How ‘Station 19’ Writers Emily Culver and Alex Fernandez Captured the Joy, Drama, and Heat in the 100th Episode

In many ways, Station 19 writers Emily Culver and Alex Fernandez’s journey to working together seemed to be proceeding on separate if parallel paths.

After graduating from Boston University and making her way to Los Angeles for a postgrad program, Culver was juggling an unpaid internship and a barista job at Starbucks. All that changed when one day, her parents, back in Wisconsin, ran into Culver’s elementary school teacher, who just so happens to be the mother of former Grey’s Anatomy and Station 19 line producer Sara E. White.

The respective daughters were eventually connected, and after hitting it off, Culver and White kept in contact, with White eventually passing Culver’s résumé on to Krista Vernoff, the former longtime showrunner for Grey’s and Station 19. A few weeks later, Vernoff gave Culver a call with an interview offer, and Culver promptly left her internship, “[I] hung up the phone, looked at my boss for my unpaid internship, and said, ‘I have an interview for a paid job, so I’ll see you the next time.’” And just like that, she was in: “[Krista] took a chance on someone who had no experience really in this industry,” Culver says.

Fernandez, a born and bred Angeleno, attended University of California, Riverside, where she studied film production and television. When her professor, film writer and playwright Ken LaZebnik, encouraged her to continue on her path, she wasn’t so confident. She told him, “Maybe that’s not for me, Ken. I feel like I’m more of a grip or something.” They eventually lost touch, and Fernandez took on odd jobs like being a paralegal, “which was so random, and I hated it,” she says. After a while, Fernandez had enough and reconnected with LaZebnik, who inspired her to get her graduate degree. Soon after she graduated Stephen’s College, her mentor, writer Ligiah Villalobos, put her in touch with Shondaland, where she connected with Culver, who went on to hire Fernandez as a production assistant. From there, she worked her way up until she was promoted to staff writer in season six of Station 19.

Years later, Culver and Fernandez would craft an incredible episode of television filled with drama, massive Seattle monuments, and beautiful moments (lest we forget Captain Andy Herrera’s unforgettable speech!). With the 100th episode of Station 19 now in the history books, Shondaland had the chance to talk all about their partnership, crafting the historic episode, their favorite moments from their time on the set, and who from Station 19 they would want to rescue them.

REBECCA SNOW: So, I know partnering together for the 100th episode was all up to chance, but I can only imagine that it was an incredible experience to work together. Can you tell me a little bit about that?

ALEX FERNANDEZ: It was crazy the way it happened. I think we are two of the four oldest members in terms of how long we’ve been on the staff of the show. I remember calling Emily. She was nervous because there was a meeting coming up, and it was basically for our showrunners to tell her that we were writing the episode, but she didn’t know that. Then later on, she calls me on my way home, and she was like, “Oh, my God, we’re going to co-write 100. Holy s–t!” And then, it was so easy to work together too. We came together, and we talked about our ideas and built on each other’s plans. You don’t get that opportunity very often when the process is so easy, because both of us just really cared about the show that much, and we wanted to do something really cool.

I was originally meant to write it with our showrunner, Zoanne [Clack], and then after the news [about Station 19’s cancellation], it was obvious that Zoanne would have to write the finale. So, that left the co-write position open, and they both thought that Emily and I writing the 100th was poetic, symbolic, really — we were [two] of the longest-running members on the show.

EMILY CULVER: It was [also] the day that we found out that we were canceled that I learned that I would be co-writing with Alex. I had already left. I got a text message from either Zoanne’s assistant or Peter’s [Paige] assistant, and they were like, “Hey, they want to talk to you.” And I was like, “I left. Is this something I need to come back for?” Then they go, “Yeah, sorry.” And I got no other information, and I was like, “I don’t really know what could be worse than finding out we’re canceled.” It was a journey that day, for sure. I was so excited, though.