Meghan McCarthy is an American screenwriter, lyricist, film and television producer, and creative executive best known as the showrunner of the animated television show My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. She is also known for her work on Class of 3000 and Fish Hooks.[1] Since June 2015, she has been the Head of Storytelling for the entire My Little Pony and Littlest Pet Shop brands, helping to "create expansive worlds and characters".[1]
Meghan McCarthy | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 2004–present |
McCarthy was a part of the original Friendship Is Magic crew, and was promoted as showrunner and story editor during season 2 after the departure of series creator and previous showrunner Lauren Faust. Overall, she was directly involved in the writing of 35 episodes, and wrote the lyrics of 25 songs featured in the show; she also wrote the screenplays and lyrics of the spin-off films My Little Pony: Equestria Girls and My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks, and My Little Pony: The Movie.
Career edit
In October 2010, she was invited by Lauren Faust, the co-creator and producer for Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, to help write on Hasbro's television revival of its My Little Pony franchise. McCarthy, on a writing hiatus at the time, was inspired to accept by Faust's dedication and the strong female characterization she had presented.[2] In 2011, Faust left the show after the two-part season two premiere, and McCarthy was promoted to co-executive producer for its third season onward; she also served as the show's story editor.[3] In early June 2015, Hasbro promoted McCarthy to become the company's new "Head of Storytelling" for their brands, My Little Pony and Littlest Pet Shop; her role will be to help "create expansive worlds and characters" across these brands, according to Hasbro's executive vice president Stephen Davis.[1]
In addition, McCarthy has written and helped produce the spin-off films, My Little Pony: Equestria Girls and its sequel. She was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for "Outstanding Original Song - Children's and Animation" for her lyrics in the Friendship Is Magic episode "Sweet and Elite".[4]
On November 3, 2017, Hasbro Studios and Paramount extended their relationship with an exclusive five year production deal for Allspark Pictures and Allspark Animation for original and toy based films. Both Allspark units are newly formed (Allspark Pictures formerly was a financing label) with the film unit head by Greg Mooradian and the animation unit head by Meghan McCarthy. Paramount and Hasbro would also work together on TV series.[5] Following Hasbro’s purchase of Entertainment One in 2019, though, Allspark would later close down and be absorbed into the newly-acquired production company.
Filmography edit
Television edit
| Year | Title | Writer | Co-executive producer |
Lyricist | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004–2006 | Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends | Yes | No | No | |
| 2006-2007 | Class of 3000 | Yes | No | No | Also staff writer and story editor Wrote 6 episodes |
| 2010–2019 | My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic | Yes | Yes | Yes | Writer from 2010-2016 Showrunner from 2012 to 2016 Story editor from 2012 to 2015 Co-executive producer from 2013 to 2015, 2018–2019 Wrote 35 episodes, 25 songs |
| 2011–2013 | Fish Hooks | Story | No | No | 27 episodes |
| 2017–2019 | My Little Pony: Equestria Girls | No | Yes | No | |
| 2018–2019 | Littlest Pet Shop: A World of Our Own | No | Yes | No | |
| 2018 | My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Forgotten Friendship | No | Yes | No | |
| My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rollercoaster of Friendship | No | Yes | No | ||
| My Little Pony: Best Gift Ever | No | Yes | No | ||
| 2019–2021 | Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy | No | Yes | No | |
| 2019 | My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Spring Breakdown | No | Yes | No | |
