Debra J. Fisher is a writer, producer, and director. She currently serves as the showrunner, writer, and executive producer of the Netflix series Ginny & Georgia.  Season one of the hit series was watched by over 52 million subscribers in its first month on the platform, gathering a devoted fan base. The highly anticipated second season premiered on January 5th. Ginny & Georgia is Debra’s first time in the showrunner’s seat.  Through her long and varied career, she has worked her way up the ladder on numerous beloved TV shows including Alias, The O.C., Charmed, and Criminal Minds, among others. With a wealth of experience from her own professional journey, she works to pay it forward by mentoring the next generation of creatives.

"With Ginny, one of the things that we also really wanted to do in terms of her self-help, it was always a hundred percent - we always wanted representation and lived perspectives in front of and behind the camera. That's always been at the forefront and very important for us. So in terms of mental health, we have people that have that lived experience and so we would seek out true mental health professionals. We worked with Mental Health America, and we worked with a psychologist, her name's Dr. Taji Huang, who specialized in self-harm therapy. So, she would read our scripts. We would consult with her about our storylines. She would watch our cuts and have very specific thoughts.

And in season two, we always wanted to bring in Zion as a father because in season one Zion's in three episodes. We hear Ginny talk about him, but we don't get a sense of how close are they? And they're very, very close. And we really wanted to show that father figure helping her get into therapy and that you have a parent like Georgia who doesn't want therapy. And that sort of threatens her and how she grew up, and she doesn't believe in it but goes to therapy with Ginny and learns a lot about herself in that and how she really truly doesn't understand her daughter.

So we really took as much care as we could with people who had lived experiences with professionals just to try to make it as authentic as possible. And I think that's really translating on-screen because people really are identifying with it. It's so important to talk about it. It's okay that you're not okay. It's okay to go to therapy. It's okay to talk to your parents about it and your friends. This is all okay. We're all feeling the same way. We all do."

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