After I graduated college, I needed to figure out a way to pay my bills in New York, so I started waitressing. The first season of Hacks was my first time show-running, and it felt almost exactly like waiting tables. I had to deal with the front of house, but instead of customers, I was working with network executives and actors and attending events—the public-facing activities required to get a show green-lighted and, ultimately, promoted. In 2021, Paul W. Downs and I co-created the show for HBO Max, with our best friend, Jen Statsky. (The fifth and final season is now streaming on Max!) Hacks is about a dark mentorship between two women—a fabulous stand-up comic nearing the end of her career (Jean Smart) and the Gen Z bisexual writer (Hannah Einbinder) who has been tapped to resuscitate it. When forced to work together, the two develop a deep—and deeply complicated—relationship. Think The Devil Wears Prada but with more plastic surgery and less shame. —Lucia Aniello

Lucia Aniello is co-show-runner, co-writer, and co-director of Hacks