MediaQuest Television Producer Sally Young

ABC hit series Modern Family producer Sally Young has an inspiring story of her journey to Hollywood. After college and three years at an advertising agency, Sally left her suburban Detroit hometown in 1975 to pursue a career in entertainment in Los Angeles. Her first job was typing scripts for the TV series "Maude" at Norman Lear's company. After three years and working on five of his other hit shows, she moved to ABC Network, where she worked in Public Relations, Casting, and ABC Circle Films, contributing to features like "Silkwood" with Meryl Streep, Cher, and Kurt Russell, "Prizzi's Honor" with Jack Nicholson, and the TV show "Moonlighting" with Bruce Willis and Cybil Shepherd. She then joined Disney, working on a Bette Midler film and a 3D movie starring the Muppets for the Disney Theme Parks. Taking a hiatus, Sally moved to Boulder, Colorado, enrolling in a one-year program to become a certified massage therapist—a skill she wanted for flexibility if she left the film industry. She later returned as an independent producer for miniseries and movies of the week, the TV series "Las Vegas" with Tom Selleck, and finally "Modern Family," which ran for 11 years and earned her an Emmy. "You never really retire from the film industry because you never know what's coming that you might want to be a part of," she says. For now, she's enjoying life at Sun City with golf, pickleball, bowling, and a weekly card game, content to avoid job offers that might be too tempting to refuse. But her career is far from being over...