“We are drawn to the messiness of life … to characters who are vulnerable, who sometimes make the wrong decisions, but always struggle to be better. The audience has to see themselves in the characters … to recognize our shared humanity.
To be thrilled and touched and hopefully changed by the experience.”
Joan Rater and Tony Phelan
Married writers Joan and Tony found their way to Los Angeles and television writing after a decade in New York working as theatre artists. After joining “Grey’s Anatomy” as a writing team at the start of Season 2, the couple rose through the ranks and co-ran the show alongside creator Shonda Rhimes for seasons 7 through 10. Over their nine seasons they wrote eighteen episodes and Tony directed fourteen. For their work on “Grey’s Anatomy” they earned a WGA Award for Best New Series in Television in 2005 and were nominated for two Emmy Awards in 2006 and 2007, both for "Outstanding Drama Series."
Since 2016, Phelan and Rater have been developing and running their own shows including “Council of Dads” for NBC, and “Doubt” “Fire Country” and “Sheriff Country” for CBS.
In 2023 they created the eight episode limited series “A Small Light” for NatGeo and Disney+. Based on the life of Miep Gies, the woman who helped hide Anne Frank and her family in Amsterdam during World War II, the show won the Humanitas Prize for Limited Series; the Gotham Award for Best Breakthrough Series; and the Television Academy Honors for a drama series that creates awareness, enlightens, educates and/or positively motivates audiences.
The husband and wife team enjoyed a successful Off-Broadway run with their stage play GOOD WILL at The Director’s Company in 1998, and The New York Times gave it a rave review, hailing it as “touching and thought-provoking.”
Tony is an alum of Yale University. Joan is an alum of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. They live in Pasadena with their dog Lola and don’t see enough of their grown children Tom and Sally.
Kate Wagener
Kate Wagener is a development executive with 11+ years of industry experience working in Television, Film and Digital Media. As Director of Development at Midwest Livestock, Kate has developed and produced a slate of projects, including NatGeo’s award-winning limited drama series “A Small Light” for Disney+, three seasons of CBS’ “Fire Country,” CBS’ new spin off drama series “Sheriff Country,” and upcoming alternative historical drama series “Majesty” for ITV.
Kate first ventured into TV development and production working for Showrunners Joan Rater and Tony Phelan on their CBS legal drama series “Doubt” and their MOS “Ghosting: The Spirit of Christmas” for Freeform’s “25 Days of Christmas” under their CBS overall deal. As their development executive, Kate developed and produced “Council of Dads” for NBC with Phelan/Rater under their UTV overall deal.
Prior to joining Rater and Phelan’s Midwest Livestock, Kate began her career at United Talent Agency, working in the Digital Talent and Entertainment Marketing departments servicing clients across all divisions of the Agency including global brand clients such as Delta Airlines, LinkedIn, and ACE Content.
Kate is a proud Chicagoan and an alum of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She lives in Los Angeles with her foster fail, Tony “the dog” (not to be confused with Tony “the human”).