Ryan O'Connell

O'Connell worked as a blogger for three years, first serving as editor of Thought Catalog in 2011.[14] He contributed to Vice, BuzzFeed, and other publications including The New York Times and Medium.[15][16] Some of his writing went viral and when he was 25, he was offered a book deal from Simon & Schuster.[3] At the time, he kept his disability private.[3] In 2015, he wrote a column for Thought Catalog called "Coming Out of the Disabled Closet" about hiding his disability with the car accident. He later expanded the article into his book,[17] which he used to publicly reveal his disability.[3] While writing the book, he moved to Los Angeles and at 27,[13] started his television writing career with MTV's Awkward.[16]

Just as his second season with Awkward wrapped in 2015, his memoir I'm Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves was published.[3] In April 2015, Jim Parsons, who had read O'Connell's Thought Catalog article, optioned the book through his company That's Wonderful Productions which he runs with husband Todd Spiewak.[3][18][19] O’Connell was assured with Parsons and Spiewak; he felt he could not trust a network with the gay content, and let the project die after buying the option.[19] In late 2015, O'Connell was named to the Out100 honoring LGBTQ icons.[20]

In 2016, O'Connell received a go-ahead from Stage 13 to develop a script for Special, based on his memoir, with eight 15-minute episodes for Netflix.[21][3] The short-form format was taxing for the veteran script writer as there was no room for a C-plot alongside the A-Plot and B-plot, the writing also left no room, “every line needs to count for something and you can’t do anything somewhere else.”[7] Special was all written on weekends, as he was writing full-time.[19] In December 2016, he completed the writing but still had obstacles getting it produced because of the disability angle.[2] He started doing media work for Special while writing full-time on BH90210, a Fox comedy-drama reboot of Beverly Hills, 90210 which debuted in August 2019.[22][23] He noted it was hard to launch a show with a gay lead character, let alone one who was also disabled; a first for television.[2][7] He stated, "I think Hollywood is largely not interested in disabled people because they don't view us as 'sexy' or 'cool'."[2] He lamented, "1 in 4 people identify as disabled and there are only two shows (me and This Close) on the air from disabled people."[2]

In Special, the lead character Ryan misleads his coworkers that his limp was the result of a car accident instead of his cerebral palsy.[1] The show is largely based on O'Connell's life.[23] He uses the show to "explore his own internalized ableism and insecurities of being in the gay community".[23] A 2016 Ruderman Family Foundation study found that "about 95% of characters with disabilities on television are played by able-bodied actors".[24] Including actors with disabilities is still rare in entertainment industries; in 2018 Ali Stroker was “the first person in a wheelchair to win a Tony Award”; in July 2019, Marvel made history announcing a deaf superhero, a first; and AMC's The Walking Dead and HBO's Years and Years are among the few opening their casting.[25]

Although he looked for an actor, ultimately he took the role himself due to budget constraints.[3] The eight-episode season was shot over 19 days.[26] Producers filmed with Austin, Texas doubling for Los Angeles, also due to budget constraints.[7] He found in particular the sex scenes were emotionally taxing but also rewarding as disabled people having sex is rarely seen, and among LGBTQ people even rarer.[3] O'Connell also "set out to depict onscreen sex in an authentic way, something rarely shown with LGBTQ people".[27] He said, "I also want to live in a world where it's not groundbreaking to show an accurate sex scene between two men."[28] Special also shows the lead character Ryan losing his virginity to a male sex worker in what O'Connell characterized as "a beautifully honest and sweet sex scene".[28] Digital Spy noted "it's probably the first-ever TV show to tackle gay, disabled sex with authenticity, while destigmatising sex work at the same time."[29] USA Today called the episode a landmark for disability representation and noted "O'Connell hope(s) to destigmatize sex work with the graphic scene, but also normalize gay sex for mainstream audiences who aren't used to seeing it in Hollywood movies or popular TV shows".[30] O'Connell and the show were commended for his "standout performance and quippy prose".[29]

O'Connell wrote for a season of Daytime Divas in 2017.[17] He then worked as executive story editor on the 2017 reboot of Will & Grace, which taught him to keep stories grounded in the characters even if the action gets "wacky".[23]

In May 2019, O'Connell was honored with the HRC Visibility Award by the Human Rights Campaign at the 2019 HRC Atlanta Gala Dinner.[15] In June 2019, O'Connell was the celebrity grand marshal for the LA Pride Parade.[16] That month, Queerty named him one of the Pride 50 "trailblazing individuals who actively ensure society remains moving towards equality, acceptance and dignity for all queer people."[31][32]

In July 2019, Special was nominated for four 71st Primetime Emmy Awards taking place in September: Outstanding Short Form Comedy or Drama Series; both Punam Patel and Jessica Hecht for Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series; and O’Connell for Outstanding Actor in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series.[33][34] This is the most nominations for a short form piece this year.[6]

In August 2019, it was announced that O’Connell and Anna Dokoza, an Australian director and producer who worked on Special, as well as Flight of the Conchords, and Lady Dynamite, will be mentoring prospective producers in Australia. The effort, sponsored by SBS and Screen Australia, will launch Digital Originals, to make short-form projects for SBS On-Demand.[35]