Irene Mecchi

Mecchi was born in the third generation of her family that lived in San Francisco, California. She attended the University of California, Berkeley, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in theater. Early into her career, her aspirations to direct theater led her to study at the American Conservatory Theater, where her instructor, Joy Carlin, was impressed with her writing and encouraged her to pursue it on a full-time basis. She agreed.
Her first work began when she wrote a series of children's programs for Nickelodeon such as By the Way. Mecchi's first network writing assignment was on the Emmy Award-winning Lily Tomlin special, Lily: Sold Out. Her later television credits also include Valerie, The Popcorn Kid, and My Sister Sam. Along with that, Mecchi researched and wrote a play drawn from newspaper columnist Herb Caen's witty observations of San Francisco. The play was "work-shopped" at…