Kate Purdy is an American writer and producer of television series. She grew up in

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. She is known for her work as a writer on the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

adult animated An adult is an animal that has reached full growth. The biological definition of the word means an animal reaching sexual maturity and thus capable of reproduction. In the human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and ...

comedy series ''

BoJack Horseman ''BoJack Horseman'' is an American adult animation, adult animated tragicomedy television series created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg. It stars the voices of Will Arnett, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie, Paul F. Tompkins, and Aaron Paul. Set primarily in ...

'', which she also produced. She received the Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Animation in 2017 for the BoJack episode " Time's Arrow." Purdy is also the creator and writer of the

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

series '' Undone''.

Personal life

Purdy grew up in

. Her father was a Spanish teacher and the family lived for several years in

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. In 2012, Purdy became depressed and suffered anxiety whilst working as a writer on the ''

Cougar Town ''Cougar Town'' is an American television sitcom that ran for 102 episodes over six seasons, from September 23, 2009, until March 31, 2015. The first three seasons aired on ABC, with the series moving to TBS for the remaining three seasons. AB ...

'' television series. She became concerned that she might have

schizophrenia Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...

since her grandmother and two grand-uncles had schizophrenia. After trying various treatments, Purdy finally found benefits in indigenous and Ayurvedic medicines. She graduated from

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

in 2001.

Career

Purdy began her career in television writing for shows such as ''

Cold Case ''Cold Case'' is an American police procedural crime drama television series. It ran on CBS from September 28, 2003, to May 2, 2010. The series revolved around a fictionalized Philadelphia Police Department division that specializes in invest ...

'' and ''

Mad TV ''Mad TV'' (stylized as ''MADtv'') is an American sketch comedy television series created by David Salzman, Fax Bahr, and Adam Small. Loosely based on the humor magazine '' Mad'', ''Mad TVs pre-taped satirical sketches were primarily parodie ...

'' in the mid-2000s. Between 2014 and 2018, Purdy wrote five episodes for ''

'', the acclaimed

comedy series screened on

. Purdy received the Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Animation in 2017 for the BoJack episode " Time's Arrow." She was also one of the producers of the show. Purdy co-created a new animated television series called '' Undone'' in 2019, with her BoJack Horseman collaborator Raphael Bob-Waksberg. The eight half hour episodes were screened on

. ''Undone'' was Amazon's first original animated series and was made using the

rotoscoping Rotoscoping is an animation technique that animators use to trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to produce realistic action. Originally, live-action film images were projected onto a glass panel and traced onto paper. This pr ...

technique. Purdy drew upon her own experiences of mental illness in plotting the themes of the show. In late 2019, Amazon announced that ''Undone'' had been renewed for a second season and that Purdy had signed an exclusive deal. No details of the latter agreement were released.

Selected productions

Awards and honors

* 2017, Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Animation

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Purdy, Kate Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American television writers Writers from San Antonio American women television writers American women television producers 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American screenwriters Screenwriters from Texas Writers Guild of America Award winners