‘Girls5Eva’ Showrunner Meredith Scardino Talks Writing the First ‘Danish-Based Cliffhanger in Television History’

Awards Daily talks to Girls5Eva showrunner Meredith Scardino about why Season 3 felt like filming a movie, Summer’s (Busy Philipps) big arc, and how the music comes together with executive producer/composer Jeff Richmond.

According to fans, the only complaint about Girls5eva Season 3 is that it’s not long enough. And yet that “flaw” is also one of its major achievements, for how it skillfully weaves so many storylines, arcs, and of course, jokes into six tightly written episodes.

“It keeps you adhered to an arc more than you might with 22 episodes,” says showrunner Meredith Scardino. “In a longer season, you might step out and do less plot-driven off-shoots that don’t necessarily move the needle but are fun and character-driven. We still always have character-driven, funny stories, but in some ways, it keeps you on target a little bit. And we built the season thinking we know where we’re going; let’s work backward. We’re notorious for putting a lot in the bag.”

And there’s A LOT in that bag — that may or may not have a live fox in it if Gloria (Paula Pell) has anything to do with it — including Dawn’s (Sara Bareilles) obsession with The Crown and a flashback to Wickie’s (Renee Elise Goldsberry) failed solo album Yesternights. Even though there are a lot of cutaways, they always have meaning.

“We always tie them to story. They should never feel indulgent. They should feel like they’re illustrating someone’s past fear or something. It should advance the story forward or it will just feel frivolous. It’s fun to think of all the things they did in that short period of time when they had a glimpse of fame.”

Scardino really has fun pushing different characters out of their comfort zones this season, including Summer (Busy Philipps), who shares more scenes with Wickie, even if the last time they were alone together it broke up the group.

“Wickie feels Summer’s desperation in a lot of ways and is allergic to it. ‘No, thank you.’ That feeling of ‘Someone else usually responds to you. I’m on the A list.’ It was not ever something we thought, oh we’ve never had them in a scene together. It was more of a discovery. I don’t think we’ve paired them together so much alone.”

After Wickie books the group for Radio City Music Hall on Thanksgiving, Summer comes to the rescue when they need her the most.

“Summer’s arc was really fun because in some ways she has the furthest to go as a character. Her whole identity is what her dad wanted, what Kev wanted, what the world wanted from her, what Larry wanted from her. This season has that song, ‘Is There a Me?’ and she realizes she’s built by all these other people. Knowing that she’s picking the pieces up and finding herself, whenever people are vulnerable, they might fall prey to a multi-level marketing scam. It was really satisfying to see her use these multi-level marketing skills to swoop in and save the group and bail them out of Radio City so they can put on the show of their lives even though no one is watching.”

With all six episodes directed by Kimmy Gatewood, who directed some episodes in Season 1 and 2, Scardino describes filming Season 3 as like a movie.

“We pre-wrote the season and then lock-shot it with Kimmy, who is such a wonderful director. She really wants to get you what you’re looking for, and the actors and crew love her. We’re like two peas in a pod when we’re on set together. She’s really who you want on your team. We did it all in a dedicated blitz, and having that consistency throughout was really fun and helped us make our days.”

Writing the music is also a very collaborative process between Scardino and executive producer Jeff Richmond, who she describes as “lead genius” of the geniuses he works with.

“The concept of the songs comes out of the writers’ room. Since the show’s not a musical, we usually just see snippets of songs, so you write the abbreviated version you want to see in the show. Sometimes we blow those out into full tracks after the season wraps. We’ve put out three albums, it’s so fun. I’ll send Jeff and the geniuses he works with some ideas, and he’ll ask me what the vibe is. Sometimes I’ll send a voice memo singing the worst version of it. All the songs always come back earworms. I don’t know what they do. They’re all incredible.”

Because everything has a second life now, in the finale, we learn that Wickie’s “Yesternights” gets a Stranger Things/Kate Bush type of bump in an episode of, you guessed it, The Crown.

“We’ve seen them as underdogs for three seasons, and to a certain extent, for women over 40 being in the business at all, they’re always going to remain underdogs. For me, it was nice to see them in the next chapter navigate some success. Wickie gets this opportunity and is going to bring these ladies along with her because she’s grown as a person and loves them. We were building towards that as the landing point for a potential springboard for the next chapter.”

So what happens after Wickie takes a bite of her Danish?

“It’s the first Danish-based cliffhanger in television history.”

Girls5Eva is streaming on Netflix.