New Girl creator Liz Meriwether tapped to write Britney Spears biopic

Universal Pictures’ Britney Spears biopic has found its screenwriter. The screenplay will be written by Liz Meriwether, the creative brain behind New Girl and the critically acclaimed FX limited series Dying for Sex. Liz joins producer Marc Platt, whose banner has a long-standing contract with Universal, and director Jon M. Chu, who recently finished the box office success of his two-part version of Wicked. The film is based on Britney’s 2023 memoir, The Woman in Me, one of the best-selling books of the decade.

Britney Spears biopic adds New Girl creator Liz Meriwether

The book chronicles Britney's rise from teenage pop success to her most scrutinised years in the spotlight, including her romance with Justin Timberlake and the conservatorship that governed her finances and way of life for more than ten years. Jon and Marc were involved from the beginning when Universal obtained the rights to adapt the biography back in August 2024. Britney herself teased the project on social media at the time, calling it a ‘secret project’ with Marc Platt and telling fans to stay tuned.

But momentum stalled in the two years since. Rumours circulated earlier this year that the film had hit delays, with one report citing a source who claimed Spears' personal struggles made moving forward difficult, and that she would need time before re-engaging with the project. There were also whispers that Universal itself was hesitant to push ahead.

A four-time Emmy nominee, Liz has built a reputation for blending comedy, drama, and emotional depth — a skill set on full display in Dying for Sex, which told the story of a woman with terminal cancer with both humour and tenderness, and earned Meriwether an Emmy nomination last year. Her other credits include Hulu's The Dropout, the dark comedy Bless This Mess, and the recently premiered Hulu crime drama The Furious, starring Emmy Rossum.

No casting decisions have been announced, leaving one of the film's biggest questions — who will play Britney Spears — still unanswered. The biopic joins a wave of recent music-star films from Universal, which is also in production on a Snoop Dogg biopic starring Jonathan Daviss, following the success of other music biopics in the genre.

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