How <i>Hacks</i>’ Showrunners Found the Lovably Chaotic Kayla in Meg Stalter
In ELLE.com’s recurring feature Character Study, we ask the creators behind our favorite shows to go deep about what went into creating their memorable characters: the original idea behind them, how they were tailored to the actor, and elements of them we might not see on the screen.
When the showrunners of Hacks were creating an assistant character who had a kind of L.A.-specific obliviousness, they immediately thought of Meg Stalter’s sketch comedy characters, who had a similar oddness. As soon as Stalter did a chemistry read with Paul W. Downs, a co-showrunner who also plays a young agent on the show, “it was just like we were off to the races,” co-showrunner Jen Statsky recalls.
Over four seasons, Stalter’s character Kayla has transformed from a spunky and entitled assistant to a Hollywood manager...who’s still a little spunky and entitled. Lucia Aniello, Downs, and Statsky, the show’s three creators and showrunners, spoke to ELLE about Kayla’s character trajectory, her best lines, and how she makes being bad at her job seem likable.
Stalter as Kayla with Hannah Einbinder as Ava.
Paul W. Downs: There were some assistants we had encountered that could, as some people are in Los Angeles, be entitled but also unsure at the same time. We had all been aware of and fans of Meg, and she did that kind of characterization in a lot of her earlier sketch work. We loved that dynamic, so we did think of her as we were writing.
Stalter and Downs in a scene.
Lucia Aniello: One of the things that we’ve learned is that when somebody’s bad at their job, it’s annoying. When she makes Jimmy’s life harder and is bad at her job, it is frustrating, because you know she comes from privilege. But when you start to [see] her wild, out-of-the-box choices [become] weirdly genius... All of a sudden, you’re making her oddball-ness or wackiness somehow work.
To me, 100 percent of what makes Kayla work is Jimmy—Jimmy loving Kayla, Jimmy having patience for Kayla, seeing the goodness in her is what makes her palatable. Because Jimmy gives her grace, the audience as an extension gives her grace.
It’s interesting that she and Jimmy have grew up in similar ways. Maybe her experience was a little bit heightened, but they both had fathers in this business.PWD: They’re both privileged kids. Jimmy really wants to prove himself and not let his name precede him. And Kayla’s point of view is use it. If you’ve got it, flaunt it. Absolutely use everything you got because we’re lucky to have it.
LA: Also, I feel like they were raised differently. You see that with her dad, who’s kind of a prick. You get a sense that Kayla’s life lessons were different than Jimmy’s. We don’t know his dad, but it feels like he had a good relationship. I think that is essentially how they ended up with these different kinds of points of view on their privilege.
LA: At first gets a little bit of a big head about it. She’s like, I’m a manager now. I’m going to flaunt it. I’m going to use my power and I’m going to be crazy. It doesn’t actually work. People are afraid of her, and yeah, that is one way to make it in this town, but it’s not really a way to have longevity. She realizes her own faults and she has Jimmy to compare to her dad. Even though she has a lot of love and respect for her dad, she also sees his shortcomings. In some ways, the most mature thing she does over the course of the season is acknowledge how good Jimmy is and how hard it is to be good. And he also needs to learn how to stand up and go full gorilla mode when necessary.
Jen Statsky: Deborah and Ava make each other better even when it’s harder. And Jimmy and Kayla make each other better even when it’s harder. The show is an evolution of people realizing that they will be better when they listen and lean into their partner's strengths as well.
What made her decide to turn down the job offer that her dad made to her?LA: The sign [that Jimmy made where Kayla’s name is listed first] was a big moment for her. I think that’s one turning point for her.
PWD: Yeah. I think that’s a moment where she’s like, oh, Jimmy put me first. Even though her dad now recognizes her abilities as a manager, she’s only a manager because Jimmy was like, “You’d be a really good manager.” He was the one who saw that. The sign is sort of a trigger for that. It’s a reminder of the ways in which Jimmy has seen her that other people haven’t.
PWD: Prepping Meghann Fahy? I don’t think she would be a good manager for her.
JS: Meghann Fahy’s 3-year old niece.
PWD: There have been so many people that we wanted to explore and didn’t get to. We wanted her to sign a TikTok prankster. Maybe she will. I don’t know. There was a lot of, “she would rep this person, she would rep that person,” and we only have so much real estate to tell a story.
How did you establish her sense of style?LA: That’s a great collaboration between [costume designer] Kathleen Felix-Hager and Meg. Her style is the thing that we have the least amount of notes on.
PWD: We are very exacting to a fault with every single aspect of the show from color to sound to what people wear, except with Kayla. Our designer understands her and Meg looks good in everything.
JS: Kathleen has said when they have fittings, Meg is so joyful and happy to be there. She couldn’t put something on her that wouldn’t work because there is just such authenticity and joy coming through Meg that we’re always like, “Yep, great. Let’s go.”
And how did you land on a name for her?LA: Looking at the year she was born and looking at the popular names.
JS: It probably wouldn’t have worked if it hadn’t had sounded as funny coming out of an exasperated Jimmy’s mouth. Him yelling, “Kayla!” just is it for me.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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