How ‘Girls5eva’ Creator Meredith Scardino Hits the High Notes

Season 3 of “Girls5eva” has proven to be a triumph for creator Meredith Scardino. First, the musical comedy about the titular one-hit wonder pop group moved from Peacock to Netflix; then, Scardino and Sam Means earned an Emmy nod for outstanding writing for a comedy series for “Orlando,” the season’s fourth episode. 

“Orlando” finds Dawn (Sara Bareilles), Summer (Busy Philipps), Gloria (Paula Pell), and Wickie (Renée Elise Goldsberry) performing at an over-the-top birthday party for a rich housewife. In classic “Girls5eva” fashion, the episode is a savvy pop-culture satire featuring unexpected cameos. But the best Easter egg is the location. 

“It was all shot at that mansion where Taylor Swift’s ‘Blank Space’ video was filmed,” Scardino says. “And I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, this is the Taylor Swift place! Can we rent it?’ ” 

Truly, what an era for “Girls5eva.”

Where did the idea for the series originally come from?

I hadn’t seen many shows where the main cast were super hilarious women in their 40s, and I kept wanting to write a very hard comedy for women in my age group. I saw a story about the Spice Girls reuniting to do some shows, and that was the moment when I thought, Oh, this is it. Because what if it’s a group that wanted to be like the Spice Girls, but never became the Spice Girls?

Did you ever imagine you’d land a quartet of actors as talented as the ones you ended up with?

Oh, my God, no. That’s [thanks to executive producer] Tina Fey. Tina is a wizard at casting, and people answer the phone when she calls. I can’t believe this cast. I think that we have the best ensemble on television, and I pinch myself that I get to work with them.

You started your career in late night before jumping into scripted shows with Netflix’s “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.” What was it like to make that transition?

It was an adjustment, since I’d only written for late-night hosts. But it helped that I’d worked on “The Colbert Report,” where Stephen was playing a character, so it wasn’t just writing straight monologues. The biggest transition was the pace. Doing a late-night show every day is a sprint, [but a scripted series is] much more of a marathon.

“Girls5eva” is a joke machine, constantly churning out zingers. Does that type of comedy come naturally to you?

That is the language of how I see the world. If I had to write a drama, I don’t know if I could. [Laughs] But you need to make sure that you’re not going on a comedy detour just because you find something funny. Everything has to be baked into the story, or else the audience gets bored. There’s not really room for indulgence. 

How do you, Jeff Richmond, and Bareilles manage to write music for the show that’s both catchy and funny?

At first, it was very easy to satirize that manufactured, Y2K-era pop stuff. But when the group reassembles, you’re now tasked with: What would they produce? You want to stay true to the growing pains but then also try to be funny about it. I think it really helps you root for the group when [the songs feel] grounded, and Sara’s music delivers in that respect. The songs are beautiful and feel like they could have actually come from Girls5eva. And you’re like, If there’s justice in the world, this group will succeed. 

This story originally appeared in the Aug. 8 issue of Backstage Magazine.