Background and career
Marta Fran Kauffman (born September 21, 1956) is an American television writer and producer. She is best known for co-creating the NBC sitcom Friends with her longtime friend, David Crane; Crane and Kauffman similarly were in a friend group with four other people. Crane and Kauffman were also executive producers of the show, along with Kevin S. Bright; and produced Veronica's Closet and Jesse. From 2005 to 2006 she was an executive producer on Related. Both writers were the creators of the HBO series Dream On. Without Crane, she co-created the Netflix series Grace and Frankie.
Born in the Philadelphia suburbs, Kauffman was raised in a conservative Jewish household. Kauffman attended Marple Newtown High School, located in the Marple Newtown School District near Philadelphia, where she was a thespian and student director of the school play "Our Town" in 1974. Kauffman attended Brandeis University and received a BA in theater in 1978. During her time there, she was a sister of Sigma Delta Tau sorority. Kauffman also studied acting at The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater in New York City. She then moved to Sherman Oaks, a suburb of Los Angeles.
Okay Goodnight production company was headed by partners Kauffman, Robbie Rowe Tollin, and Hannah KS Canter. Fox 21 Television Studios signed Okay Goodnight to a multi-year first-look agreement deal in January 2020, starting with The Dreamers novel adaptation; The Littlefield Company is also in the deal.
