Erica Messer

Erica Messer Headshot

Writer • Producer

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By her own admission, Erica Messer knew only one person when she moved to Los Angeles: her then-boyfriend and future husband. She managed to land a temp gig at the casting department of Fox Broadcasting Company, eventually rising through the ranks and becoming the assistant to the vice president of drama series at Fox. But Messer wanted to pursue production, which she fell in love with as a college student. Thanks to a tip from friend and future writing partner, Debra J. Fisher, Messer got a job as a writer's assistant on the family drama, "Party of Five."

In the late 1990s, with encouragement from that show's writers, Messer began writing spec scripts with Fisher. The scripts not only landed them representation, they impressed "Alias" creator, J.J. Abrams, who hired the pair to write for his acclaimed spy drama. Throughout the 2000s, Messer wrote for such female friendly TV shows as "The O.C." and " Charmed" before becoming a producer and writer on the intense investigative drama, "Criminal Minds."

Photos

Criminal Minds, Erica Messer, 'Season 9', 09/25/2013, ©CBSCriminal Minds, from left: Thomas Gibson, Erica Messer, Matthew Gray Gubler, Joe Mantegna, 'A Beautiful Disaster', Season 11, Ep. #18, 03/23/2016, ©KSITECriminal Minds, Erica Messer (L), Kirsten Vangsness (C), Rick Dunkle (R), 'Burn', Season 10, Ep. #2, 10/08/2014, ©CBSCriminal Minds, Erica Messer (L), Esai Morales (R), 'Season 9', 09/25/2013, ©CBSCriminal Minds, Kirsten Vangsness (L), Erica Messer (R), 'Season 9', 09/25/2013, ©CBS

News aboutErica Messer

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‘Criminal Minds’ EP Erica Messer Calls Episode 300 a ‘Love Letter to Fans’

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‘Criminal Minds’ Executive Producer Erica Messer Teases a ‘Season of Reflection’

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