On the set of “Bridgerton,” Michelle Wright talks with director and executive producer Tom Verica. (Photos courtesy of Michelle Wright)
By Jane Burns
Copy Editor and Staff Writer
Now and again, Michelle Wright arrives at an event related to her job. She sees people lined up, phones in hand, ready to snap a photo. She steps out of the fancy black car and can feel the anticipation of the phone-wielding masses.
Then, as she moves forward, she sees them put their phones down in disappointment.
“It’s pretty funny,” she said. “They’re probably saying, ‘Who’s that?’”
The people lining up are “Bridgerton” fans looking for their favorite viscount, duchess, lord or lady. They might not recognize Wright, but what they don’t know is that she’s a big part of the show they’re obsessed with.
Wright, an Urbandale native, is an executive producer for Netflix’s sumptuous costume drama with a modern spin. The second set of Season 4 episodes drops Thursday, continuing the Cinderella romance between handsome rake Benedict Bridgerton and Sophie, a maid.
“It’s a great gig. Shondaland is a great company, and we have wonderful actors and wonderful people who work on the show,” Wright said. “We’re like a professional family.”
It’s not the first great gig for Wright, who has lived in London since 1999. She moved there to become production manager for Working Title, the company behind popular films such as “Love Actually,” “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” and “Bridget Jones’s Diary.”
“Bridgerton” is a lush period drama set in England’s Regency era of the early 19th century. It follows the lives and romances of the noble Bridgerton family, as well as the society that swirls around them. There’s royalty, gossip, fancy balls, class tension and costumes, oh so many costumes.
While an actor’s job is to act and a director’s job is to direct, the job of a producer is a little more vague. Wright is accustomed to describing it. “It’s a management job, really,” she said. “It’s just the difference is our product is a script, and we manage all of those elements around it.”
She manages budgets, helps break down scripts into shooting schedules, and oversees casting, rehearsals, cameras, wardrobe fittings, hair and makeup design, and the sets.
“We have big construction [projects],” she said. “We build sets for each season because of the storylines. It’s a creative medium, but it is a business. Nobody calls it movie art. It’s the movie business.”
It’s a massive production. Each series has an eight-month shoot and some of the scenes, particularly the lavish balls, involve more than 300 people on set. The “Bridgerton” studio is in Uxbridge, just west of London, as well as historic locations throughout England.
Wright got her first executive producer credit on “Baby Driver” in 2017 and was also executive producer on Disney’s “Cruella” before joining “Bridgerton” in 2021 for its second season.
“I think it came at a really good time because it gives escapism,” she said. “It was huge for Series 1, coming during COVID, and I think it’s kind of continued to do that.”
Bridgerton fandom takes many forms. Friends dress up for “Bridgerton” photo shoots. Etsy is full of “Bridgerton”-inspired swag, clothing and jewelry. Fans — stans, more like it — come in costume to premieres all over the world. Wright met a woman in Las Vegas, where she has another home, who said she was about to have a “Bridgerton”-themed wedding.
“I have a lot of friends who are big, big fans,” she said. “My sisters binge-watch it, and I’m like, ‘It took us eight months to shoot it. Can you not do that? Can you just give it breathing room?’”
Wright was once just a fan herself. When she was a kid, she and her family would head downtown to the Paramount theater to see movies, including some classics.
“My dad even took me to see ‘Dr. Zhivago,’” she said. “I had no idea what a Bolshevik revolution was, but I looked up to Julie Christie and Omar Sharif.”
Wright attended the University of Nebraska, studying political science and English. She went on to graduate school in communications at the University of Southern California’s journalism school. While there, it dawned on her that if she was going to be working all day, it might as well be in something she loved. She was in the right place to hear the call of the movies, and she listened.
Internships in the film industry provided less-than-sexy tasks such as making copies, but she read everything she could get her hands on — and learned. She got her first credit on an after-school special about drunken driving starring Scott Baio. Things improved from there.
Now 68 in a business that values the young, Wright is grateful to still be in it and working on such a fascinating and satisfying project. The “Bridgerton” book series is eight novels, one for each Bridgerton sibling. Wright and the team are currently shooting Season 5, which means the stories of three Bridgerton siblings remain untold. But considering the show’s success, there’s little doubt Netflix will stick with it.
And so will Wright, given the chance.
“I’ve been doing this a lot of years, but it’s just such a unique situation. It’s just such a pleasure,” she said. “That’s what brings me back all the time.”
Another Iowa connection
Julia Quinn, the author who dreamed up the “Bridgerton” book series, kicks off this year’s Authors Visiting in Des Moines (AViD) series with the Des Moines Public Library.
When: 7 p.m. April 7.
Where: Hoyt Sherman Place.
Admission: Free. Seating is first come, first served.
On the way out: Don’t forget any glass slippers or silver gloves on the steps.
More info: Right here.
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