Session 274: Black Women In Film & TV

Published Sep 7, 2022, 7:00 AM

The Therapy for Black Girls Podcast is a weekly conversation with Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, a licensed Psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia, about all things mental health, personal development, and all the small decisions we can make to become the best possible versions of ourselves.

Whether you’re watching your favorite series on your phone, computer, or TV - the shows that we’ve grown to binge watch and/or critique were created by teams of people invested in the power of storytelling. Whether it’s a Youtube based comedy series or an HBO original, the tales told on our screens allow us to live vicariously through characters that remind us of ourselves, the people we love, and even the people we don’t want to be like. But, who are the people behind these characters? Who are the talented individuals who translate stories to reality? 

In this week’s session, I'm joined by industry powerhouse and triple threat Writer, Director, and Showrunner, Amy Aniobi. Amy is one of the incredible Black women behind iconic shows like Hoorae Media’s Awkward Black Girl, HBO’s 2 Dope Queens, and HBO’s Insecure. Our conversation explores the characteristics of working in film and television as a Black woman and the necessity of mentorship in the industry. 

Resources

Visit our Amazon Store for all the books mentioned on the podcast.

Get updates about Sisterhood Heals.

 

Where to Find Amy

Twitter

Instagram

SuperSpecial Production Company

The Antidote Podcast

 

Stay Connected

Is there a topic you'd like covered on the podcast? Submit it at therapyforblackgirls.com/mailbox.

If you're looking for a therapist in your area, check out the directory at https://www.therapyforblackgirls.com/directory.

Take the info from the podcast to the next level by joining us in the Therapy for Black Girls Sister Circle community.therapyforblackgirls.com

Grab your copy of our guided affirmation and other TBG Merch at therapyforblackgirls.com/shop.

The hashtag for the podcast is #TBGinSession.

 

Make sure to follow us on social media:

Twitter: @therapy4bgirls

Instagram: @therapyforblackgirls

Facebook: @therapyforblackgirls

 

