Lee Eisenberg Does It Again

The Hollywood writer-producer had his best year yet, with two wildly different hit shows. He has no intention of taking a break.

By Tim Stevens ’03

t isn’t as though Lee Eisenberg ’99 was unfamiliar with success before 2023. He was already penning episodes of arguably the most influential U.S. sitcom of the past two decades, The Office, at 28 years old. Before 2023, he had won a Writers Guild Award and scored six Emmy nominations. He produced and co-wrote, alongside frequent collaborator Gene Stupnitsky, the hit Cameron Diaz film Bad Teacher, which made more than 10 times its budget at the box office. In other words, he had already drunk of the cup of success.

Still, it’s impossible not to look at 2023 as a banner year for the writer-producer.

His headline-grabbing project, Jury Duty, followed everyman Ronald Gladden as he attempted to perform his civic duty as jury foreman of a civil case. Or at least, that’s what he thought was going on. For everyone else—the attorneys, the witnesses, the judge, even the fellow jurors—including actor James Marsden playing an especially self-involved version of himself—the series was an intensive exercise in long-form improv. That’s because there was no true case, no real trial. Gladden thought he was just one person in a documentary about serving on a jury. Everyone else knew they were putting on quite the high-wire comedy act.

While not unprecedented—2003’s The Joe Schmo similarly surrounded one unaware man with performers in on the hoax—Jury Duty took the structure further with more dexterity and considerably more laughs. Gladden was an immediate standout, a genuinely decent guy who navigated an increasingly bizarre situation with empathy, intelligence and an impressive level of unflappability. The show debuted in April on Amazon’s Freevee streaming platform, to little fanfare at first. But word of mouth—or, perhaps more accurately, word on TikTok—spread quickly, and the show became the surprise hit of the year, racking up considerable critical huzzahs and award nominations. To date, it has converted those noms to wins for Best Supporting Actor in a Streaming Series, Comedy for Marsden from the Hollywood Critics Association; Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series from the Independent Spirit Awards; and Television Program of the Year from the American Film Institute.

“I think—I think none of us could’ve expected it,” Eisenberg confesses.

Despite the series’ reliance on improvisation, Jury Duty did not happen overnight.

“We—Gene and I—had been kicking around ideas for something like Jury Duty for a while,” Eisenberg says. “We really wanted to do something in the spirit of The Office, you know, a big ensemble comedy in a very familiar environment.

Brie Larson on the set of “Lessons in Chemistry.” Courtesy Apple Television.

“Then Todd Schulman and David Bernad, two executive producers on the show, simultaneously had a similar idea. So, they said, ‘What if we took the hidden camera genre and combined it with an ongoing season-long arc like you would do in it in a single camera half hour?’ I thought it was a great idea.”

Great idea or not, though, the quartet still had to convince a network or streamer to bite on an idea that relied on the star of the show not figuring out he was, in fact, in a show.

“It’s a very tricky thing. We probably didn’t say it in the pitch, but you know that it might fail. Some shows might not work because you miscast, or it just doesn’t turn out quite as well as you’d hoped. This might not air because we might not get to the end of the season, right? It’s a different type of challenge,” Eisenberg says.

“Still, I was convinced that Gene and I doing an Office kind of show was attractive for buyers. Dave and Todd worked for Sacha Baron Cohen! It felt like a very good package. And everyone passed. Except for Amazon. But you only need one.”

As stressful as the pitching had been, the filming process did not prove a relief.

“We were scared the entire time,” admits Eisenberg. “You have a kind of plan. It’s like, ‘Okay, we’re gonna go to the scene of the crime or Margaritaville.’ But once you get into it, you don’t know. Will Ronald even stand next to that person?”

Marsden, too, had his doubts. “I started thinking, Oh my God, what have I gotten myself into? Can we even do this? Can we pull this off? I thought this would either be the end of my career or something that maybe a handful of people would see,” he told The New York Times.

So, when the season was finally complete, “I think everyone just let out a giant sigh of relief,” Eisenberg says.

“Every one of those actors exceeded my expectations by a million. I’d be desperate to work with any one of them again. They’re so hilarious, so kind, they’re all incredible.”

Certainly, Jury Duty was project enough to make 2023 a memorable year. However, Eisenberg still had more to come with his most serious work to date. He bookended the year with the AppleTV+ adaptation of best-selling 2022 novel Lessons in Chemistry, starring Brie Larson and Lewis Pullman.

“I devoured the book,” Eisenberg says. “It was beautifully written by Bonnie Garmus. Funny, touching, surprising. It ticked off everything I hope to accomplish with my own writing, and it felt like a project I could make my own without changing its DNA.

“The book was always there to go back to because it was beloved,” he elaborates. “In the writers’ room, we were constantly referring to it, pulling tons of ideas and lines of dialogue, because we wanted the fan base to really feel the show was honoring the book. We were part of that fanbase. But in translating something from the page to screen, you still make changes. It’s part of the adaptation process. So we tried to elevate or surprise viewers with some creative opportunities we felt were organic.”

The impulse paid off. Critical consensus for the show has been firmly positive, and several voting bodies have enthusiastically responded to Lessons. Recently, it was honored as the Best TV Series by the Women’s Film Critics Circle. It has scored 13 additional nominations for everything from Makeup and Costuming to Score to Lead and Supporting Acting.

It feels particularly gratifying to Eisenberg, given how significant a role he played in the entire process.

“The showrunner is the showrunner, so it’s kind of my vision of the series, for better or worse,” he explains. “Every script, no matter who wrote it, I’m doing a final pass on. Every final edit, I’m in the editing room. There’s not a single piece of music that gets approved without my knowledge. That doesn’t mean I’m changing everything. For instance, Brie and our costume designer had such an excellent handle on the wardrobe, I didn’t give a single note on it. Our production designer was astounding, and I thought the sets were so incredible. But, still, the buck stops with the showrunner.”

I started thinking, Oh my God, what have I gotten myself into? Can we even do this? Can we pull this off?

Actor James Marsden

Regardless of how much energy that demanded of him, how well 2023 played out for him, or how it may echo into 2024 as awards season marches on, Eisenberg has no intention of spending too much time counting his successes.

“I love my career and what I do every day. Just working with plenty of the smartest, most interesting people around and telling stories for a living. I can’t think of anything I’m better suited to do,” he reflects. “Some people are at their best when they work on one thing at a time—I don’t have that. When I do, I get antsy and anxious. So, I’m constantly jumping from one meeting to another and one project to another. I don’t have writer’s block. There are too many things happening. I’m not allowing my mind to be quiet.”

He cites the (many) specific projects ahead of him. “I’m writing a thriller right now, something I’ve never gotten to do before. I’m working on a musical. I have documentaries that I’m producing. For me, it’s ‘Who can I collaborate with that excites me? If there’s an idea that speaks to me, can I write it? Can I be added as a producer?’”

He trails off for a moment, eyes drifting upward. “Hold on a second,” he whispers, spinning his computer around to show a rainbow arcing over a group of buildings he can see out his office window. “Look at that. That’s perfect.” He goes quiet for a moment. Then, a beat later, “All right, let’s get back into it.” And so he does.