Carol Mendelsohn

Carol Mendelsohn (born 1951) is an American television producer, showrunner, and screenwriter, known for her work on the crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Education Mendelsohn grew up in Chicago, where her father was an attorney. She attended the Latin School of Chicago. Also she went to Smith College, but later transferred and in 1973 graduated from Cornell University. She then went to the George Washington University Law School and practiced at the Washington, D.C., office of the prominent Los Angeles-based firm Wyman, Bautzer, Rothman, & Kuchel. She also worked for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Film and television career Realizing that she did not want to be a lawyer, she enrolled in an American Film Institute class. She moved to Los Angeles and started writing for the movie industry. Her early work included contributions to Hardcastle and McCormick, Stingray and Wiseguy. As producer for Cannell Studios, she worked on The Trials of Rosie O'Neill and Melrose Place. In 2000, Mendelsohn joined the production of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and became its show runner and executive producer. In the fall of 2003, new long-term contracts made Mendelsohn and Ann Donahue "the two highest-paid female writers in television drama."