Molly Smith Metzler spent 15 years writing plays before stepping into television work. Around 2015, she got a job on an HBO limited series from Director Steve McQueen, which unfortunately wasn’t picked up.

As a writer, Metzler is known for working on Orange is the New Black, Casual, Shameless, and Maid, where she’s also the creator.

In Maid, the story follows Alex Russell (Margaret Qualley) as she tries to flee an abusive relationship with Sean Boyd (Nick Robinson). As a young mother, she finds work cleaning houses and tries to provide for her child despite the odds being stacked against her.

In this interview, Metzler talks about her transition into television, her advice for climbing the ladder in television, advice from John Wells (ER, The West Wing), and how she pitched such a difficult subject matter to Netflix.

If it’s your first time listening, make sure to subscribe and visit my new website for information on the YouTube channel, the blog, this podcast, and my new book ‘Ink by the Barrel’ which takes advice from these 200+ interviews at the link below…

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