Jenni Konner

Jennifer A. Konner (born May 15, 1971)[1][2] is an American television writer, producer and director. She is best known as co-showrunner and writer with Lena Dunham of the HBO series Girls. In 2016, she directed the season finale of the fifth season of Girls entitled "I Love You Baby" and in 2017, she directed the episode "Latching," which served as the series finale; both episodes were co-written by Judd Apatow, Dunham and Konner.

Jenni Konner
Born
Jennifer A. Konner

(1971-05-15) May 15, 1971
New York City, U.S.
Alma materSarah Lawrence College
Occupation(s)Television writer, producer, director
Years active1990s–present
PartnerRichard Shepard
Children2
Parent(s)Lawrence Konner
Ronnie Wenker-Konner

With Lena Dunham, she ran a production company and is co-founder of the feminist newsletter, Lenny Letter, and its Random House imprint, Lenny Books.[3]

Early life

Konner was born to a Jewish family[4][5] in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in Los Angeles, California. She is daughter of American television writers Lawrence Konner and Ronnie Wenker-Konner (née Wenker).[6][7] Konner has a younger brother, Jeremy Konner, who directs and produces the Comedy Central program Drunk History.[8][9]

Konner graduated from Crossroads School, a progressive high school in Santa Monica.[10] In 1994, Konner graduated from Sarah Lawrence College.[11]

Career

After finishing school, Konner began working with friend and writing partner Alexandra Rushfield. They were both hired as writers for Judd Apatow's sitcom Undeclared. They then went on to create two short-lived network shows together: Help Me Help You and In the Motherhood. After that the pair stopped writing together and Konner began working as a script doctor. She was hired on a few big-budget Hollywood films to help the writers flesh out their female characters, most notably Transformers: Dark of the Moon.[9]

Partnership with Lena Dunham and Girls

Konner was first introduced to Lena Dunham's work through watching Dunham's 2010 film Tiny Furniture. Konner was a big fan of the film and so jumped at the opportunity when HBO offered her the role of supervising Dunham for her new series Girls.[9][12] Since then Konner has become the show's official co-show-runner, an executive producer and she has written occasional episodes. The show premiered on HBO in 2012 and has since won numerous awards. Dunham and Konner are good friends and have collaborated on several other projects. They also started a production company together called A Casual Romance, with the intent of addressing the gender imbalance in TV and film.[13] On her relationship with Dunham, Konner says "We just really love spending time together, which is good because we mostly have to be together all day every day."[14]

In 2017, Konner and her Girls co-showrunner Lena Dunham put out a joint statement to the Hollywood Reporter, publicly defending staff writer Murray Miller against sexual assault allegations made by Aurora Perrineau and claiming to have "insider knowledge of Murray's situation."[15] Dunham later apologized for her statement and admitted that she and Konner had no "insider information" and that this claim had been a lie.[16] While Dunham issued a public apology for her actions,[17] Konner has to date never issued a public apology.

In July 2018 Dunham and Konner released a joint statement to The Hollywood Reporter where they stated they had made the decision to split as producing partners ahead of the December expiration date of their joint overall deal with HBO for their A Casual Romance Productions banner.[18] At the time, the reason for this sudden decision was not made public but in January 2022 Dunham told Hollywood Reporter that midway through production on Camping, she had left to enter rehab. When she returned from rehab, Dunham and Konner went their separate ways. When asked if the "timing was more than coincidental" with the split coming after her rehab stint, Dunham responded, "I think my recovery played a part in the break with Jenni insofar as it showed me that I needed to pause and clear the slate. I needed to almost start again and just hear my own voice."[19]

Other work

In January 2015, Dunham and Konner released a documentary for HBO about Hilary Knight, the illustrator of the children's books Eloise. Konner worked as the Executive Producer on the project and it was their first production with their company A Casual Romance. The production company's most recent work, Suited, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2016. The film is a documentary that looks at a Brooklyn-based tailoring company that tailors suits for members of the LGBTQ community. It was directed by Jason Benjamin and produced by Konner and Dunham. Suited premiered on HBO in June 2016.[20]

In 2018 Konner began her own production company I Am Jenni Konner Productions. The company has produced the HBO series Camping and Generation.

Lenny Letter
Further information: Lenny Letter

Konner and Lena Dunham collaborated to create Lenny Letter, a weekly online feminist newsletter.[21] The pair started the project with the intention of giving a platform to young female voices to discuss feminist issues. The newsletter features political essays, personal stories, interviews, artwork and even an advice column from Dunham and Konner themselves called "Letters to Lenny."[22] One notable article was an essay written by actress Jennifer Lawrence about the gender wage gap in Hollywood.[23]

Lenny Letter was supported by Hearst Corporation advertising.[24] In December 2017, it was then supported by Condé Nast.[25]

Konner and Dunham also worked with Random House on a book imprint that will extend the aims of Lenny Letter to book publishing.[26]

In October 2018, it was announced the website would be shutting down,[27][28] reportedly due to a decline in subscribers and a failure to build momentum on other platforms.[29] Contributors were told a week prior to the shut down, receiving fees for unpublished written works.[30]

Personal life

Konner lives in Los Angeles, California, with her two children and husband Richard Shepard.[9][31]

