‘This Is Us’: Who Are Executive Producers Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger?
Shows like NBC’s This Is Us couldn’t exist without many talented people working behind-the-scenes. Everyone from actors to writers, directors, and set designers are an integral part of every project. Here’s a little background on This Is Us executive producers Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger ahead of the season 5 premiere.
Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger had a history before ‘This Is Us’
Many know the man behind the creation of the hit drama series, Dan Fogelman, but what about everyone else? Since 2016, Aptaker and Berger have been apart of the team that creates This Is Us magic.
Boston native Aptaker and Queens, NY resident Berger worked as a writing team on shows like Grandfathered, About a Boy, and The Neighbors.
Aptaker penned a script for Boy Meets World at 10 years old, while Berger advised her father — a writer for Sesame Street. The duo met at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts in 2005, winning a $10,000 grant to create and film a sitcom.
The pair took the money to their sitcom, The Walk-Up. The show was about five strangers who meet on Craigslist after graduating from college. They lived together in a small sixth-floor apartment in the realm of New Girl.
Just like The Walk-Up, Berger moved into Aptaker’s LA apartment, according to a profile via LA Weekly. Their careers took off with projects like Friends With Benefits, I Just Want My Pants Back, and more.
Recently — aside from This Is Us — the two have adapted popular young adult novels like The Future of Us and Love, Simon for the big screen. Love, Victor is currently on Netflix.
Regardless of where each came from both ended up where they’re supposed to be.
Aptaker and Berger launched their own production company
In 2019, the writing team paired up for something even bigger. As showrunners for TV’s top-rated drama, Aptaker and Berger expanded their relationship with 20th Century Fox TV. In 2019, they developed their own production company, [the aptly-titled] The Walk-Up Company. This goes along with their overall deal with the company.
“20th has believed in us since the very beginning — they gave us our first professional writing job and offered us a blind script deal when we literally had no idea what that term meant,” said Aptaker and Berger through Deadline.
“We are beyond excited to be expanding our relationship with Dana, Craig, Carolyn, Howard, and their exceptional teams. We’ve brought on the wonderful Adam Londy to spearhead our development and plan to use this opportunity to bring heartfelt, funny, human stories into the world.”
‘This Is Us’ success continues
It’s been known for some time that This Is Us will end after six seasons. The series finale has hovered over the writers’ minds from the start — including Aptaker and Berger. The two are often at the center of questions surrounding the series.
As both prepare for season 5, they hinted that things will get worse before they get better.
“Oh, it’s going to get worse. That fight [between Kevin and Randall] that you saw wasn’t quite an “Oh, we’re not talking months from now” fight, but I promise they will get there. It is quite upsetting,” Aptaker teased to Entertainment Weekly.
20th Century Fox TV has nothing but love for their contribution to the success of the show and look forward to more projects together.
“Isaac and Elizabeth are beautiful writers who have already accomplished so much, whether it be serving as co-showrunners with Dan [Fogelman] on our crown jewel This Is Us or writing the screenplay to Love, Simon, which will now become its own series for us,” said Carolyn Cassidy, 20th Century Fox TV President of Creative Affairs.
“When they told us they wanted to form a company and expand their development efforts even further, the answer was an enthusiastic ‘yes, please!’”
We don’t know what will become of the final season of This Is Us, but with Aptaker and Berger at the helm, it’ll somehow all be OK.
