How Debby Ryan Survived Teen Disney Stardom With Her Career Intact, Actually, Blossoming
“Some [doors] were closed because people saw me with mouse ears,” actress and singer, now 24, says
After spending her teen years in the Disney grind, Debby Ryan is starting from scratch. The actress and singer, now 24, made a name for herself with a main role alongside the Sprouse twins onĀ The Suite Life on DeckĀ before eventually moving on and up with her own series,Ā Jessie.
“That was my high school and college,” Ryan tellsĀ Rolling StoneĀ of her formative years spent on the successful, kid-beloved sitcoms. During that period, she also formed a band, The Never Ending, which went on tour with Fifth Harmony. “When it ended and we had done over 100 episodes of both shows, it was kind of like ‘I already feel like I’ve done a lot of the things there are to do there, and there’s so many different things in the industry. Where do I even begin?'”
In the two years following the end ofĀ Jessie,Ā Ryan has been busy and proactive in re-launching the next phase of her career. She appeared alongside Debra Messing in the short-lived sitcomĀ The Mysteries of LauraĀ and starred in YouTube Red’sĀ Sing It!Ā This year, she has a recurring role on the juicy VH1 dramedyĀ Daytime DivasĀ and will star inĀ Insatiable āĀ Netflix’s Ryan-Seacrest-produced dark comedy, in which she playsĀ a bullied teen turned potential pageant queen.
“It’s a really cool time in the industry to be a woman,” she remarks of the roles she’s been able to tackle. “It’s really cool to [read a script] and not just be someone’s girlfriend or daughter.”
āInsatiableā
āInsatiableā: Netflix Picks Up Ex-CW Pilot Starring Debby Ryan ToĀ Series
Insatiable, the darkly comedic hourlong pilot starring Debby Ryan and Dallas Roberts, which narrowly missed a pickup at the CW, is getting a 13-episode series order ā at Netflix.The darkly comedic and quirky Insatiable was well received by the CW executives butĀ was different than anything else on the network.
The network ultimately passing Insatiable because the CWās budget had been maxed out on the volume of renewed and newly picked series.
Coming from former Dexter co-executive producer Gussis, theĀ InsatiableĀ pilot is said to have a premium feel, which was even stronger in the pilot script and likely will be explored deeper going forward now that the show is on Netflix.
Insatiable, the darkly comedic hourlong pilot starring Debby Ryan and Dallas Roberts, which narrowly missed a pickup at the CW, is getting a 13-episode series order ā at Netflix. I hear the Internet network is finalizing a deal with CBS TV Studios for Insatiable, which will become a Netflix original series. It comes from writer Lauren Gussis (Dexter, Once Upon A Time), Ryan Seacrest Productions and Storied Media Group. Netflix declined comment.
This would mark the first scripted series brought to Netflix by VP Content Bela Bajaria, who oversees the licensing of TV and film content from major U.S. studios for the streaming service. Before Netflix and Universal TV, where she was president, Bajaria worked at CBS TV Studios and launched its cable/digital series operation.
With the Insatiable deal at Netflix, CBS TV Studios would be going 3-for-3 with its 2017 CW pilots, all of which are being picked up to series ā Dynasty and Valor at the CW and Insatiable at Netflix.
It is a post-upfront tradition ā most of the broadcast pilots that were not picked up to series get sent out to other networks with the hope of a series order elsewhere. It almost never works, but, like CBSā Sneaky Pete, which landed a series order at Amazon two years ago, Insatiable immediately drew interestĀ from potential buyers.
The darkly comedic and quirky Insatiable was well received by the CW executives butĀ was different than anything else on the network. With a rare crop of six pilots, all of them formidable series contenders, the CW brass had to make some tough choices in May, having already renewed 11 current series.
The network ended up picking up Dynasty, Valor, Black Lightning and Life Sentence, originally keeping the remaining two pilots, Insatiable and Searchers, in contention before ultimately passing because the CWās budget had been maxed out on the volume of renewed and newly picked series.
Coming from former Dexter co-executive producer Gussis, theĀ InsatiableĀ pilot is said to have a premium feel, which was even stronger in the pilot script and likely will be explored deeper going forward now that the show is on Netflix.
CBS TV Studios supplies CBS Corpās own streaming service, CBS All Access, with original scripted series, so it was logically to consider All Access as a possible home for Insatiable, but CBS TV Studios also has a good relationship with Netflix, which is the international distributor of the studioās new CBS All Access series Star Trek: Discovery and carries previous seasons of the CW series via a deal with CBS TV Studios and Warner Bros TV.
Written by Gussis, with Andrew Fleming directing the pilot for the CW, Insatiable was inspired by real-life Southern lawyer and top beauty pageant coach Bill Alverson. It focuses on Bob (Dallas), a disgraced, dissatisfied civil lawyer-turned-beauty pageant coach who takes on Patty (Ryan), a vengeful, bullied teenager as his client, and has no idea what heās about to unleash upon the world.
The cast also includes Christopher Gorham, Erinn Westbrook, Michael Provost, Sarah Colonna, Kimmy Shields, Irene Choi as well as Alyssa Milano in a major recurring role.
Gussis executive produces with RSPās Ryan Seacrest, Nina Wass and Andrea Shay of RSP and Storied Mediaās Todd Hoffman and Dennis Kim.
debbyryan (June 11 2017): Insatiable got picked up by Netflix. That means you guys are about to be able to binge thirteen episodes of different humans and the hungers they can’t seem to fill. This series navigates a moving, intertwined spectrum of sexuality, race, love, age, identity, humour and the instability that comes from humanity and mental conditions: obsession, control, disordered eating, pathology, fear of owning our identity…
I need this show because I put in it my heart and it stuck there.
We need this show because it’s important to tell human stories right now. It’s important to laugh and it’s important to relate and it’s important to be uncomfortable and it’s most important to learn, and then love.