Filmography
YearTitleRole
1999George and MarthaWriter
2001–2002UndeclaredWriter, Story Editor
2002What I Like About YouWriter
2003The O'KeefesWriter
2004The StonesExecutive Story Editor
2005Pool GuysWriter, executive producer
2006–2007Help Me Help YouWriter, executive producer
2008Bad Mother's HandbookWriter, executive producer
2009In the MotherhoodWriter, executive producer
2012–2017GirlsWriter, executive producer
2015It's Me, Hilary: The Man Who Drew EloiseExecutive Producer
2016SuitedProducer
2016MaxExecutive producer
2018LennyExecutive producer
2018CampingCreator, Writer, Executive Producer
2021GenerationExecutive Producer
2022Welcome to ChippendalesShowrunner, Writer, Executive Producer
2022Single Drunk FemaleWriter, executive producer
2022The Bobby Love StoryExecutive Producer

References
  1. Konner, Jenni (@jennikonner) (May 16, 2014). "Thank you everyone for your birthday wishes and linkedin invites". Twitter.
  2. Leive, Cindi (December 3, 2014). "How *Girls*' Executive Producer and Writer Jenni Konner Gets Ahead". Glamour. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
  3. "SOUR HEART by Jenny Zhang: Announcing the first book in the LENNY imprint". Lenny Letter. June 1, 2017. Archived from the original on October 15, 2017. Retrieved August 12, 2017.
  4. New York Times: "Relationships; Confirming A Child in a Faith" by Andree Brooks February 25, 1985 |"Ronnie Wenker-Konner, a television scriptwriter, let her daughter, Jenny, choose the style and color scheme for the invitations and place settings for the party that accompanied her bas mitzvah"
  5. Interfaith Celebrities: "The Updates Column" By Nate Bloom. May 15, 2012
  6. "Ronnie Wenker Conner – United States Public Records". FamilySearch. February 2001.
  7. Konner, Jenni; Konner, Ronnie; Appet, Leah (October 23, 2015). "Why You Should #AskYourMother About Abortion". Lenny Letter.
  8. Wenker-Konner, Ronnie; Appet, Leah (September 7, 2008). "A Picture of Health: A Stroke in Prime Time". Los Angeles Times.
  9. Martin, Denise (January 17, 2013). "The Grown-up Behind Girls: Showrunner Jenni Konner". Vulture. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
  10. Del Barco, Mandalit (March 24, 2017). "Meet Jenni Konner, The Off-Screen 'Grown-Up' Who Helped Make 'Girls'". All Things Considered. NPR.
  11. "Notes from One Mead Way: Summer 2012 – Sarah Lawrence College". Sarah Lawrence College. Summer 2012.
  12. Leive, Cindi (December 3, 2014). "How Girls' Executive Producer and Writer Jenni Konner Gets Ahead". Glamour. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
  13. Kang, Inkoo (April 23, 2015). "Lena Dunham and Rose Byrne Launch All-Female Production Companies". Indiewire. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
  14. Fallon, Kevin (March 8, 2013). "Jenni Konner Talks 'Girls,' Lena Dunham, and 'The Facts of Life'". The Daily Beast. Retrieved February 20, 2016.
  15. "'Girls' Writer Murray Miller Accused of Sexually Assaulting Actress Aurora Perrineau". The Hollywood Reporter. November 17, 2017. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
  16. "Lena Dunham admits she lied to discredit actor Aurora Perrineau rape accusation". The Independent. December 6, 2018. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
  17. "Lena Dunham: My Apology to Aurora". The Hollywood Reporter. December 5, 2018. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
  18. "Lena Dunham, Jenni Konner Split as Producing Partners". The Hollywood Reporter. July 24, 2018.
  19. "Lena Dunham on Her First Film in a Decade, Youthful Blind Spots and Hope to Reboot 'Girls'". The Hollywood Reporter. January 19, 2022.
  20. Siegel, Tatiana (January 20, 2016). "Sundance: Lena Dunham-Produced Doc 'Suited' Takes Viewers Inside Bespoke Brooklyn LGBTQ Tailor". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
  21. Jagannathan, Meera (September 29, 2015). "10 fast facts about Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner's first Lenny Letter". New York Daily News. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  22. "The Girls collaborators want to change the voice of online feminism—and make some money too". Fast Company. October 12, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
  23. "Jennifer Lawrence: "Why Do I Make Less Than My Male Co‑Stars?"". Lenny Letter. October 13, 2015. Archived from the original on December 18, 2017. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
  24. Owen, Laura Hazard (March 4, 2016). "Lena Dunham's Lenny Letter has grown to 400,000 subscribers with a 65 percent open rate". NiemanLab. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  25. "Style Notes: Lenny Letter Moves From Hearst to Conde Nast; Stance Socks Expands to Intimates". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 16, 2018.
  26. "Lena Dunham Sets 'Lenny' Book Imprint and HBO Short-Film Series". The Hollywood Reporter. April 6, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  27. Lewis, Hilary (October 18, 2018). "Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner's Lenny Letter Website to Shut Down (Reports)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
  28. Spangler, Todd (October 18, 2018). "Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner's Lenny Letter Is Shutting Down (Reports)". Variety. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
  29. Willens, Max (October 18, 2018). "Lenny Letters tells contributors it's shutting down on Friday". Digiday. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
  30. Ryan, Lisa (October 18, 2018). "Lena Dunham's Lenny Letter Is Reportedly Shutting Down". New York. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
  31. Kaufman, Amy (April 16, 2017). "Q&A: Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner break down the series finale of 'Girls'". Los Angeles Times.
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