The Producer
ERICA RIVINOJA'99
moves quicklyfrom page to producer.
"When I called my mom to tell her I was nominated for an Emmy [in 2002] she was so excited. But when I told her the title of the episode was 'Osama Bin Laden Has Farty Pants,' she said, 'Oh my goodness, I cannot put that in the local paper!' " says Rivinoja, who has written for South Park on and off since 2001 and is now a producer of the caustic Comedy Central cartoon.
Rivinoja acknowledges that her intended career path might have been more palatable to her parents. "I came to Dartmouth thinking I was going to be this revolutionary anthropological filmmaker and really change the world," says the New Mexico native, who modified her anthropology degree with film studies and graduated cum laude. "But when I got into [improv troupe] Dog Day and Jacko I realized that telling fart jokes was way more fun."
Now, after starting as an NBC page, Rivinoja is writing a screenplay for Universal and creating a television pilot for Fox. Production of Groupies, a comedy she wrote for Paramount about rock star groupies, has been delayed due to slated star Amy Poehler's pregnancy. But SaturdayNight Live producer Lome Michaels also purchased her script, SeniorWeek, which features a villainous a cappella singer at fictional Yarmouth College. "I loathe a cappella," admits Rivinoja, who invited several Aires members to her wedding to Dr. Jacques "Prince" Neelankavil '01 but banned them from performing.
She credits Phil Lord '97 and Chris Miller '97, a fellow Dog Day Players alum, with helping her land an agent. She also wrote for their animated MTV show, Clone High. Rivinoja was also a writer and co-producer of the Fox/WB sitcom Grounded for Life for three years. She rejoined South Park in 2005 and immediately courted controversy with "Trapped in the Closet," the episode featuring Tom Cruise that caused an uproar with its satirical take on Scientology. Rivinoja admits people are surprised to learn that "a seemingly normal woman writes for this foul little show. But South Park is not unnecessarily foul, because there's always a message behind everything we do."
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