Bill Motz and Bob Roth are a pair of accomplished writers and producers, who have each worked on countless animated shows. Currently they serve as the Executive Producers and Creators of The Ghost and Molly McGee on the Disney Channel and we here at NTG were able to sit down with both of them ahead of the season two premiere of the show.
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John Betancourt: Let’s talk a little bit about each of your roles in bringing this series to life. 

Bill Motz: Well, I mean, really, here's, here's the sad part of it. Bob and I are two people doing the job of one. (Laughter) You know, a lot of ways we're kind of joined at the hip, in terms of we both are creators, writers oversee, you know, all the aspects of production and design. I would say that –

Bob Roth: We’re a two-headed monster.

Bill Motz: Yeah, we're a two-headed monster. Typically, I tend to be the more optimistic one and be more outgoing. Whereas...

Bob Roth: Bill’s the “Molly.” I’m the “Scratch.” (Laughter from all.)

Bill Motz: Yeah. That’s not always the case. But that's typically the case… so, that's our differentiation, probably more than tasks.

Bob Roth: We came up with a show a long time ago, it was only once we started really developing it at Disney that we realized, “Oh, these characters are us. This will be easy.” Then it was just writing down what we talked about at lunch and making that into a script. (More laughter from all.)

John Betancourt: And now here we are, season two of The Adventures of Bill and Bob. I love that. Now speaking of creation regarding the show. What went into the decision to create a story grounded in the supernatural and even comedy?

Bob Roth: Well, you know, it just was kind of, I wish I understood how brains work. But it was sort of right there baked in from the beginning. Like, you know, we had the notion of this, this ghost who curses a girl, and then realizes the curse is on himself. That was the very nugget that we started with. So, you know, it had the supernatural and the comedy baked in right there from the beginning. You know, it was only you know, years later when we really started developing it, that, you know, Dana and Ashly, Ashly Burch and Dana Snyder came in, and they brought so much life and comedy to it, that it really started to pop and come to life. But yeah, I mean, from the from very little zygote of the idea… supernatural comedy was right there.

John Betancourt: Bill, anything to add? Or does that cover it?

Bill Motz: I think that covers the bases. Other than what I think, for me was fun. As a kid, I was really terrified of ghosts, that kind of thing. And what I loved… was the idea of… was taking the sting, taking the fear out of it all. I mean, when he curses her, he's in his most scary mode. She's like, “Fantastic performance. That was amazing.” You know, and she's just all into it. And I thought, “Okay, if I was a kid watching the show, I think I would feel a lot less scared.” That was something I want to have happen.

John Betancourt: Now since this took a little time to bring to life, what does it mean to each of you to have this story finally come to life?

Bill Motz: Well, you know, as creators, you have ideas that just bounce around in your head for a long time, and some, you know, some go away, and that's fine. And others sort of stay with you. And this is one that just kept coming back. And it's such an amazing opportunity to be able to have this thing that's been in your head come to life on the screen where people around the world can watch it and enjoy it. It's incredibly gratifying. And a little overwhelming. And when we get sort of responses from fans about how much the show means to them, or what they enjoy watching, or how they see themselves in it, it’s… it's like a dream come true. It really is.

Bob Roth: I don't have much to add to that other than you know, I grew up watching “The Wonderful World of Disney” on Sunday nights, loving Disney movies. And to get a chance to create two characters who are now part of the Disney pantheon. Mind blowing, you can't beat that.

John Betancourt: Now there are definitely some fine messages present in this story, what’s the number one message you hope audiences take away from this story?

Bob Roth: That, uh, that hope will trump cynicism. That hope will beat out cynicism. That's sort of, I think the mission statement, we kind of all keep for ourselves. But ultimately, Molly and Scratch, they're best friends but they have different points of view. Ultimately, she's right. She's, she's gonna be… and that's what kind of charms Scratch despite himself about her that like, “Oh, I'm finding being around somebody who's hopeful better than being around all these jerky ghosts who are just dismal and gloomy.” So that's sort of the mission statement I like to think the show has.

