Josh Schwartz

Josh Schwartz has made his name chronicling the young, pretty, and privileged on TV, first with The O.C., then with Gossip Girl. But after his Girl found unexpected success online -- new episodes routinely top iTunes' most-downloaded chart -- Schwartz, 32, pitched his latest beautiful brainchild, "Rockville CA," to TheWB.com as a series of five-minute Webisodes. "Kids are going to college with laptops, not TVs," says the former USC frat boy. "I figured, Why not?" Not that he's swearing off old media: His as-yet-untitled Gossip Girl spin-off debuts this fall on the CW, and he's directing a new film version of Jay McInerney's Bright Lights, Big City. -- by Dan Macsai