Wendy Kout (July 11, 1951) is an American writer and Producer who served as a writer, program consultant and story editor for Mork and Mindy through Seasons 3 and 4 of the show.
Biography[]
Wendy was born (on the 11th of July, 1951) to Betty and Norm Kout, sister to brother Larry. From Chicago, Illinois. She attended Ulysses S. Grant High School, and went to college in UCLA.
She met her husband, author Dennis Koenig in 1988, while he was supervising Producer on her show, Anything but Love after they collaborated on the second pilot for the show. She currently lives with Dennis in Santa Barbara, CA with their cat, Gracie Allen.
Wendy serves on the Board of Directors of the Skylight Theatre Company, the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Jewish Theatre, and the Honorary Committee of the Boston Jewish Film Festival. [1]
Career[]
In television, Wendy created and was the Executive Producer of the cult ABC show, Anything But Love (1989 - 1992) staring Jamie Lee Curtis and Richard Lewis.
Her writing and production credits include ABC-TV's Nine to Five TV series (1982 - 83), CBS-TV's Summer Playhouse, and Lifetime.
Wendy has developed film projects for Barbra Streisand’s Barwood Productions and developed films for Producer Laura Ziskin at Touchstone Pictures and Director/Producer John Hughes at Universal Pictures. Her Film credits include Dorfman in Love (2011), starring Elliott Gould, Sara Rue and Haaz Sleiman, which won Best Film at the Hollywood International Film Festival and Marbella International Film Festival and Best Comedy at the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival and Miami Jewish Film Festival. She has also co-written and co-produced Jacob the Baker: The Inspirational, which is presently in post-production.
Currently immersed in the Theatre Life as a playwright, Wendy's first play, "Don't Blame Me, I Voted for Helen Gahagan Douglas", co-written with Michele Willens, was a 2006 O'Neill Conference Finalist and had fundraising readings throughout the U.S., for Nation Magazine, People for the American Way and National Women's Law Center. It was nominated for the Weissberger Award and was a finalist in the 2013 Mario Fratti-Fred Newman Political Playwriting Contest.[2]
We Are the Levinsons had its acclaimed world premiere at Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company in St. Paul from April 22, 2017 to May 14, 2017. The play won Broadway World Regional Awards - BEST PLAY and BEST ENSEMBLE IN A PLAY. [3]
She has also joined up with fellow Mork & Mindy scribe, Jeff Reno to pen the short play "Wake Up Call" starring Charles Shaughnessy and Nancy Travis, and performed online (during Covid) as Skylight Live, Skylight Theatre Company, streamed on YouTube September 24 - September 30, 2020.
Other virtual plays/credits produced by Skylight Theatre Company are Courage Takes the Stage, co-written with Michele Willens, Skylight Live on Facebook and YouTube, April 30, 2020.Wendy was one of the co-writers of We the People, co-starring Allison Janney, Joe Spano and Jobeth Williams. [4]
Jacob the Baker, Wendy's latest play, was co-written with author/philosopher/poet, Noah benShea and will have it's first production at The New Jewish Theatre in St. Louis in 2022.
Mork & Mindy[]
Wendy Kout coming in after Putting the Ork Back in Mork two-parter, served as Program Consultant from Mork in Never Neverland through the entirety of Season 3 (20 episodes) and through all of Season 4 as Story Editor (22 episodes) from 1980 - 82.
Over the course of both Seasons she also served as a Screenwriter creating 7 episodes:
Season Three
Season Four
"I was a Story Editor and as innocent as Mork. Robin Williams, genius. Pam Dawber, gem. Jonathan Winters, genius. Executive Producer Garry Marshall, Producers Ed Scharlach and Tom Tenowitch, and fellow Nanu-Nanu writers, George Zateslo, Jeff Reno, Ron Osbourn and David Misch, gifted menschs all." [5]
On coming on board in the third season, Wendy recalled that "My first episode that I [wrote] (Mork in Never Never Land) was about [Mindy] trying to move forward in a career. So we started that third season with [Mindy’s career] being the storyline. So it was prominent: “Oh, so we’re paying attention to Mindy now.” That was good for the character, and I think it was also good for Pam, to have a little bit more to do [and] more direction of where her character could go".[6]
References[]
- ↑ Wendy Kout - Self.
- ↑ Wendy Kout Bio. SkylightTheatreCompany.com. Retrieved on November 15, 2017.
- ↑ New Play Exchange - Wendy Kout.
- ↑ Wendy Kout - Alliance for Jewish Theatre.
- ↑ Wendy Kout - Screen.
- ↑ Everything You Always Wanted To Know About The Making Of Mork & Mindy.
