Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the Force Behind Fleabag and Killing Eve

(Bloomberg Businessweek) -- Fleabag began life as a one-woman play that opened at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2013. The BBC asked Waller-Bridge to adapt the tale—of a “dirty, pervy, angry, messed-up woman,” as she put it in her Emmys acceptance speech—for TV, and, after the channel broadcast the show, it aired on Amazon. Many critics said the second season, in which Waller-Bridge’s character falls in love with a priest, was 2019’s best show; its Emmy victories included best comedy (over Emmy-darling Veep), best writing, best directing, and best actress.  (The win for Killing Eve, which Waller-Bridge executive-produces, was for Jodie Comer as best lead actress in a drama.)

Waller-Bridge has said there won’t be a third season of Fleabag, but she has plenty to keep her busy. She’ll produce and appear in Run, a comedic-romantic thriller about a serial killer and the intelligence analyst who tries to track her down. And she’s punching up a script for a new James Bond movie. The day after the Emmys, Amazon.com Inc. signed her to a three-year deal worth tens of millions of dollars.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Bret Begun at bbegun@bloomberg.net, Jeremy Keehn

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