Marco Pennette & Steve Rabiner

[reviews_and_ramblings]

Marco Pennette (born July 9, 1966) is an American television producer and screenwriter. Openly gay, Pennette was outed by a colleague network executive on the People's Choice Awards red carpet when asked about his boyfriend in front of his family members, who were unaware of his sexuality. Since 1997 his long-time partner is television talent manager Steve Rabiner, with whom he has two daughters, Ally (born January 8, 2004) and Chelsea, both born by surrogate pregnancy, the inspiration for his medical drama Inconceivable. His own family experiences were the basis for his sitcom Crumbs; his brother's drowning, his mother's institutionalization and his father's impregnation of another woman.

Pennette was born and raised in Greenwich, Connecticut where he grew up loving theatre: "I want to go into theatre; TV sort of lured me away." He attended New York University where he studied at the Tisch School of the Arts and as a student was a finalist in the Young Playwrights Festival. He intended to pursue a career in Broadway theatre but sold his first television script to Kate & Allie and dropped out of university and moved to Los Angeles to pursue television writing.

Pennette's career began on the sitcom Kate & Allie from where he moved on to other projects including Dave's World and Dear John. He went on to create and write for many of his own series: Caroline in the City, Union Square, Conrad Bloom and All About the Andersons. Most notably, though, were the short-lived medical drama Inconceivable co-created with Oliver Goldstick, inspired by both of their surrogate pregnancy experiences, and the short-lived midseason sitcom Crumbs, an autobiographical portrayal of his family experiences and closeted young adulthood. His other writing and producing work from 2003 onwards includes serving as executive producer and co-executive producer on the television series I'm with Her and the sitcom What I Like About You, for both of which he also wrote a number of episodes. He also wrote the script for and an the executive producer of the 2007 Football Wives pilot, which was originally intended to be a television series but was later declined by the American Broadcasting Company in favour of seven other pilots with lower budgets, as the ABC claimed that the pitched budget for Football Wives was too high for a midseason pick-up. The series was set to be a U.S. version of the popular British soap opera Footballers' Wives.


Marco Pennette is an American television producer and screenwriter. Since 1997 his long-time partner is television talent manager Steve Rabiner, with whom he has two daughters, Ally (born January 8, 2004) and Chelsea, both born by surrogate pregnancy, the inspiration for his medical drama Inconceivable. His own family experiences were the basis for his sitcom Crumbs; his brother's drowning, his mother's institutionalization and his father's impregnation of another woman.

He was a member of the writing panel and an executive producer/co-showrunner on the dramedy series Ugly Betty, initially having been a co-executive producer. Ugly Betty's creator and other showrunner Silvio Horta was named AfterElton.com's Man of the Year for 2007 for the show's positive portrayal of LGBT issues—including a possibly gay teenager, a transgender man-turned-woman and a gay male assistant with a homophobic mother—and had to say about Pennette, also gay: "Marco Pennette, my co-showrunner and Executive Producer, deserves a special thanks here too. He is an MVP of comedy, and a big part of Ugly Betty's gay sensibility." On February 11, 2008, ABC picked up Ugly Betty for the 2008-09 television season, but on the day the renewal was announced, Pennette, along with fellow executive producer James Hayman, were let go. The departures of Pennette and Hayman added to the constant turnovers on the series off-camera, which has so far seen five writers having exited or been fired.

In August 2012, Pannette became showrunner of Animal Practice, replacing Gail Lerner after the third episode had been shot.

He is a good friend of Broadway theatre spokesman Seth Rudetsky, having hired him previously to write a song for a character in his sitcom Caroline in the City—an IRS employee auditioning for the musical Cats.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Pennette

Further Readings:

TV Year: Volume 1: The Prime Time 2005-2006 Season by John Kenneth Muir
Paperback: 348 pages
Publisher: Applause Theatre & Cinema Books (May 1, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1557836841
ISBN-13: 978-1557836847
Amazon: TV Year: Volume 1: The Prime Time 2005-2006 Season

Announcing the first volume in an exciting new series sure to become a fan favorite. Here is the inaugural edition of TV Year , a new survey of the most recent complete season of over 200 drama, comedy, reality, and game shows, and more, from all the major networks. Readers will now be able to make up their own minds as to whether or not we've entered "the new golden age of television," as Jon Cassar remarked upon accepting his 2006 Emmy Award for best director for a drama series for 24 . This book includes: * Every significant prime time (8 to 11pm) broadcast series, both new and returning, that aired on television from August 2005 through July 2006. * Complete credits and detailed, opinionated summaries of each show with excerpts of reviews and behind the scenes gossip. Initial air date and closing date, cast changes, and notations about cancellation. Each entry also notes the DVD availability of each series. * TV Year includes the season's mini-series and TV movies and lists the nominees and winners of the Emmy Awards. Film and TV expert John Kenneth Muir also can't help but add a few non-prime time shows as well that have become cultural events in their own right, including "The Daily Show," "The Colbert Report," and "Real Time with Bill Maher."

More LGBT Couples at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Real Life Romance