Rose Surnow
At six feet tall and a hundred pounds, Rose Surnow looked like Jewish praying mantis during her teen years.
With no way to blend in, she was forced into comedy as a way to win friends and influence people. Rose got her start as a comedian in New York, doing stand-up and writing funny personal essays for magazines like VICE, GQ, New York Magazine, and others. The first piece she published was called, “I Gave a Handy at Jew Camp,” about her experience on Birthright.
The essay immediately went viral and launched her into a very successful magazine writing career. After a few years, Rose decided to ditch her Carrie Bradshaw life, oversharing about her romantic adventures, to move to LA and follow her ultimate dream of being a screenwriter. She pursued an MFA in Screenwriting from USC and upon graduating, was accepted into a handful of prestigious TV writing fellowships; the Sundance Episodic Labs, Screenwriter’s Colony in Nantucket and, most recently, the Warner Bros Writing Fellowship.
Rose has written for TV shows for Marvel, TruTV, Quibi (RIP) and most recently, FOX. In addition to her television experience, Rose has worked extensively in the digital space. She was a comedy producer for BuzzFeed Video where she wrote and directed countless viral videos that broke a million views, she sold multiple comedic web series to Soul Pancake, and has written multiple interactive comedy pilots for Eko.
You can find Rose on Twitter @rosesurnow
Testimonials
I took the TV Spec Lab class with Rose last January to write a Drama Spec for the fellowships, and it was the best decision I’ve ever made. Rose is such a fantastic writer and teacher. She helped me write a full working draft in very little time, supporting my vision and voice. Her notes were always on point, and they helped me improve my Spec and my writing as a whole. It was amazing to watch her pitch witty story fixes and simply be a great human. I will take all this class’s teachings with me on my career journey, hoping to share the same writers’ room with Rose one day. As I’ve been saying to everybody ever since the class, I want to be Rose Surnow when I grow up.
Rose is a super gifted creative, and an incredible teacher. I took her spec lab, and enjoyed it so much, I immediately signed up for her comedy pilot lab. I would recommend her to anyone serious about their craft, who wants a smart, passionate teacher with impressive industry experience. She’s hilarious, insightful, has great pitches, and her notes are truly some of the best out there. She elevated my script with strong, actionable guidance that did not deter or detract from the story I wanted to tell.
Rose is an incredibly talented writer/teacher, and I am so grateful that I took her Pilot Lab last spring. My pilot started as a vague logline, and Rose helped guide it into the start of a well-defined series. She provided specific feedback that helped me hone in on both the characters and themes of the show. Her notes were never prescriptive, but instead helped me discover the pilot I wanted to write. Whenever Rose provided suggestions of her own, they were consistently smart and hilarious.