Our Production Team

Executive Producers: Dennison Bradford & Maya Cole Howard

Producers: Fredia Lucas, Ellice Ellis & Cindy Okereke

Welcome to the Therapy for Black Girls Podcast, a weekly conversation about mental health, personal development, and all the small decisions we can make to become the best possible versions of ourselves. I'm your host, Dr Joy hard and Bradford, a licensed psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information or to find a therapist in your area, visit our website at Therapy for Black Girls dot com. While I hope you love listening to and learning from the podcast, it is not meant to be a substitute for a relationship with a licensed mental health professional. Hey, y'all, thanks so much for joining me for Session to seventy four of the Therapy for Black Girls Podcast. We'll get right into our conversation after a word from our sponsors. Whether you're watching your favorite series on your phone, computer, or TV, the shows that we've grown to binge watch and our critique were created by teams of people invested in the power of storytelling. Whether it's a YouTube based comedy series or an HBO original, the tales told on our screens allow us to live vicariously through characters that remind us of ourselves, the people we love, and even the people we don't. Want to be like? But who are the people behind these characters? Who are the talented individuals who translate stories to reality. In this week's session, I'm speaking with industry powerhouse and Triple Threat writer, director and showrunner amy Onna Yobi. Amy is one of the incredible black women behind iconic shows like A Media's Awkward Black Girl, HBO's Two Dope Queens, and HBO's Insecure. Our conversation explores the characteristics of working in film and television as a black woman and the necessity of mentorship in the industry. If something resonates with you while enjoying our conversation, please share with us on social media using the hashtag tv g in session or join us over in the Sister Circle to talk more in depth about the episode. You can join us at community that Therapy for Black Girls dot com. Here's our conversation. Thank you so much for joining me, Amy, Thanks Dr Joy. Nice to meet you. Likewise Likewise, so, you have been in this entertainment game for quite some time. We were aware of a lot of your credits, but I want you to take us all the way back to the beginning. What was your very first credit on IMDb? Oh on IMDb. I thought you were gonna be way way back, Like, when was the first thing I ever read? I'll tell you right now out I remember we Loved Me. Oh yeah, Well, the first thing I ever wrote in the first time anyone ever told me maybe you should be a writer was actually when I was in kindergarten, I wrote we all had to write stories, like just stories from our mind, and I wrote a story and illustrated it to about how I wanted to be a kangaroo. I think it was called Why I Want to be a Kangaroo And it got published in a Texas children's anthology of fiction, and there's a big ceremony and I met Amy Tan, like the writer of Joy lat Club. I didn't know who she was. I was five. My parents didn't know who she was. They're Nigeria and their immigrants. But was like, take a picture with Amy Tan. And I remember going to this thing and bringing my book that I drew the drawings, and that was the first time Amy Tan, I believe, was the one who told me you're a very good writer. And I was like thanks, Yeah. I think the seed was planted then, but my first credit it on IMDb. Actually I haven't looked in a while, so I'm not sure, but I'm gonna assume it's awkward black Girl. Like I feel like it's got to be awwerad black Girl because I started writing for that web series Misadventures of Awera Black Girl, when I was still in grad school. I was in my second year of grad school when Eas's team reached out to me and asked if I wanted to be a writer on the web series. And I kind of knew Issa from college. We weren't close, but Blackness we had met, and I watched the first episode was like it was so like it gave me chills because I was like, I've never felt more seen in my life. I am an awkward black girl. And so I wrote on it while I was in grad school, and then after I graduated, when I became a writer's assistant on Happy Endings, which was a comedy on ABC. And while I was still an assistant on that show, I'm moonlighted at night as a realized writer. I love it. I love it. So her team was familiar with you from you both being at Stanford. Yeah, and even to explain that further by her team, I mean Tracy Oliver her producer, Tracy Oliver, who is an amazing writer in her own right who has a mega deal at Apple and has the show Harlem on Amazon. Tracy was my little sib at Stanford, which meant like I was an upper class black woman who was like, let me show you the ropes. Well, she was doing great. She didn't need no rope show to her. So we just became friends and stayed in touch even beyond graduation. She had gone to USC for film school and the producing program, and so when she started producing Isa's web sities, she reached out to me so and I remember I sent her an email because she was like, we're accepting writers. Would you like to submit an application? And I believe my email was do you know me? That's my application? My writing sample is. I'm in grad school for writing, so you let me know. And she sent me an email back being like, you have been accepted. And then that was when I watched the first episode. After she emailed me being like we have shows in you or whatever, I went back and watched the first episode Offer Black because it had just come out, you know, and I watched it and that was when I got the Childen was like, holy this is a big opportunity. Like, so that I emailed her again and I was like, thank you so much for this opportunity. I'm so blessed, Like anything you need, let me know. And so the Writer's Room actually met in my living room, in my apartment living room for the next year and a half two years. Wow. So I think a lot of us had their feeling when we initially found Aquad Black Girl, like, oh my gosh, Like this is on screen right, and so it sounds like very you knew it was going to be a big thing, Like what were the signs for you that let you know that it was going to be