Regina Hicks

Co-Executive Producers: Michael B. Kaplan, Regina Hicks.

Co-Executive Producers: Michael Kaplan, Regina Hicks.

Regina Hicks lives in Hollywood where she is a situation-comedy scriptwriter and television producer. --Steve Bisson/Savannah Morning News

...
When Regina Hicks was growing up in Thunderbolt, she did watch TV.A lot.But in her case sitting in front of what some people like to call the "idiot box" paid off.Big time.

Today, Hicks lives in Hollywood where she is a situation-comedy scriptwriter and television producer.Her current show, "Girlfriends," is broadcast Monday night at 9:30 on the UPN network.

But no one who knows her would be surprised, she said from her parents' home at Southbridge.There were the movie magazines she devoured; her devotion to "The Brady Bunch," "Three's Company" and "Charlie's Angels;" and the fourth-grade birthday party she almost missed.Her parents had rented a skating rink for the afternoon, but she nearly skipped out on it because she was watching one of her other must-see shows, "Bionic Woman."

There was the play she wrote in third grade just before St. Patrick's Day.She put it together in the morning, her class performed it that afternoon.

There was the essay she presented as a senior at Sol C. Johnson High School -- how to take a television show from conception to production.Finally, there is the time and the way she preferred to eat dinner -- at 8 p.m., "when my shows started," in front of the tube.

The only time Hicks, 35, wasn't glued to the TV was when she was being punished, she laughs, "and then I just waited for my parents to fall asleep so I could start watching again."

Still, there was never any doubt that she would go to college.She picked the University of Georgia because she liked the football team, got her bachelor's in television production, then stayed to get a master's in drama writing after getting her professors to agree she could write scripts for shows like "Designing Women" and "Facts of Life."

By this time, Hicks had been spending her summers as a camp counselor in North Carolina and Georgia.At one point, she decided she wanted to be a counselor in Los Angeles.Her parents -- Martha, a retired home economics teacher, and Chalmus, retired from the Air Force and the insurance business -- agreed, but she had to pay for the plane ticket.

The camp was further away from Hollywood then she expected but she wouldn't make that mistake again.After finishing her master's in June, Hicks waited a week, then flew to another summer camp job.This one was closer to where she wanted to be.This was where she got her first break.

"A mother of one of my campers was an associate producer on 'A Different World,' but I really didn't want to call her," Hicks recalled."So I tried to get a temp job but when I got lost looking for the place, I finally called and got a job as a production assistant on her show.

"All you really need for that kind of job is a car and a Thomas Guide for L.A.I delivered scripts and picked up lunch.I was a go-fer."

...
After star Nancy Walker's death, the show was canceled and Hicks moved on to "Sister Sister," where she worked four years as a story editor and supervising producer.

But then, still writing, one of her spec scripts for "Everyone Loves Raymond" landed her a job on "Girlfriends," where she is co-executive producer and one of 11 writers.

The show is about four African-American women -- a lawyer-type who is single, an inner-city character married with a son, a professional student and a name-dropping real estate agent.

When they interviewed her for the job, they asked which of the women she most identified with.Hicks chose the lawyer.

"Like Joan, I'm not married and I'm definitely putting my career first," she said."Which is great.This is what I've always wanted to do.I'm quite happy."