Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Maggie Scudder. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Maggie, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

Learning to write is a lifelong experiment. There is no one way or lesson or key. But isn’t that what makes it feel daring and wild and fun? A writer is not a writer if she has nothing to say–my parents taught me this early. They encouraged me to go out, learn what I could, notice what no one else might, and only then put ink to paper. Learning the craft is about training, building habits and muscle–but equally important is a wandering eye. Writing what you know is a privilege, but it’s also a charge: you must continue learning/trying/experiencing new things.

In so many ways, honing the craft is the easy and satisfying part of the journey. Take classes, talk about your craft wherever and with whomever you can, read. Forcing yourself outside when you want to be at your desk typing is the hard part and unfortunately, it often feels like the only part that’s non-negotiable. To write is to live, I guess. It sounds profound in the way that all horrible, cheesy things do…but I also have learned (the hard way) that it’s true. There is no inspiration on the internet alone…even my fun internet ideas need to find context in the real world where real living happens.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m a comedy writer, director, and producer.

I’m the co-creator (alongside Ana Breton), showrunner, and star. (Follow @officialratczar on Instagram!) Rat Czar is being directed and produced by four-time Emmy-nominee Ana Breton, alongside whom I mentor and advise more than ten all-women and nonbinary digital sketch teams. Rat Czar includes cameos from SNL’s Rachel Dratch, Real Housewives of New York’s LuAnn DeLesseps, Ted Lasso’s Emmy-winning writer Ashley Nicole Black, and more.

My award-winning pilot script, The GOAT, is being developed with Emmy and Peabody-winner Ryan Cunningham (Search Party, Broad City). The GOAT is a half-hour comedy based on real New York City folk heroes.

My directorial work includes BFF4L featuring Janeane Garofalo, Mutually Beneficial Union featuring Keisha Zollar, and PRESSED: A live sketch show (Brooklyn Comedy Collective, NYC Sketchfest, The PIT, iO Chicago, DC Sketchfest).

I have performed in and produced sold-out shows at The PIT (NYC), Improv Olympic (Chicago), Chicago Sketchfest, Chicago Women’s Funny Festival, Stage 773, Brooklyn Comedy Collective, NYC Sketchfest, The Clubhouse (LA), and DC Sketchfest.

Currently, I serve as the Content Lead, Sketch Instructor, and advisor for Digital Teams at GOLD Comedy—the online comedy school, content studio, and career network for women and nonbinary folks.

See me perform live in NYC in November as part of New York Comedy Festival, and catch the live premiere of Rat Czar while you’re at it! (Follow @maggiescudder for updates!)

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My first impulse is to answer this question literally: laughs. While I have passing cravings to write genre television (High fantasy? What? Who said that?), the overwhelming thrust of my life and career is towards comedy. I have no interest in living a life or creating a work that isn’t full of laughter. I think in the current marketplace, when we see shows like (no shade) The Bear sweeping comedy categories, a rigid focus and high standard of comedy is not only a worthwhile goal, but a necessary–even noble?–one.

Other missions drive my work–you’d be hard-pressed to convince me not to write about hot and cool lesbians, about neurodivergent people, about strange and unlikable women–but next to laughs, everything falls just short of my primary goal. Someone once told me that the reason comedy is so much harder than drama is that drama has no single metric against which it can be measured. But comedy does. A comedy hasn’t succeeded if it hasn’t made people laugh.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Resilience is a moving target. Take it from Miley Cyrus’s The Climb or take it from me. Things have gone wrong for me time and time again. I’ve cried all over New York City (Even in MIDTOWN! Embarrassing!); I’ve lived in a New Jersey basement on a pullout couch, putting train tickets to the city on my credit cards every day; I’ve spent a lonely night in Penn Station. All in pursuit of my illusive television dreams. Living in New York year after year (especially through and since COVID) itself is an act of resilience. Granted, this city so often gives as good as it takes and so the life I’ve lived here feels so worthwhile and worth writing about.

I’m a collector of hobbies, and most recently I’m on a needle felting kick. The needle felting process involves poking a clump of wool roving (imagine a handful of loose, fluffy wool) with a pronged needle (like that of a porcupine) that pulls at and tangles the wool together as you poke. After several hundred pokes, the wool becomes harder, sturdier, and shapeable felt. Not because of the poking at all, but because of the tugging done by tiny sharp prongs on the needle. It’s an extremely satisfying little hobby, it’s comforting to hear and feel the soft crunch of the wool as it tangles into felt.

Striving to live as a New Yorker, a writer, an artist is (I hope this metaphor feels worth it to you, reader!) a lot like that. You get poked by the world. But the poking is not what creates your art, not directly at least. It’s the tugging, the smaller less perceptible hardships that pull your experiences together into something shaped like art.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.maggiescudder.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maggiescudder
• Other: Follow Rat Czar: https://www.instagram.com/officialratczar
  Listen to my podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/edward-is-a-vampire/id1498664011
  Be taught by me: https://goldcomedy.com/classes/