Mark Schwahn

Mark Schwahn
Mark Schwahn in 2012
Born	(1966-07-05) July 5, 1966
Occupation	Director, producer, screenwriter
Alma mater	University of Maryland
Years active	1997–present
Notable works	One Tree Hill The Royals

Mark Schwahn (born July 5, 1966) is an American screenwriter, director and producer. He is best known as creator, head writer and executive producer of the WB/CW drama series One Tree Hill.

Career

Schwahn has co-written Coach Carter (2005), The Perfect Score (2004), Whatever It Takes (2000) and 35 Miles from Normal (1997). In addition, he was creator of the TV series One Tree Hill, for which he also wrote and directed.

He served as producer for Whatever It Takes and One Tree Hill. He also directed 35 Miles from Normal, which he filmed in his hometown of Pontiac, Illinois. In March 2015 E! premièred Mark's show The Royals. E! first scripted series follows the lives of a fictional British Monarchy. The Royals stars Elizabeth Hurley as Queen Helena Hendstridge, Alexandra Park as Princess Eleanor, William Mosley as Prince Liam, and Jake Maskall as King Cyrus.

Melrose Place spinoff

He emerged as a top candidate to write a planned spin-off of Melrose Place shortly after the network and CBS Paramount Television announced it in late October 2008. Schwahn signed a two-year deal with CPT in early October 2008, but it had not started until June 2009. Until then, he was under a pact with Warner Bros. Television, where he ran One Tree Hill. His agreement with Warner Bros. called for him to continue as executive producer and showrunner on One Tree Hill returning for the ninth and final season in January 2012. The move to tap Schwahn to conceive a contemporary version of Melrose Place resembles The CW and CPT's decision to have Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas pen the original script for 90210. In early 2009, it was announced Schwahn would not be working on the project.

Personal life

Schwahn was born on July 5, 1966 and grew up in Pontiac, Illinois. He attended film school at the University of Maryland, and is also a member of the Writers Guild of America.

Sexual Harassment Allegations

On November 12, 2017, TV writer Audrey Wauchope wrote on Twitter that she and her female writing partner were sexually harassed by the showrunner of her first television writing job, known to be One Tree Hill. Among the behaviors she claimed they were subjected to were unwanted touching, sexual comments and requests for massages. She also accused Schwahn of showing naked photographs of an actress he was dating to crew members without the actress's knowledge.

One day after Wauchope's tweets, eighteen female members of the One Tree Hill cast and crew, including actresses Sophia Bush, Hilarie Burton, Bethany Joy Lenz, Danneel Harris and Daphne Zuniga, released a group statement to the media supporting Wauchope's claims and reading in part:

Mark Schwahn’s behavior over the duration of the filming of 'One Tree Hill' was something of an “open secret.” Many of us were, to varying degrees, manipulated psychologically and emotionally. More than one of us is still in treatment for post-traumatic stress. Many of us were put in uncomfortable positions and had to swiftly learn to fight back, sometimes physically, because it was made clear to us that the supervisors in the room were not the protectors they were supposed to be. Many of us were spoken to in ways that ran the spectrum from deeply upsetting, to traumatizing, to downright illegal. And a few of us were put in positions where we felt physically unsafe. More than one woman on our show had her career trajectory threatened.

The male stars of the One Tree Hill, including Chad Michael Murray, Lee Norris, James Lafferty, Robert Buckley and Austin Nichols, subsequently released their own statements publicly supporting their female co-stars and crew members.

Schwahn was suspended from his role as executive producer on The Royals by E! on November 15, 2017, the same day series star Alexandra Park released an open letter to the media alleging that she had experienced sexual harassment by Schwahn. The next day, 25 additional female cast and crew members of the show released their own open letter stating that they, too, had been subjected to sexual harassment by Schwahn throughout the run of the show. Their letter read in part:

This statement is a collection of voices from those women involved in The Royals who would like to finally respond to the behaviour of our showrunner. Who felt the inclination to abuse his power and influence in an environment where he had it over women who felt they did not. This manifested itself in the repeated unwanted sexual harassment of multiple female members of cast and crew.

The Royals star Elizabeth Hurley released her own letter in which she stated that she had never witnessed any sexual harassment by Schwahn on the show and that she believed the set to be "a very happy one, full of laughter and fun" under his direction.

Awards and nominations

Schwahn's film 35 Miles from Normal was nominated for Grand Jury Award and won the Special Jury Award at the Florida Film Festival.

Filmography

Crew

Film

Year	Title	Distributor	Credit	Notes
1997	35 Miles from Normal	Independent	Writer and director	Independent film
2000	Whatever It Takes	Columbia Pictures	Writer and producer
2004	The Perfect Score	Paramount Pictures	Writer
2005	Coach Carter	Paramount Pictures	Writer

Television

Year	Title	Network	Credit	Notes
2003–12	One Tree Hill	The WB (2003–06) The CW (2006–12)	Series creator; Writer, director, and executive producer
2010	Spy School for Girls	The CW	Series co-creator; Writer and executive producer	Series production canceled; Based on the book Spy School for Girls by Larry Kolb
	Nashville	The CW	Co-writer and executive producer	Series production canceled; Co-produced by Brad Paisley
2012	Shelter	The CW	Series creator; Writer and executive producer	Pilot filmed; Set in a holiday inn in Maine.
2015	The Royals	E!	Series creator; Writer, director, and executive producer

Cast

Film and Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Colin Fitz Lives!	Venice Beach Fan
2006–08	One Tree Hill	Max	2 episodes

External links

• Mark Schwahn at IMDb