‘The L Word’ Showrunner Inks Showtime Overall Deal

The L Word: Generation Q showrunner Marja-Lewis Ryan is putting down roots at Showtime.

Ryan, who was recruited following a massive search for a showrunner of The L Word update, has inked a multiple-year overall deal with the premium cable network. Under the pact, Ryan will develop new TV projects exclusively for Showtime. The news comes ahead of the second season of The L Word: Generation Q, which is poised to return in early August.

“Marja is our Shohei Ohtani … a gifted two-way player who is both an exceptional writer and an inventive director,” said Showtime entertainment president Gary Levine. “I love the energy, the perspective and the fun she brings to The L Word: Generation Q, and I look forward to the upcoming season of that series and other inspired creations from her.”

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Ryan started her career as an L.A.-based playwright and counts plays Dysnomia, One in the Chamber, A Good Family and Bugaboo and The Silent One among her body of work. She also helmed the L.A. premiere and off-Broadway production of David Mamet’s The Anarchist. Ryan made her feature directorial debut with 6 Balloons, starring Abbi Jacobson and Dave Franco, which premiered at SXSW and for which she was nominated for the 2018 SXSW Gamechanger Award. Next up, the openly gay writer-director is producing an untitled dance series alongside executive producers Sandra Bullock, John Legend and Akiva Goldsman and scripting a remake of 1984’s Splash, with Channing Tatum and Jillian Bell.

The New York native moved to L.A. because of creator Ilene Chaiken’s original groundbreaking Showtime series The L Word after watching the show in college and emulating star Jennifer Beals (who reprises her role as Bette in Generation Q).

“I’m so thrilled to have a home at Showtime,” said Ryan. “Their support of my vision for the The L Word: Generation Q has been absolutely extraordinary. I so look forward to developing my own projects as well as shepherding new, progressive creatives into the Showtime flock as we work together to diversify the kinds of stories that get told.”

Ryan, Chaiken, Beals and fellow original stars Leisha Hailey and Kate Moennig are among the exec producers on Generation Q. Beals, Hailey (Alice) and Moennig (Shane) star alongside a new crop of faces in the updated L Word. Chaiken, it’s worth noting, has an overall deal at Universal Television and serves as showrunner on Chris Meloni’s Law & Order: Organized Crime.

Ryan is repped by UTA, Kaplan/Perrone and Tara Kole.