Eric Monte
| Eric Monte | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Kenneth Williams December 25, 1943 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Cooley Vocational High School |
| Occupation | Screenwriter |
| Years active | 1971–present |
| Known for | Writer for Good Times What's Happening!! Cooley High |
Eric Monte (born Kenneth Williams; December 25, 1943) is an American screenwriter who has written for and created notable shows depicting 1970s African-American culture; most notably Good Times and What's Happening!! as well as Cooley High .
Born Kenneth Williams in Chicago and raised in the Cabrini–Green housing project, Monte dropped out of Cooley Vocational High School and hitchhiked to Hollywood. His first big break came five years later, with a script written for and accepted by All in the Family which eventually contributed to the spawning of The Jeffersons. From there, he went on to produce work that inspired two 1970s sitcoms: Good Times (which he co-created with The Jeffersons star Mike Evans) and What's Happening!! (which was based on his screenplay for the motion picture Cooley High (1975)). (Cooley High also inspired the CBS television show The White Shadow (November 27, 1978 to March 16, 1981), starring Ken Howard.)
According to the Los Angeles Times, in 1977 he filed a lawsuit accusing ABC, CBS, producers Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin, and others of stealing his ideas for Good Times, The Jeffersons (an All in the Family spinoff), and What's Happening!! Eventually, he says, he received a $1-million settlement and a small percentage of the residuals from Good Times, but the industry retaliated against him, labeling him difficult to work with and denying him the opportunity to pitch new scripts. Since Good Times ended, the only scripts he's written that have been produced by Hollywood are single episodes of The Wayans Bros. and of Moesha, the latter of which Monte has called "the absolute worst script I've ever written".
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