Megan McGrath
Early Life and Education[edit]
Megan Jean McGrath (born March 6, 1990 in Boyertown, Pennsylvania) is a Los Angeles television creator, development executive, and executive producer. Currently, she's the VP of Development at Haymaker Media. McGrath grew up in Boyertown, Pennsylvania, a small suburb of Philadelphia.[1] She's a graduate of Temple University's Klein College of Media and Communication and relocated to Los Angeles shortly after graduating in 2012.[2]
Career[edit]
McGrath started working in reality TV development in 2012, developing and producing many unscripted series including[3] Are You the One?, Dating Naked, Labor Games, Twinning (TV series), and more.
Most recently, she created and executive produced the #1 Netflix game show, Floor Is Lava (premiered June 2020)[4] where contestants compete in teams of 3 to cross different rooms filled with 100k gallons of bubbling, boiling, smoking "lava".[5] In an interview with Vulture, they described McGrath's concept as, "A cheeky mix of Wipeout and Legends of the Hidden Temple in which groups of three contestants climb, jump, and quip their way through a fully produced re-creation of the classic kids’ game, it scratches so many of our respective entertainment itches: nostalgia, puzzles, and watching overconfident amateurs completely biff on slippery barstools."[6]
In an interview with Fast Company, McGrath opened up about coming up with the idea for the hit Netflix game show: “I loved to play Floor Is Lava as a kid,” says McGrath. “It was so much fun and seems to be a pretty universal childhood experience. The interesting thing about it is that everyone thinks they invented it . . . and they did! Every kid who’s played it came up with it on their own, without realizing that everyone else was playing it, too. That’s what’s great about it. I realized it could be a fun game show, but I knew we had to supersize it, so that’s what we did!”[7]
And when asked about the "lava", McGrath told The Hollywood Reporter, "We tasked Hollywood's biggest chemists and slime/goopy substance-makers to come up with our lava. We did a ton of research about what lava looks like and how it moves and how it glows, and we tried to really create that in ours. We spent months testing different lavas and different formulas."[8]
In an interview with The Tab UK, McGrath discussed the possibility of a season 2. She stated, "We would LOVE to make more, and we already have tons of ideas to make the next season bigger and better and even more epic. It’s too soon to know for sure, but the best thing you can do is watch all 10 episodes, and tell your friends to do the same! That’s how Netflix will know you like it and want more. We had so much fun making it. We’d love to give more people an opportunity to live out their childhood dreams and swing from a chandelier over a 100k gallons of lava.”[9]
Personal Life[edit]
McGrath currently resides in Los Angeles, CA with her boyfriend, TV producer, Adam Friedman, and their dog, Frankie. She's an avid Philadelphia sports fan.
References[edit]
- ↑ ""Floor is Lava" creator, Megan McGrath". WMMR. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
- ↑ Jimenez, Tim. "The floor is hot, and so is the show: Boyertown native creates Netflix hit 'Floor is Lava'". KYW Newsradio. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
- ↑ Petski, Denise. "Lighthearted Entertainment Promotes Five; First Moves Since Founder's Death". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 2020-07-01.
- ↑ Keveney, Bill. "'Floor Is Lava' secrets: How Netflix series bubbles to the top in reality TV's summer of silliness". USA Today. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
- ↑ Stokel-Walker, Chris. "Floor Is Lava: how Netflix's health and safety nightmare became a reality". The Telegraph. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
- ↑ Worthington, Clint. "A LABOR OF LAVA JULY 1, 2020 Your Burning Floor Is Lava Questions, Answered". Vulture.com. Retrieved 2020-07-01.
- ↑ Beer, Jeff. "How 'Floor Is Lava' became Netflix's weapon in the new arms race of ridiculous game shows". Fast Company. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
- ↑ Bentley, Jean. "'Floor Is Lava' Creators Answer Burning Questions About the Surprise Netflix Reality Hit". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
- ↑ Soen, Hayley. "Floor Is Lava production secrets: This is exactly how the Netflix show was made". The Tab UK. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
