Patricia Resnick was born with an insatiable desire to be in show business, and she became a successful writer and producer best known as creator and co-writer of the iconic film “9 to 5” and writing the book “9 to 5: the Musical.” She was a producer on TV’s “Mad Men,” “Better Things,” “Tales of the City,” and “Olivia;” and wrote “A Wedding” and worked on other projects for film director Robert Altman.
Now she has found a new way to use her creativity — standup comedy. The novice comic has begun booking shows including on the main stage at Flappers Comedy Club in Burbank.
“It was never anything I ever really wanted to do,” said Resnick, who had always thought of herself as a story writer, but not a joke writer.
“There are days that I’m like, ‘Wow, the younger me would be very pleased with what I’ve managed to do,’” said Resnick, 71, who lives in Studio City. “And then there’s days when I’m like, ‘I could have done so much more.”
Resnick was on a flight back from New York in the fall when she met someone who talked about the joy of taking comedy classes. “I wasn’t really thinking that I wanted to perform (but) I thought it would be interesting and fun,” she said.
So she took a comedy performance class at The Comedy Chateau in North Hollywood, and the culminating event was to actually perform at The Comedy Chateau. She was really nervous, “But then, the second I walked out on the stage, I was totally calm, and then people started laughing, and I really liked it. I think I kind of got the bug.”
Patricia Resnick stands by some poster from her work in her Studio City home. April 2025. (Photo by Jarret Liotta) Comic and writer Patricia Resnick outside her home in Studio City. April 2025. (Photo by Jarret Liotta) Patricia Resnick talks about her credits in Hollywood and her standup work. April, 2025. (Photo by Jarret Liotta) Show Caption1 of 3Patricia Resnick stands by some poster from her work in her Studio City home. April 2025. (Photo by Jarret Liotta) ExpandOne of her classmates, Hillary Matthews, said Resnick’s “material about raising two kids as a gay single mom was so wry and shrewd. When we started the class, I assumed Pat was trying out a new hobby in retirement … until I found out her credits. I was starstruck.”
Since their comedy performance class ended, Matthews said, “Pat’s been one of the people hitting open mics the hardest. It’s truly impressive.”
Growing up in Miami Beach, Resnick’s favorite things were reading, watching movies and going to the theater. At 14 she asked her parents for a subscription to “Variety.”
“It was an escape,” Resnick said. “It was just a way of being out of my life and into somebody else’s.”
She was so smitten with celebrities that she pretended to be writing articles for her high school paper, and convinced big name celebrities to grant her interviews, including Anne Bancroft, Mel Brooks, Robert Goulet, and Dionne Warwick, among others. “It was just an obsession,” she said.
At 16, she sneaked onto the set of the 1969 movie “Midnight Cowboy,” which was filming scenes in Miami Beach. She managed to get a part as an extra in the film’s fantasy dream sequence. And when she went to college at USC in the mid-1970s, she studied film.
Resnick was planning to write a paper for school on director Altman, famous for hits that included “M*A*S*H,” “McCabe & Mrs. Miller,” and “The Long Goodbye.” In a moment of serendipity, Resnick came upon a film crew in Westwood working on Altman’s 1974 film “California Split” and she asked Altman for an interview.
After she wrote the paper and sent Altman a copy, Resnick was astounded to get a call from Altman who told her it was the best thing that had ever been written about him. He offered to hire her as a production assistant on his next film, which was “Buffalo Bill and the Indians” starring Paul Newman, Geraldine Chaplin and Burt Lancaster.
That began a professional relationship during which Resnick penned two projects for Altman — “3 Women” in 1977 for which she was not officially credited, and the 1978 film “A Wedding.”
Resnick also had the unique distinction of playing a fictional screenwriter in the iconic opening scene of Altman’s “The Player,” in which she and Joan Tewkesbury, who wrote Altman’s hit “Nashville,” are giving a pitch to a studio executive played by Tim Robbins.
“It was great,” Resnick said of working with Altman. “He was so collaborative. He kept the writer or writers always on the set and you would work directly with the actors. His whole way of filmmaking was so communal. I learned an unbelievable amount. … He could be a little gruff, (but) it was great. It was absolutely wonderful.”
As a screen and TV writer, Resnick’s career rolled along through the 1970s, despite challenges she faced with alcoholism and addiction. She got sober in 1986. She wrote for Lily Tomlin’s Broadway show, and for Cher’s TV specials, meeting Dolly Parton during that period.
When she learned that Jane Fonda wanted to do a comedy about clerical workers, and wanted to work with Parton and Tomlin, Resnick reached out through her agent. She managed to land the job to write “9 to 5,” creating the memorable story of three working women who overthrow their sexist boss.
Earlier this month, Resnick visited with a group of students at Eagle Rock High School, who are putting on “9 to 5: the Musical.” She said, “It’s weird, in a way, that something that came out in 1980, 45 years ago, these kids (are) still completely aware of it.” She said it was unfortunate that a story about terrible workplace conditions decades ago is still relevant in 2025.
At Fonda’s suggestion, Resnick wrote a sequel to the movie with actor and comic Rashida Jones. Resnick and Jones sold the script to what is now 20th Century Studios, but Resnick said it was put on the shelf following the merger with Disney and was never made into a film.
“It’s an odd business model, that they buy so much more than they make and then they don’t go back into their own vaults and look at some of the billions of things they own,” Resnick said.
Vanessa Chester, another comedy classmate of Resnick’s at The Comedy Chateau said, “At the risk of being dramatic, I was completely and utterly captivated by Pat Resnick from the minute she introduced herself during our first class. … Her raspy voice, her quick and dry delivery, the wealth of knowledge and experience she possessed, was magnetic. There are so many things I love and admire about Pat.”
Resnick continues to explore her creative interests, and is open to working on a TV series or film.
“As far as standup, I’m kind of like, ‘I got on the train, and let’s see where the train goes.’ If I don’t like where it’s going, I’ll get off. And if it goes some place great, great! As long as it stays fun, I’ll keep doing it,” she said.
To find some of her upcoming shows visit @Patricia.Resnick on Instagram.
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