Bill Motz: Well, the first line in our Series Bible was this is a show about a ghost and the girl who brings him back to life. And we thought that that was, you know, the metaphor of a ghost, right? Somebody who is a shadow of a person of who they were, whatever, the idea that Molly's positivity and hope, brings Scratch back to life. I think that's a cool metaphor. And I think you see it in the show, and I hope it kind of… it's also seasoned… this idea of resurrection is sort of seasoned through the whole town.

Bob Roth: A dying town.

Bill Motz: Yeah, dying town that comes back to life. I think it's just all through that. And I don't know, you know, life is challenging, and is going to always throw curveballs at you. And there's always going to be struggle, but the idea that somehow… together and in community, we can face these challenges and maybe even succeed in making the world a better place. That that's all very helpful.

John Betancourt: Now I just realized, I missed a golden opportunity to ask a little more about the casting of Ashly Burch (Molly) and Dana Snyder (Scratch). So, let’s back up for a second if we could, and talk about how exactly you settled on them as the stars and what made them so perfect.

Bob Roth: Dana, we knew from the get-go. We'd worked with Dana before and we were like, “Dana is Scratch. Don't even bother auditioning anybody else. He's what we want. He's gonna give us everything we need.” Finding Molly was… was a journey. We first met Ashly as a writer. Disney brought her in to sort of, you know, consult on the pilot. And she had a lot of great funny ideas. But as she was leaving the room, the executive that brought her in said, “Oh, you know, she does voices too!” Like, “Huh. Interesting.” So, we auditioned her. And we were like, “Yep, that's it. We've got our Molly.” And then we found out another pilot that was working its way through Disney at the time had dibs on her. And we weren't allowed to use her. So, then that sent us down the… the tailspin of trying to find somebody as good as Ashly and we found a lot of actresses.

Bill Motz: Very talented people.

Bob Roth: Very talented people. None of them were Ashley.

Bill Motz: Yeah. And it was we just… kept at the end of the day… kept going like, “Man, she is Molly. Ashly is Molly, doggone-it.” It's hard to… you know.

Bob Roth: And then we heard word that other pilot crashed on the rocks and died. And we're like, “Get. Us. Ashly. Like, we're done. We want Ashly.” And as soon as we had her, it clicked. As soon as we recorded them for the first time together. It really clicked and we were like, “Yep. That's… that's the show.

John Betancourt: Last question I have today, what are you each most proud of when it comes to this show?

Bill Motz: Oh, wow. That's… there are many things. There are many things that we're proud of. I'm really proud that of how we made the show as a team. And, you know, obviously, we were all in extraordinary circumstances these last few years in the pandemic and the resilience of the team of having to pivot into what production looked like originally in studio and then to be in lockdown at home and how we had to find ways to continue our collaboration to continue our ease of inputs. And we found that, and I think it even grew strangely, and our team is really bonded. I don't think we've ever felt closer to a group of people than we do our crew. And what I'm really happy about is I feel like anyway, that everybody on the crew can point to this show and say, “That's my show. I made that.” And that their fingerprints are all over the place. And I love that.

Bob Roth: I'll say, you know, there's nothing wrong with silly cartoons. I love silly cartoons. Great stuff. But I'm proud that we've made something that is a little more than just a silly cartoon, we got plenty of silliness. Again, I love silliness. But I'm proud of the stories we've told that are a little deeper, a little more off the beaten path, a little… that catch you by surprise and make you feel some emotions that you weren't expecting when you necessarily turned on the Disney Channel. So that's what I'm proud of the depth of the storytelling and everything Bill said is absolutely true, too.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Mary O’Connell is a rising star in the stand-up comedy world, in fact she recently was crowned the champion of the new OnlyFans TV series, Creative Fund: Comedy Edition, and we here at NTG were lucky enough to sit down with Mary to discuss her epic win and her career.

