Meredith Stiehm

Meredith Stiehm ( ; born 1968) is an American television producer, writer, and trade union leader who has served as president of the Writers Guild of America West since 2021. She is the creator of the hit crime drama Cold Case and the FX thriller drama The Bridge. Early life and education Stiehm grew up in Santa Monica, California and graduated from Santa Monica High School. She went on to attend the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), graduating in 1990 with a degree in English and playwriting. Her experiences in urban Philadelphia at UPenn and as a young woman in the entertainment industry provided much of the inspiration for Cold Case. Career Stiehm got her start in the entertainment industry writing for Northern Exposure and later Beverly Hills, 90210. She went on to write for NYPD Blue for four seasons, for which she earned an Emmy nomination for "Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series." On NYPD Blue Stiehm was one of very few women in the writer's room. After leaving NYPD Blue, Stiehm wrote for ER for two seasons. In 2003, Stiehm developed the series Cold Case, a CBS crime drama following a female homicide detective specializing in "cold cases," or unsolved murders, ranging from the early 2000s all the way back to the 1910s. The show explored many issues related to 20th century American history, including sexism, racism, homophobia, anti-war activism and police brutality. In 2004, Stiehm was one of five female showrunners at CBS and, at 35, was the youngest among them. Stiehm remarked that she was mistaken for the stand-in for the lead actress on the first day of shooting. In 2005, Stiehm said that the show had more women in senior positions than any other television show. In 2010, Cold Case was cancelled after seven seasons.