect on her pioneering work in television and screenwriting. From her early magazine articles to Emmy-winning work on Cagney & Lacey, China Beach and Sisters, Jeffries reveals how she broke into Hollywood’s writers’ rooms and built a career defined by dramatic integrity and feminist storytelling.

Georgia discusses:

  • Her transition from journalism to writing TV scripts on spec;
  • Championing women writers through her work with the Writers Guild;
  • Launching USC’s first undergrad screenwriting thesis program; and
  • How writing fiction compares to TV script writing.

Learn more about her 2024 novel The Younger Girl, based on real events in Illinois at https://georgiajeffries.com/

Referenced episodes with Cagney & Lacey and Lou Grant writer April Smith:

TV Writer April Smith on Lou Grant & Storytelling

https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/646f4a94-f444-4ab9-b351-058a23238b0f.mp3

Mrs. America & TV’s Dimensional Feminism

https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/e0f75b62-4be6-4857-9a15-cf9fe3f5465c.mp3