Lee Eisenberg (born April 5, 1977) is a Peabody Award-winning[1] American film and television writer and producer. He usually works with Gene Stupnitsky, with whom he founded Quantity Entertainment.

Life and career

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Eisenberg was born in Needham, Massachusetts. His father is an immigrant from Israel.[2] He graduated from Connecticut College in 1999, after which he wrote the independent short film Flush, and was once a contestant on the game show Pyramid.

Television

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In 2005, Eisenberg and Stupnitsky joined the staff of the NBC comedy series The Office, where they remained from seasons 2 to 6. In addition to writing, he served as a co-executive producer and directed two episodes with Stupnitsky, "Michael Scott Paper Company" and "The Lover". Although he is not credited for directing "Michael Scott Paper Company", similarly Stupnitsky is not credited for directing "The Lover", as only one person can be credited with directing the episode. They also directed The Outburst, a webisode series for The Office. He acted as Gino, one of the Vance Refrigeration delivery people, along with Stupnitsky, present in several episodes of The Office.

In 2013, Eisenberg and Stupnitsky were listed as two of Deadline Hollywood's "Overachievers" of pilot season. Along with Stephen Merchant, they created, executive produced, and wrote for the HBO series Hello Ladies, which ran for one season and concluded with a feature-length special. That same year, they wrote a pilot for ABC based on the popular BBC series Pulling, in addition to serving as executive producers on the series Trophy Wife on ABC. They also executive produced the series Bad Teacher for CBS, which is based on their original screenplay.

Eisenberg and Stupnitsky created the 2023 minseries Jury Duty winning a Peabody Award for "wrapping up a lesson of civic responsibility within a warmhearted comedic tale, and for creating a bold feat of nonfiction storytelling that proves reality television can, surprisingly, bring out the best in all of us."[3]

Film

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Eisenberg and Stupnitsky have worked together on several screenplays, many of which they have produced as well. Along with Harold Ramis, they wrote the screenplay for Year One, which starred Jack Black and Michael Cera, and was released in 2009. Following that, they wrote and produced the film Bad Teacher, which starred Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake. They were to serve as producers of a proposed sequel.

Eisenberg and Stupnitsky wrote a screenplay for Ghostbusters III that was not used for the franchise. The duo also wrote the screenplay for Good Boys, which was released in 2019.[4][5][6]

Filmography

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Film

Year Title Writer Executive
Producer
2009 Year One Yes No
2011 Bad Teacher Yes Yes
2019 Good Boys Yes No

Television

Year Title Director Writer Executive
Producer
Creator Notes
2002 The Mind of the Married Man No Yes No No Episode "Never Stop"
2005-2010 The Office Yes Yes Yes No 15 episodes (writer);
Directed episodes "Michael Scott Paper Company" (Uncredited)
and "The Lover"
2013-2014 Hello Ladies No Yes Yes Yes 9 episodes
2014 Bad Teacher No No Yes No
Trophy Wife No Yes Yes No Episode "Mother's Day"
2016 Gorgeous Morons No Yes Yes No TV movie
2017 Downward Dog No No Yes No Episode "Pilot"
SMILF No No Yes No 9 episodes
2020 Little America No Yes Yes Yes Episode "The Rock"
2022 WeCrashed No Yes Yes Yes 8 episodes
2023 Jury Duty No No Yes Yes 8 episodes
2023 Lessons in Chemistry No Yes Yes Yes Developer, wrote 4 episodes

References

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  1. ^ https://peabodyawards.com/award-profile/jury-duty/
  2. ^ The Creators of Little America in Conversation. 10 March 2020. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  3. ^ https://peabodyawards.com/award-profile/jury-duty/
  4. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (20 July 2018). "Universal R-Rated Kids Comedy 'Good Boys' From Seth Rogen's Point Grey Adds Four". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  5. ^ Earp, Catherine (3 August 2018). "Seth Rogen apologises for use of blackface on his new film Good Boys". Digital Spy. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  6. ^ McNary, Dave (20 March 2018). "Jacob Tremblay to Star in Comedy 'Good Boys' for Universal". Variety. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
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