Paul W. Downs

And Lucia, I'm curious, you know, obviously you have another co-creator, Jen, who's not here.

But how did the three of you think about writing those characters?

Like what was important to you in centering the show around the relationship between these two women?

Gender comes up in the show over and over, right?

I mean, both of these women in a variety of ways deal with sexism, with gender dynamics, with sort of gender tropes.

What about what you have seen and experienced in Hollywood and in the industry sort of feeds into the way that's shown, the way that's portrayed to the audience?

Yeah.

In terms of sort of your backgrounds in show business and your experience in the industry, how much of that informed creating the series, creating the supporting characters and sort of delving into what you do in seasons one through five?

Like how much of it is pulled from or inspired by real life?

Yeah.

I want to talk a little bit about some of the themes that you have tackled, whether intentionally or not, throughout the series.

I want to start with media censorship, which is very salient for us at Wired.

It's something we think about a lot.

It's something we cover a lot right now, unfortunately.

And at the end of season four, Debra has this huge moment, right?

She's finally hosting her own late night show.

It's been her dream.

And she gives an impassioned speech supporting Ava.

She blasts the network.

She quits the show.