The L Word is an American and Canadian co-production
television drama series originally shown on
Showtime portraying the lives of a group of
lesbian,
bisexual and
transgender people and their friends, family and lovers in the trendy
Los Angeles-area city of
West Hollywood, California. The show ran from 2004 to 2009.
Main crew
The show was created by
executive producer Ilene Chaiken (
Barb Wire,
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air).
[Amy Cavanaugh, "An interview with Ilene Chaiken", Washington Blade, 2009-03-09.] Other executive producers include
Steve Golin (
Being John Malkovich,
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and
Larry Kennar (
Barbershop). Besides Chaiken, writers of the show have included
Guinevere Turner (
Go Fish,
American Psycho) and
Rose Troche (
Go Fish,
Six Feet Under).
Production
The pilot episode premiered on January 18, 2004. The original five year run ended with the series finale's airing on March 8, 2009. Outside the United States, the series is distributed by
MGM Worldwide Television.
The L Word was filmed in
Vancouver,
British Columbia, at Coast Mountain Films Studios, which was formerly known as Dufferin Gate Studios Vancouver. The studio was once owned by Dufferin Gate Productions, the sister company to
Temple Street Productions, the Canadian producer of the U.S. version of
Queer as Folk.
