Margaret Nagle

When Margaret Nagle came out to Hollywood, she was a dependable actress with a regular role on the teen soap My So-Called Life, as well as earning guest spots on L.A. Law and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. But there was a writer lurking within, as there had been since her childhood. This desire is what urged Margaret to write the award-winning drama Warm Springs, starring Kenneth Branagh and Cynthia Nixon, as well as to write and executive produce Lifetime Television's new series Side Order of Life.

"I always wanted to be a writer," Margaret says, "but I didn't know there was necessarily a name for it. I made up elaborate stories on the playground that drove everyone crazy. I loved to tell my version of the school drama of the day. I didn't realise you could get paid for that."

Very public career

So, the next step for Margaret was to become an actress. "I got into acting because I was a very good mimic. Plus, it's a very public career. You see actors in magazines, on television; it's a very public profession. But you hardly ever hear about the writers. It wasn't until I was acting in Hollywood that I realised people were getting paid to write the stuff that I was saying. I also knew that there were stories inside of me that I needed to tell."

One of those stories, Warm Springs, ended up becoming nominated for 16 Emmy Awards in 2005 - a record-breaking number - and winning five. She also won the Writers Guild of America award for long-form original screenplay. To top it off, it was the very first screenplay that Margaret had ever written.

"I became fascinated by (Franklin D.) Roosevelt's time at Warm Springs. He was a great man, and at the heart of his greatness was his disability. His disability transformed him internally as a human being. His story is one of how the worst thing that happens to you (his contracting polio and becoming disabled) becomes the best thing that could happen to you. It's about fate versus randomness."

Which leads us to her latest project, Side Order of Life. The showtells the story of a shallow woman, Jenny, who finds out that her best friend has cancer, and how it categorically transforms her life.

"In the beginning, Jenny is as shallow as FDR was before being stricken with polio. Her friend's battle with cancer is forcing her to wake up. We get to watch someone grow into consciousness. With the character of Jenny, I wanted to poke a hole in the vanity that is so rampant in our culture."

Another reason Margaret was so eager to tell this story is her desire to write about people in their 30s. "When you're in your 20s, you're a rolling stone, gathering no moss. Then, suddenly, you enter your 30s and realise that you are gathering moss. You start being held accountable for your choices. Your choices become an indication of your character. The conflict in the show comes from the characters doing battle within themselves."

Generational shift

Margaret continues: "There is also a generational shift in the attitude toward cancer. I wanted to take cancer out of the closet and show someone who is living with it."

Although the audience for the show is small but building, Margaret tells me that these people are who she is writing the show for. "I am so proud of the show, and I want to do a good show for those who are watching it."

You can catch Side Order of Life on Lifetime Television on Sunday nights at 9. Also, you can rent the HBO movie Warm Springs at your local movie-rental store.

- Cindy Elavsky