John Betancourt: How did you find your way into stand-up comedy?
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Mary O’Connell: I actually I did, like five gigs. When I was 17 as like a school project. It was this thing you could do. Basically, you could do a project or whatever you wanted. And so, mine was like, write, perform, and film a stand-up routine, because I’d wanted to do it for a while. And it was a thing you could do that… you would get UCAS points, which is like, I guess a college credit. Like, the only thing I've ever gotten a D in. I'm like a solid, you know, I'm an A-B student. But this was like, “Oh, my God.” But then I then I stopped after, and I also thought like, like, I just thought comedians were too sad. (Laughter) Like, and I'm like, “No, there's still hope for me, I can do, I can still have a nice life.” And, then I got older, and I was just still sad. So, I got back into it. But I guess I sort of properly committed to it. I don't know, it's hard to commit to it when you bump things, but maybe like 2019 is when I kind of like, started back up, like properly.

John Betancourt: What is it you love so much about doing stand-up?

Mary O’Connell: The way that I express myself is the way that I connect with people. Because a lot of the time… because you have to be so present in the room. And the feedback is immediate. Because it's almost like a dialogue, like you're creating something with the audience. Like if there's no one there, then it's not stand up. Like it's just… it's not stand up. And someone who maybe like struggles with like mental health and certain things and like, sees the world in like a different way. Just that you can get up on stage and share your opinion and have people laugh. And then they laugh, it’s kind of like means that they're connecting with you in some way. And so, it's just sort of like it's a way to connect. Also, I just think it’s a beautiful art form.

John Betancourt: Now how did you get involved with OnlyFans TV and Creative Fund: Comedy Edition?

Mary O’Connell: So, I applied in September, I saw Jamali Maddix, who's one of the judges, he posted about it. And at that time, the prize money was just 50k for the winner, which I was fine with just 50k. And you know, 25k for each of the runners up. And I'm like, “Oh, of course I’ll apply, like that's a crazy amount of money.” And I didn't hear… sort of like by the nature of the prize money being 100k, the biggest, biggest comedy competition in the world, like no competition even compares to that, not any that I've heard of. And so, I applied, but I didn't hear anything back for a while. And then, I got a message from Sofie Hagen who’s associated from the competition on a Monday. And they asked me if I heard back from OnlyFans, and I was like, “No.” And then on Tuesday, they were like, “What's your number we want to talk to you.” And they call me up. And they're like, “We want you to be in the competition. It's a six-day shoot, and you start tomorrow.” And so, I had to very quickly make a decision. Because I wasn't sure. Because it's so new. Because like the Creator’s Fund is, it's such a new thing. I was like, I have no idea what this is going to be. Like, most comedy competitions are sort of just over one evening, and this was a six-day shoot. I’ve gotta get time off work. I'm gotta do this. I'm gotta move this around, and like make a decision in like, just a few hours, really, but obviously, I'm so glad that I did.

John Betancourt: What were some of the challenges you ran into in doing the show?

Mary O’Connell: Oh, it was so stressful. It was very, like the shooting days were quite long. And the challenges were like comedy related but not ones that you would necessarily… I dunno. But you’re definitely working the muscles but just in such an unconventional way. Because you've got these cameras on you and it's not quiet, and everything was so time constrained. It would be like; you’d have two hours to do a challenge where… one of them was to create like a thirty-second viral video. And doing that in like two hours under the sort of like, high pressure environment is quite stressful. Where if you were just doing that for your own TikTok or just like create, like content for yourself, you're probably like, you know, like, some people have a whole process. Some people need to meditate before they create… no, no, no, you're gonna go, it's gonna be very quick.

John Betancourt: Now obviously, one of the big benefits of doing this, was that you were crowned the winner. But what else did this competition do for you?

Mary O’Connell: Well, I guess really sort of like just puts you on the map, like this is such a huge thing to happen. So, people are obviously going to pay attention. And so like, obviously, the money is life changing, like this is a huge sum of money, but also just recognition for winning something that big is, really going to be insane, because the last episode has aired and sort of like a few like comedy and websites in the UK are like, tweeting about it, and my phone is blowing up. Like it's just it's completely blowing up.

John Betancourt: So, I absolutely have to know… what did it feel like to win this competition?

Mary O’Connell: Oh my god. Oh, there's no feeling like it. It was… I was watching just sort of like the moment that I won. And it feels like a dream. Like, ‘cause I'm like, “I can't believe that I'm there.” Like, I'm watching it back. Like, “Oh my God, who is that?” And I'm like, “It was me. It happened to me.” It's so surreal. I remember I like screamed; it was quite emotional watching it. I was watching it at a show I was doing… I was just crying.

John Betancourt: Now, with some life changing money in hand, what is going to change for you with those winnings?

Mary O’Connell: To do the things that I was always planning on doing but like just a lot faster, a lot easier. Like I'm doing an Edinburgh show, which is quite a big deal in the sort of like, in the comedy community like, it's my debut album, it’s called Money Princess, it was called that before. And so, what story to bring into it now. And I've been able to like hire a director and be able to sort of like, fund that pursuit a lot more easily. I've started a podcast and I've hired a producer for that. I'm thinking about, like, potentially, like a web series, like just to be able to like, consistently release content on my OnlyFans now because now I have this like, incredible platform, like, of course, I'm going to use it. So yeah, because basically I want to… I work at my day job, and I work in TV, and I want to have my own production company one day, that's like one of my things. And its sort of like, I dunno, I'm… the show I sort of wrote or I'm still currently writing is about having money anxiety, and even though I won this money… I just have a different kind of money anxiety. Now I'm like, “Am I? Do I become an entrepreneur so I can fund all of my creative projects? Is that what I'm gonna do?” Like, it's just weird, because you can't plan for that sort of event.

John Betancourt: What has this experience meant to you?

Mary O’Connell: It's sort of like, I guess it showed to me that I really should back myself. Because I do feel like I was sort of, because I had such a little amount of time to process the decision, it was, to me, a bit of a gamble. Like because you just have no idea what it’s gonna be. And I've always seen maybe having like a strictly comedy career as a bit of a gamble, which is why I have a day job. I've always sort of worked; I still work full time. And just the fact that I made the biggest gamble of my life, and it paid off in the most insane way. I think it's just sort of meant that I should absolutely have confidence in my myself and like, me as a performer and as a comedian, and just what I can achieve. And it's also like, it was genuinely amazing. It was stressful, I was pretty stressed. Like, but it was an amazing experience, like all the other contestants were so wonderful and I'm, like, so grateful to have like, gone through that with all of them.

John Betancourt: Now obviously, you will be a source of inspiration for any hopeful comedian that watches this competition. What do you hope they take from your journey?

Mary O’Connell: I want other comedians to take from this is that the sort of traditional route is, I don't think… I don't think people should worry about like doing the traditional comedy route anymore because this is so like, you know, this is the first of its kind, it's the biggest, like, you know, it's extreme, like the platform, not necessarily known for comedy, but there is so much comedy on OnlyFans actually, like I've gotten to know the platform more now that I've like, done this. And just basically sort of like, knowing that there are so many other routes to being successful in this industry, like, the pandemic changed a lot of things like, and just the fact that you can have people that have turned to like, platforms, like OnlyFans and TikTok and stuff where you can, like have a more direct access to your fan base when we just couldn't access them before, like, you know, like, you couldn't perform live comedy for so long, so I think it's important that there's a way to reach fans, and that you can make money off of it. And so, I think people should understand, like, the traditional route of comedy, just like, I don't think you have to follow that all the time anymore.

John Betancourt: Last question I have for you today, what are you most proud of when it comes to this entire experience?

Mary O’Connell: I think I'm most proud of just like the set I did at the final. Because like, I really like I'm hoping to get the full like, because they've only gotten like a few minutes of it in the show. I'm hoping to get the full version of it, which I will release my OnlyFans. But it was just, I don't know, I really felt like I was performing my ass off. And my parents were in the front row. And I saw them smiling at me. And I just felt really like, powerful, with like, with that performance. And so, I was really, really proud of that. Because I think… the challenges were hard. And I don't think I necessarily did the best in them.  I didn't do the best in the challenges at all, but I got through it. But I was just sort of like, “I’m a stand-up” that this is what like, I know that I could do this. And so, I'm glad that the challenge I succeeded in what's the stand-up challenge. And that's the one that got me the money.