Liz Tigelaar

Liz Tigelaar is an American author and television writer and producer.

Life and career
Tigelaar was born on October 4, 1975 in the USA. She was adopted as a child, something that influenced her work on the television series Life Unexpected.

In 2000, Tigelaar was an assistant on the series ''Dawson's Creek, and co-wrote her first episode with Holly Henderson. Tigelaar also co-wrote with Holly Henderson two novels in the Dawson's Creek Suspense Trilogy, a series of novels based on the characters from the television series. From 2001-02, Tigelaar was an assistant to executive producer on the series Once and Again. Tigelaar became a writer for the series American Dreams in 2002 and wrote two books based on the series in 2004. Tigelaar also wrote three episodes of the animated television series Totally Spies!.

Tigelaar was an associate producer on the 2006 comedy-drama film Stick It, about gymnasts. She released her first novel as a solo writer in 2007, titled PrettyTOUGH, a novel about two very different sisters, Krista and Charlie Brown, who have to face their differences and learn to work together when they are recruited for their high school soccer team. Tigelaar released a follow-up to the first novel titled, Playing with the Boys: A PrettyTOUGH Novel in 2008. During this time, she wrote for many shows, including Kyle XY, What About Brian, Side Order of Life, Brothers & Sisters and Dirty Sexy Money.

In January 2009, it was announced that Tigelaar was developing a new drama series under the title Light Years for The CW. According to Tigelaar, the title "tested way too sci-fi" and it was changed to LUX (the name of the show's lead character) in April. On May 22, 2009, The CW announced they had picked up the new series from Tigelaar, with the show's name changed again, and this time under the name Parental Discretion Advised. In June 2009, the network reverted to the name Life UneXpected, again highlighting the name of the main character in capital letters. Initial advertising for the series in fall 2009 listed it without the capitalized "X", which became the final version. The series tells the story of teenager Lux, who had been through the foster care system for almost her whole life and decides on her 16th birthday, to become an emancipated minor, but before that occurs, she has to get signatures from her unknown birth parents. When a judge decides that Lux isn't ready for emancipation, Lux is unexpectedly granted temporary joint custody to her birth parents, Baze and Cate. Life Unexpected premiered on The CW on January 18, 2010. The first season's 13-episode run ended on April 12, 2010. The series was picked up for a second season, which premiered on September 14, 2010. The CW declined to order more episodes for the show's second season, leaving the season's episode count at 13.[13] On December 6, 2010, Tigelaar made the series cancellation official via Facebook. The series aired its last episode on January 18, 2011.

Tigelaar has received much praise for her work on Life Unexpected. A review in the Los Angeles Times called Tigelaar's writing smart and insightful. Similarly, Randee Dawn, from The Hollywood Reporter stated that Tigelaar "has a delicate, spot-on feel for dialogue." The Futon Critic's Brian Ford Sullivan singled out Tigelaar, as well as director Gary Fleder, in Life Unexpected for adeptly exploring Lux's perceived lack of love in her life.

Tigelaar was also a consulting producer on the 2009 series of Melrose Place. In 2010, the first novel of Tigelaar's book series, PrettyTOUGH, was developed into a webseries by Vuguru.

In June 2011, Tigelaar began a development deal with ABC Studios and stated that she already had some things in mind. It was announced on August 19, 2011, that Tigelaar was reteaming with former Life Unexpected executive producers Gary Fleder and Mary Beth Basile on The Joneses, a drama series in development for ABC. In July 2012, after ABC had passed on the project, it was reported that cable channel Bravo had picked the series up to development.

In May 2011, Tigelaar joined the crew of the ABC fantasy series Once Upon a Time, as a writer and co-executive producer. She has since departed the show to pursue greater involvement on Revenge, as a writer and consulting producer. After the completion of the first season, Tigelaar left the show. In summer 2012, Tigelaar joined the first season of the ABC musical/drama Nashville, as a writer.

Once Upon a Time writing credits
The following is a list of episodes of Once Upon a Time that credit Tigelaar as their writer.
 * "Snow Falls" (1.03)
 * "True North" (1.09) [with David H. Goodman]