big? It was raw, it was unfiltered, and it captured on universal emotion, like not only from the very first like thing where it says like two of the worst things you can be is awkward and black, Like that was something that as a self identified awkward black girl that I had always felt like, not only are you at the bottom of the social barrel because you're black, but you're also in white spaces. Let's be honest, but you're also at the bottom of the barrel because you're awkward and you don't flow so easily in social scenarios and I had always felt that and then like her wrapping to herself, like as a kid, I had written songs like my mom has walked in on me so many times, like singing emphatically into the mirror and being like are you okay? And I'm like I got emotions, And it was like it was the same thing, Like I was more like singing like Gloria Estevon, like B sides, but character rapping. It just felt very familiar. And I have so many journals filled with poetry from my youth and songs and song layers and rap lyrics and spoken word and all these corny things, and I'm like, so that was all it. But then that universal feeling like the first episode, I think, is the stop sign awkward moment? What's the protocol for repeatedly running into someone and it stop sign? I know, no, seriously, what is it? And it's weird. She says like hey to a guy to stop sign, and then they start driving and they keep meeting at the next stop sign, at the next stop sign, and I'm like, yeah, that's my nightmare. So it was just universal themes of awkwardness and like realizing that by identifying I understand what you're supposed to think about me because I'm black and I'm awkward. By identifying it, it almost reclaims it in its own way. So it also, even though saying two of the worst things you can be makes it sound like it's shifting on black awkward people, you're also reclaiming it and saying like, hey, I'm going to stand in my truth. It also comedically felt very similar in tone with like Dirty Rock in the Office and these awkward people comedies, like comedies where awkward people were the star, and that of course was when it came out, so it felt like finally one for us. MM. Do you think that there's anything different in terms of writing for a web series versus other mediums. I think there can be something very different. But I'll say both Awkward Black Girl and the web series I created while I was an assistant on Happy Endings it was just called The Slutty Years. We ran them like TV shows, So like, you can't just be calling on your friends and hob nobbing together and not having a formal script writing it in word instead of using the correct software and all the things. It can be nothing like it. But to be honest, we ran ours like a show, and by the time I got on Happy Endings and I was creating The Slutty Years, Like I knew all the prep meetings that went into making a TV show, so I had those same prep meetings along my schedule. And as a result, when I finally got to be on set as a staff writer on the Michael J. Fox Show, I was like, I've done this before, like with a lot lower bludget, but I've done it before. Like I had already had a props meeting, I had had a tone meeting, I had had a production meeting, I had done it all because I just copied what I saw my boss is doing. Was like, let's do it on our tiny scale with our five dollars. And so there was I won't say a full comfort, but there was sort of this like, Okay, the white people got more money, but we can do this. So it can be different. But I think it depends on what your goal is. My goal was to be a TV writer, so I ran my web series like a TV show. Mmm. So it sounds like you have had quite a few different positions, and I'd love to hear a little bit more about that progression you were also the show runner on HBO's Two Dope Queens. These queens everybody give it up? Oh my god. Two Dope Queens also the nickname from My Tiddy's Out. So what does the show runner do? Like, it sounds like you are the head, be in charge. So does the show runner do well? Dr? Joy? That is actually correct. Show runner runs the show. So that it's such an interesting job because I feel like you get into TV because you like written word and you like character and you like writing and you like being internal. And a showrunner is externalizing everything in your brain because no one can read your mind. So you might write that a character is wearing a skirt, and then here comes a wardrobe person who's going to say, okay, what color skirt, what length of skirt? Is it short? Is it long? Is it type? Is it loose? And you're like, uh, well, in my head, I saw this, Or they're gonna say, hey, you didn't specify, so here are nine examples that I have and you're gonna go, yeah, that one, you know. So it's like, as the showrunner, you're externalizing all the things that are in your brain for this crew of a hundred people to be able to execute them. And some people have that built in to their mechanics of how they process story, and some people have a learned talent, and then some people it's just not for them. Like not every writer and television sets out to be like I'm going to be a showrunner, because it's a right brain left brain mix that is not necessarily intrinsic to all creatives. So sometimes a show creator, someone who writes and develops a show, will hire a showrunner who's good at that right brain left brain to do the translating for the crew. I feel like I've been pretty lucky to work for showrunners who are both like creators and showrunners. And that's what I pride myself onto. I'm very Type AI and like I'm a Virgo. I'm a child of immigrants on Nigerian. I'm a double virgo actually, so I'm like Type A two got Max. So I'm like, you want something translated from my braind I got you because I don't want you to get wrong. So I feel like I was built to be a showrunner. And so I will say being on Two Dog Queens was the first time that I got to feel that feeling of truly collaborating with the talent so closely and being in charge at the same time with both Phoebe Robinson and Jessica Williams, and it was like putting on a jacket that was supposed to be mine forever, you know, that was made specifically for me. I was like, this is what I'm meant to do. It was so much fun, and so that's what I run towards now, or the opportunities that let me create and also lead. I also think that part of being a leader for me in RNs IT to the job is mentorship. So mentoring is so important to me, and I think all of my like bosses who I really love, work in the way where it's like mentorship is part of the job. And that has been really wonderful to know that there's a place for me as a showing or as someone who loves to mentor and bring up other voices and other creators as well. Thank you for that, and I can imagine that is, you know, really important. And you've talked a lot about your identity as a Nigerian. Your identity has a child of immigrants, and it seems like a lot of your projects also have like this identity piece, right, Can you talk a little bit about like why it's important or why it has been important for you to choose those kinds of projects. Yeah. I think the reason why so much of the work that I create grapples with identity is because it's something that I've grappled with since birth. And I think storytelling and the medium of storytelling is one of the few ways that society gets to have a conversation with itself. Especially in comedy, you're getting to have a conversation with with what you are going through now. But so much of storytelling, and by that like I mean artistry, music, sound design, like architecture, they're all forms of storytelling. You are deciphering a piece of you and everything you create if you're doing it well, I think the best stories come from something real. And as a black kid, a dark skinned black girl growing up in North Texas in a super white town with parents who had accents, I was always confronted with identity and I think because I was awkward and dare I say it, goofy As a kid, I also was constantly leaning on comedy to help myself feel more comfortable in other spaces, trying to be the funny one, trying to make people laugh with me rather than at me kind of thing. And so I think so much of what I create will always grapple with identity because it's something that I still grapple with to this day. They're all ways days that I'm going to feel not black enough by the standards that someone else has set, or not feminine enough by the standards that someone else has set. It's just like we're constantly being like checked, not only as black people, as women, as Americans, as just whatever identities we whole. We're constantly being checked by standards that someone else is set. Those are all going to be conversations about identity. So when I put it in my work, it's because I'm trying to figure it out for myself too. M m yeah. And I think that that is what makes so many of your projects just incredibly relatable, right, and you know, like we see ourselves in them. But I can also imagine when it is like you, right, So it's a you know, maybe a characterization of you, but still in some ways you. It may be difficult to deal with that being on the screen and like have people pick it apart and critique. How do you take care of yourself when it is kind of like you in these stories. Yeah, and a lot of it is the mute button. Is that helpful? Uh? Social media? Someone once told me, like, if you read the good reviews, you have to read the bad ones, Like you can't just read one side and vice versa. Like you're not allowed to just live in beating yourself up and you're not allowed to just live in praising yourself. That was just advice that someone told me, because both make you better, you know, So I do kind of believe that, Like, but I already in that there are certain review sources that I trust, and the ones that are just like bloggers, I kind of tend not to internalize what they're saying because sometimes a lot of times it's coming from a place of being a super fan or being a super critic. And then in terms of like staying sane, Like honestly, I find that I am just too busy to read all the comments. So I will do my little scan through like comments section, or like I'll tweet something about a moment in the show, and I'll do my little scan and then I gotta move on. I got a job, so I'm just sort of like, at the end of the day, I'm like, I find it a bad tweet or someone critiquing my work does hurt my feelings. There's no way around it. I don't know what it is about social media, but a stranger saying something mean to you almost hurts worse than a friend, and I don't know why. So when i feel like I'm running up against that, I'm like, mute, delete, block, move on. Like I'm just like, I have to get away from that feeling because I'm like, this person doesn't know me, so I don't want to internalize that. Luckily and pretty busy, so I can't dwell in the comments too long. But other than that, I just try and move on quickly. Mm hmmm. More from my conversation with Amy after the break and you've talked about, you know, mentorship being really important, and I know sometimes this can be a difficult feel to be in as a black women, right, Like, they're not a lot of us in you know, positions to kind of bring other people up, and it sounds like you are doing your plot to try to, you know, open the doors for others. What has your experience been with people doing that for you? Has that been difficult. No, I don't find that people supporting me as I have grown in this industry has been difficult. I think I am someone who has worked hard from the very beginning to say I need to make the person only other side of the table looks stupid saying no to me. So when I had my first job as an assistant, I remember looking at the people that my boss like the early level, like green writers that my boss read, and I was like, Oh, they either have an Instagram presence, they've come through a program, they've independently made something, they've gone to grad school, or they have reps. And I was like, okay, I got a year. I gotta do all five of those. Because I'm a black woman, like, I was like, I can't do one of those. Like the idea of like I got unscript, somebody find me, I got my one script. I'm like, what are you white and straight and male? Like? Other than that, I don't understand that. So I've always been like, if there are five ways you can get in, I gotta do all five. So once I committed to that because I used to be that I got one script girl, and then all through grad schools like my one script didn't get me, staff didn't get me a deal when I was nineteen what And so I realized I was like, oh, I can't be that person. I'm a black woman who came from outside of the industry. I got three strikes, so I gotta work three times harder. And so I believe in making yourself someone who is hard to say no to, someone who is too qualified for people to ignore. Now here's the thing. You might not have control over their racism and their politics, but I do have control over what I can produce as content. So once I got into that mindset of like, oh, you gotta you gotta put that gas on, you know, I'm like, you gotta pedal down to the ground and literally go. Once I got that in my head, I was like, yeah, of course I'm going to be successful. Like I'm not even kidding you know. I was like, I know it hasn't happened yet, but it's gonna happen because it has to happen because I've done all the things. They're got to a point where I had a writer's group and we used to get together and we would be like, have you done all the things? And I was like, I have done all the things. I'm in a program, I'm working on a hit show. I'm an assisted I helped write a web series. I'm creating my own web series. I started a Twitter feed and I post jokes every day. I have done all the things. Oh, and agents are beating with me, you know. So I got to a point where it's like I've done all the things where I know what's going to happen, and then I just had to be patient and keep doing all the things. As a result, I think once things start to fall in line, I feel that people want to help people in their careers who are already helping themselves. I find it frustrating, albeit understandable, when people who are not in the ade street are asking can I get a job? Or like can you give me this? Or I'm looking for this, can you help? I understand it, but it doesn't make sense when you actually do the work to look at the bios of everyone who you admire and see all the things that they did. You need to get started doing all the things. And once you've done that, it's so much easier for someone to say, Oh, we're in a boat and I handed you an oar and you're actually rowing, Like you're not depending on me to row us up the river. You have an oar in your hand and you're rowing too, so now we can row together. All right, Yeah, let me help you. I think there is this instinct of like, how am I supposed to get there? If I don't have help? Google is free, So what I did was google how do you write a script? How do you do this? And I just started doing the work myself. Formal education is only part of it, and the rest has to come from you. So when I finished grad school, I'm still in school, like I still take classes in writing classes and creativity like how to unlock your creativity and all the things. And I started indeed, so I'm always going to be someone who does all the things. Unfortunately, it's hard because I'm like looking for that next level of success for myself and I have to get back to that place where I'm like, I know it will come because I'm doing all the things. So that's where I want to live. And I have trouble with it. But I remember that girl who was an assistant on happy Endings and doing all the things, and it's going to happen. Let me just sit here and keep doing what I'm doing. I think I answered your question. I'm not sure I might have got on a tangent. I have a couple of follow up questions for that. So you are doing your part to try to like make that process easier for people with your talent incubator drive. So you are kind of putting some processes out there for people to do the things that you're talking about. Yeah, and that's so much of why I started Tribe, Like I started it in the pandemic by myself, with thirty three writers who I reached out to and said, Hey, are you looking for community in this time when we're all on zoom and America's on fire? Are you looking for community? And I got a resounding yes, And so I started out planning like monthly panels and talks and workshops about hard skills versus soft skills and creativity. And I started it during like production of the final season of Insecure, during a global pandemic, when I was directing my first episode of television. It was very stressful and the best light plans turned into like kind of murky stuff. Like I was like doing these panels but kept changing the dates because my production schedule was changing and all these things, and I was like, this is really hard to run a program by yourself. And luckily, with the renewal of my overall deal at HBO and HBO Max, I got the chance to hire an executive who could help me not only build my slate and help me with the work that I want to make for myself, but also investing in new work and investing time in building new talent. That what tribe is for Tribe is about taking the people who have just entered the boat and still have that ore and are going to row with me and say I want to go in the direction and the speed and the pace at which it is to be successful in this industry. And I said, good, great, let's go. Let's get there together. I believe there's a myth that being a creative is a lonely act, like a lonely creative and you've got to write alone in your house, and your best creativity is found in solitude. And I don't believe that all my best opportunities have come from people sitting right next to me, people who I networked across with, rather than networking up. And I want to build that. I think the only way you build a new industry is by starting with compassionate creatives of color. We've got all the ideas, We're kind, we care about the people as much as the work, and that's what I'm here to build, and that's what Tribe is all about. So can you tell us more about the overall do you know? I think a lot of us here and I'm so excited for y'all when y'all, you know, announced these overall deals, but I don't actually know what that means. So what does it mean to have an overall do only what kinds of projects have you been working on? Is a point of it? Sure so in television, and it happens in features too, and overall deals. Basically, you've been in business in some sense, and it can be small, like you have one project there, you've sold a couple of pitches at a certain company