| My Little Pony: Rainbow Roadtrip | No | Yes | No | ||
| My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Sunset's Backstage Pass | No | Yes | No | ||
| 2021 | Centaurworld | Yes | No | No | Story editor[6] |
Friendship is Magic detailed writing credits edit
| Year | Season | Episode |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 1 | "Dragonshy" |
| 2011 | "Call of the Cutie" | |
| "Green Isn't Your Color" | ||
| "Party of One" | ||
| 2 | "Lesson Zero" | |
| "Sweet and Elite" | ||
| 2012 | "Hearts and Hooves Day" | |
| "A Canterlot Wedding" (Part 1) | ||
| "A Canterlot Wedding" (Part 2) | ||
| 3 | "The Crystal Empire" (Part 1) | |
| "The Crystal Empire" (Part 2) | ||
| 2013 | 4 | "Princess Twilight Sparkle" (Part 1) |
| "Princess Twilight Sparkle" (Part 2) | ||
| "Power Ponies" | ||
| 2014 | "Three's a Crowd" | |
| "Inspiration Manifestation" | ||
| "Twilight's Kingdom" (Part 1) | ||
| 'Twilight's Kingdom" (Part 2) | ||
| 2015 | 5 | "The Cutie Map" (Part 1) |
| "The Cutie Map" (Part 2) | ||
| "Rarity Investigates!" | ||
| 2016 | 6 | "Flutter Brutter" |
| "28 Pranks Later" | ||
| "The Fault in Our Cutie Marks" | ||
| "Where the Apple Lies" | ||
| "Top Bolt" |
Film edit
| Year | Title | Writer | Executive producer |
Lyricist | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | My Little Pony: Equestria Girls | Yes | Co-executive producer | Yes | Wrote 3 songs |
| 2014 | My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks | Yes | Co-executive producer | Yes | Wrote 8 songs |
| 2016 | My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Legend of Everfree | No | Co-executive producer | No | |
| 2017 | My Little Pony: The Movie | Yes | Yes | Yes | Wrote the song "Open Up Your Eyes" |
| 2021 | My Little Pony: A New Generation | No | Yes | No |
My Little Pony lyric credits edit
| Year | Song | Episode/film |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | "Hop Skip and Jump" | "Dragonshy" |
| 2011 | "Cupcake Song" | "Call of the Cutie" |
| "Pinkie Pie's Singing Telegram" | "Party of One" | |
| "Becoming Popular (The Pony Everypony Should Know)" | "Sweet and Elite" | |
| 2012 | "The Perfect Stallion" | "Hearts and Hooves Day" |
| "B.B.B.F.F." | "A Canterlot Wedding" | |
| "B.B.B.F.F. (Reprise)" | ||
| "This Day Aria" | ||
| "This Day Aria (Reprise)" | ||
| "Love Is in Bloom" | ||
| "The Failure Song" | "The Crystal Empire" | |
| "The Ballad of the Crystal Empire" | ||
| "The Success Song" | ||
| 2013 | "Equestria Girls" | Equestria Girls |
| "Time to Come Together" | ||
| "This Is Our Big Night" | ||
| 2014 | "You'll Play Your Part" | "Twilight's Kingdom" |
| "Let the Rainbow Remind You" | ||
| "Better Than Ever" | Rainbow Rocks | |
| "Battle" | ||
| "Bad Counter Spell" | ||
| "Under Our Spell" | ||
| "Tricks Up My Sleeve" | ||
| "Awesome as I Wanna Be" | ||
| "Welcome to the Show" | ||
| 2017 | "Open Up Your Eyes" | My Little Pony: The Movie |
References edit
- ^ a b c Ristau, Reece (June 4, 2015). "Hasbro Ups 'My Little Pony' Writer Meghan McCarthy to Head of Storytelling". Variety. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
- ^ Snider, Brandon T. (2013). My Little Pony: The Elements of Harmony: Friendship is Magic: The Official Guidebook. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. ISBN 978-0-316-24754-2.
- ^ "Fourth Season of MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC to Premiere 11/23 on The Hub". Broadway World. October 23, 2013. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
- ^ "The 39th Annual Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Award Winners" (PDF). New York: emmyonline.org and National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. June 14, 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 3, 2015. Retrieved June 20, 2013.
- ^ Lang, Brent (November 3, 2017). "Paramount, Hasbro Sign Five-Year Distribution, Production Pact". Variety. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
- ^ Porter, Rick (September 3, 2019). "Animated Kids' Series 'Centaurworld' a Go at Netflix". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 4, 2019.