Marja-Lewis Ryan is the showrunner, executive producer, writer and director of the hit SHOWTIME drama series, The L Word®: Generation Q, which recently launched its second season. The series has been praised for its vibrant depiction of the contemporary LGBTQ+ scene across Los Angeles, receiving a GLAAD Media Award nomination for "Outstanding Drama Series" among other honors. Marja is a rare showrunner-director hybrid, and recently signed an overall deal with SHOWTIME to continue to develop television projects exclusively for the premium television network. Her previous screen and stage work includes writing and directing the feature 6 Balloons, starring Abbi Jacobson and Dave Franco, which premiered at SXSW and for which she was nominated for the 2018 SXSW Gamechanger Award, as well as writing, directing and producing the world premieres of her plays Dysnomia, One in the Chamber, A Good Family, and Bugaboo and the Silent One. She also directed the Off-Broadway production of David Mamet's The Anarchist. The multi-hyphenate had her breakthrough as a playwright with her award-winning play, The Four Faced Liar, which she later adapted into a feature film that she wrote, produced and co-starred in, winning multiple festival prizes including the "Outstanding First Narrative Feature" Award at the LA  Outfest.  Her work as an actress and playwright has made her a fixture in the LA theater scene, beginning in the early 2000s as a member of Theater of NOTE and as the 2016 recipient of the Maverick Award from the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival.