Since joining WE tv in 2014, Angela Molloy has shepherded some of the network’s longest-running unscripted shows, including Mama June, Love After Lockup and the Marriage Boot Camp franchise, now in its 17th year. In 2023, Molloy was promoted from VP of development for WE tv to senior VP of development & original production, overseeing unscripted shows for both WE tv and ALLBLK. In her new role, she greenlights and develops new projects and oversees current productions.
In choosing new projects, Molloy has always looked for characters and stories that audiences would want to follow for years. “There’s an endless supply of compelling and unique stories about people in the unscripted space,” she said. “But the needles in the haystack are stories that pop and can sustain over time.”
A Feel for Audiences
Shahram Qureshi, an executive producer and independent showrunner, first worked with Molloy 12 years ago. “Angela knows what’s going to be entertaining,” he said. “Angela has a really good sense of what will resonate with the audience.”
Also Read: Wonder Women of Los Angeles 2024: Honoring the West’s Best
Molloy began working in the fledgling genre of reality TV two decades ago as manager of development at TLC, where she acquired unscripted shows from the U.K. and the Netherlands. She next moved to production house 3 Ball Productions. One of the first original shows she sold to a network was Scott Baio Is 45 and Single, about the former heartthrob’s work with a relationship coach. “He said to me in our first meeting: ‘My parents have been married for 50 years. I feel like I should be married and I can’t get there,’ ” Molloy recalled. She called it her “aha moment.”
“It was an authentic journey that someone was going on, would take us, on in real time,” she said. Many people are willing to share their personal lives for the length of a TikTok, but Molloy looks for subjects with long-term aspirations and a willingness to share them. “When we talk to someone who wants to have their own show, we ask, ‘Are you willing to show the ups and downs of your life?’ ”
Angela isn’t asking me, ‘What are you going to do now?’ She’s saying, ‘OK, let’s talk about this and figure it out.’ ”
Erin Kelly Richards, executive producer
The nine years she was a showrunner and field producer on shows such as Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles, Room Crashers and Life With La Toya influenced her leadership style. “I think my super power is flexibility,” she said. She understands how cast members’ lives can suddenly take storylines in unexpected directions.
“Angela isn’t asking me, ‘What are you going to do now?’ ” said Erin Kelly Richards, executive producer of Marriage Boot Camp, Mama June and other shows. “She’s saying, ‘OK, let’s talk about this and figure it out.’ ”
Molloy “makes the whole process feel like a creative, collaborative effort,” Richards added. She also praised Molloy for “the grace with which she navigates heavy decisions.”
Last year, Mama June Shannon’s oldest daughter, Anna Cardwell, asked the crew to follow her through her cancer treatment. When Cardwell died in December, Richards said, Molloy called to check on “the mental health of the field crew with genuine care and not just reading off a page in an HR handbook.”
Producing also taught Molloy that “good ideas come from anywhere,” she said. On set, Molloy said, “I have no problem asking the PA or the audio tech, ‘What did you think of that scene?’ ”
Open Door for Pitches
At AMC, she values the “open-door” policy that encourages employees to pitch ideas. The idea for Love After Lockup was suggested by a producer within WE tv, she noted. To serve a predominantly female and African-American audience, Molloy leads an all-women team, and said their candid dialogues help them address family crises, criminal justice and the challenges of reentry after incarceration.
“We shouldn’t shy away from tough conversations,” she said. “If you’re telling a story about what it’s like to be Black or to be a woman in certain circumstances, we should be specific and confront that conversation. As executives internally, we’re very open to talking about gender and race, to getting feedback and asking tough questions of each other.”
Molloy is less interested in hot topics than relatable human experiences. In a constantly changing business, Qureshi said, Molloy’s consistency has been her strength.
“Angela has a very authentic approach to how to tell a truthful story that will be a snapshot of someone’s life,” he said. “She knows what’s going to work, and that’s what’s led to her success.”
