David West Read writes comedies in which people slowly learn to be kinder, and we value his patience with them. But Schitt's Creek keeps finding laughs as its characters change; Brothers too often settles for pleasant company.
Fi1m perspective
The Roses arrive at their motel in Schitt's Creek (2015) determined to remain appalled by it. Read was one of the writers who helped that thin joke grow into a comedy about people learning to treat one another properly. We were moved by the Roses' growing kindness because the writers let them learn without preaching at us. That patience is what we value in his writing, though it can become an excuse for waiting too long for a laugh.
His early theatre work included The Performers (2012), before he joined the Schitt's Creek writing staff in 2015–2016. On Eugene and Dan Levy's series, he became head writer and executive producer for the fifth and sixth seasons. Its success belongs to a group of writers and performers, not to Read alone. Nor does its later warmth excuse a first season that takes too long to get beyond rich people disliking their surroundings.
The work beyond that ensemble makes his preferences clearer. For & Juliet (2019), he wrote the book, giving Juliet a different story using Max Martin's songs, with Luke Sheppard directing. In The Big Door Prize (2023), which he created from M.O. Walsh's novel, a destiny machine provides the premise for a small-town comedy about human potential. These are large starting ideas, but his interest keeps returning to how people live together and what might persuade them to change.
With Brothers (2026), that preference becomes a problem. Read and fellow creators Lee Eisenberg, Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson give the two stars characters bearing their own names, then find too little for them to do. McConaughey and Harrelson are agreeable company, but across eight episodes the familiarity of the jokes wears down that advantage. Some sharp supporting performances help, though they cannot supply the comic invention the writing lacks. Start with Schitt's Creek, and be prepared to forgive its first season.
Biography
David West Read is a Canadian television writer, playwright and producer. He joined the writing staff of the sitcom Schitt's Creek in 2015 and later became an executive producer on its final two seasons.
Read created and served as showrunner on the Apple TV+ series The Big Door Prize (2023). He is the creator of the upcoming comedy series Brothers (2026). He also wrote the book for the musical & Juliet, which premiered in the West End in 2019 and later transferred to Broadway.
A graduate of the University of Toronto, New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and the Juilliard School's playwrights programme, Read is a native of Scarborough, Ontario.
