He once wrote for a game-changing show (Will & Grace).
Now Ryan O’Connell is changing the game on his own terms.
Its this kind of whip-smart wit that put OConnell, 33, onGreg Berlantis radar.

Credit: Michael Kovac/Getty Images
Hes such an incredible talent and voice, theArrowverse architect says.
We were trying to figure out something to do together and he went and did this wonderful show.
He [is] on my list of storytellers that Im glad that we have coming for tomorrow.

Netflix
“Its such a weird business,” he explains.
“It sometimes feels like you’re working in a vacuum.
“I wrote this pilot that I’m pretty sure was garbage when I was 27.

Netflix
This isn’t the script that would end up beingSpecial, mind you.
“I just didn’t know how anything worked,” he recalls.
“It was like, ‘Wait!
Greg Berlanti wants to meet with me?
What’s happening?’
It was so confusing.
And, of course, 90 percent of things in Hollywood don’t work out.
So, the thing that we wanted to make together didn’t end up happening.
But I thought it was really amazing that Greg was taking an interest in my work.
“We made this little show in Austin, Texas for little money,” he says.
“Everyone I think was just like, ‘Hey, Ithinkthis is good.
I hope people like it.
Who the f knows about a gay disabled person?’
I feel very, very grateful and very privileged to be in this position.”
After all, Im a Virgo, honey.
I dont f around.
Productivity is my drug.
He moved out of his mom’s house to live on his own.
Take years off my life!”
“He still has a lot of issues regarding disability and not everything is footloose and fancy-free.”
It wasn’t that these sex depictions wereSkin-emax after dark.
“I went to Barnes & Noble and got this book calledAnal Pleasure and Healththat was for straight people.
L-O-actual-L… For like three months, I thought you could only have sex on your stomach.”
“I think there shouldn’t be any of that, especially with gay sex.
I’ve had to suffer through so many straight sex scenes and now everyone else has to pay.”
I wouldnt do you dirty like that,” he says.
“I don’t want to see that.
I’m living it.
It’s too soon, babe.
And the only ones that can do that are likeHigh Maintenance.”
He might have no choice in the matter.
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