The renowned author of Tiny Beautiful Things and Little Fires Everywhere, Liz Tigelaar, is formally starting a new phase of her career. According to Deadline, the prolific showrunner has inked an exclusive three-year overall contract with CBS Studios and Paramount TV Studios. This is the first shared overall agreement between the two production divisions since Skydance acquired Paramount Global.
As noted by Deadline, Tigelaar decided to make a shift when her most recent contract expired after spending the majority of her career with Disney, where she held several overall deals over the previous 15 years. She talked with a number of companies as a sought-after free agent before settling on Paramount late last year; talks continued into the next year. Beginning in February, the arrangement brings Tigelaar back to CBS Studios, where she first signed an overall contract in 2009 and debuted her first series, Life Unexpected.
Per Deadline, under the new arrangement, Tigelaar will develop original programming for both streaming and broadcast through her banner Best Day Ever Productions, alongside VP of development Abby Chambers (Maid, Emperor of Ocean Park). She’ll collaborate closely with Matt Thunell (Yellowjackets, Mayor of Kingstown) and Shelley Zimmerman (Station Eleven, Swamplandia) at Paramount TV Studios, as well as David Stapf (Evil, The Good Wife) and Bryan Seabury (Tracker, Fire Country) at CBS Studios. All projects stemming from the deal will be co-produced by both studios another first for the pair.
In a joint statement, Stapf and Thunell hailed Tigelaar as a unique creative voice that combines humanity, humor, and emotional honesty, as reported by Deadline. Citing long-standing creative relationships with Zimmerman, Stapf, and Seabury that go back to the early days of her career, Tigelaar shared that idea, referring to the arrangement as both a “homecoming and a new beginning.”
According by Deadline, book adaptations have become a defining pillar of Tigelaar’s work. Her recent Hulu projects include Little Fires Everywhere, executive produced by and starring Reese Witherspoon (Big Little Lies, The Morning Show) and Kerry Washington (Scandal, Django Unchained), as well as Tiny Beautiful Things, led by Kathryn Hahn (WandaVision, Transparent). She also executive produced Under the Bridge, further cementing her reputation for character-driven, female-focused storytelling.
Tigelaar’s broader TV résumé includes Casual, What About Brian, Dirty Sexy Money, Brothers and Sisters, Once Upon a Time, Revenge, Nashville, Astronaut Wives Club, and Bates Motel. She is represented by UTA and attorney Wendy Kirk, Deadline stated.
With Paramount+ increasingly looking to balance its slate with more female-skewing dramas, Tigelaar’s arrival positions her as a key creative force shaping the platform’s next phase and underscores the growing willingness of major studios to collaborate in order to secure top-tier talent, per Deadline.