and they recognize that you have a voice or skill set that matches a lot of the work that they do. So you get an overall deal, which means you now kind of are making projects specifically for that place, for that home company, that home studio, that home network, and as a result, you are on salary, so you're paid more regularly than bouncing from show to show to show, so that you can continue to hone projects for them. My first deal, or both both my deals have been with HBO. To me, HBO is like an artist's home, which makes me feel really blessed and fortunate to have a deal there because I sometimes, as an artist, like the things that you're thinking of are very ceffic and you see them a very specific way. And I find that HBO is a place that really supports that and supports my creative process, and so I'm really looking forward to continuing to build with them. I have a few shows in development both at HBO and at HBO Max that I'm just working on and plugging away, and hopefully there will be something that gets seen sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, all I have control of is my ability to produce my content, so I'm doing my best with that. I'm hopeful for the future. I have a lot of stories to tell, and I'm really hopeful for the opportunity to get to tell them. An HBO and HBEL Max, we will be tuned in to make sure we see all of this glory unfood. So you know the other thing that I have been curious about is like what actually happens in a writing room. So you've been in lots of writers rooms. I think probably the one you were in the longest was the Insecure Writers Room? Was that your longest stant as an interneting room? Show? So what actually happens in the writing room? Anywhere from five to fifteen writers sit around a conference table and talk all day and there's not much writing that actually happens in the writer's rooms. A lot of talking, and there's a writer assistant who types everything that the writer says. We come up with story. The showrunner formulates what we're going to be working on that week and the things that we're trying to achieve story wise, a story, B, story, C story, episode one the season arts, character arts, all the things, and we just talk all day and figure it out, and then we start putting it up on a white board, putting notes on the board like some rooms use in nets cards. We use different colors per character, so we'll be Likes the stories and red Molly stories and blue Lawrences and green and we write them up on the board. We figure them out together as a room, and then the writer of a particular episode goes off and takes those beats and turns them into an outline, and then that outline comes back to the room. They get notes, the room altogether rewrites that outline. Then in some rooms the writer then goes off on their own to write the script. But in some rooms, the episode gets the group written and scenes are divided between the writers. They all write, they assemble the script. It comes back to the writer's room. We rewrite that as well, and then once we get that in a place where we like Issa and or Apprentice, will put like a little less like sprinkle of special sauce on it the things that they want. The show runner will do that, and then it goes to the studio and or the network. At HBO, they're the same place, so it just goes straight to HBO and then they give notes, and then it goes back to the writer's room. We rewrite that again, and then it goes to the actors and we have a table read, and then after the table we get more notes, and it goes back to the writer's room and rewrite that again, and then we start shooting it. And then on set sometimes there are questions that come up, and then it goes back to the writer's room. And we rewrite that again and then we keep shooting it. So I don't know, like what happens in a writer's room. Story gets created, Like I mean, I think that's the long and short answer. Story gets created. And like I'm having trouble sort of like describing the process because it's like organized chaos, like we just create. I don't know. That ain't a good answer, No, I mean that that is helpful. So I think I was only the impression that the writer's room read upped before like the actor started shooting. But it sounds like the writer's room can still be active even in the midst of shooting if like something needs to be rewritten. It depends on the show in network, the show is getting shot like filmed shot at the same time that the writer's room is breaking story, so they're still around a lot of streaming and cable shows. The room wraps before you start shooting. Got it? Okay? More from my conversation with Amy after the break, So you did talk about like Insecure kind of being your longest stint in a writer's room. And it's been some time now since we had to say goodbye to get Insecure, and I'm wondering what has that been like for you? Emotionally? I know, as you was in fans of the show, I think a lot of us have to make peace with like saying goodbye to this thing we loved. But you, of course, we're much more intimately acquainted with the show. And so what has it been like for you a couple a month and later saying goodbye to this thing that was so close to you? Well, I will say. The thing I try and remind people is that our goodbyes as the people who work on the show started so much before fans goodbyes, because we as a room broke the episode. We cried. Then, then we wrote the episode and reread it. We cried. Then, then we table read the episode. We cried. Then then we shot the episode. We cried then. And then as an EP I was on post so I saw every single cut of the episode and cried and cried and crowed and cried, and then we did a final mix of the episode with the final music and we cried then. And then it went to air. So by the time it aired, I had already shed all the tears. In fact, what made me cry when I watched the final airing was the documentary that aired right after it. In getting to relive those goodbyes, that's what made me emotional seeing the finale. I had already uh absorbed all of the sad and bitter weak that I could absorb off of that finale from all of the months of creating it with the team, and so I think post all of that and saying goodbye to it in terms of like holistically saying goodbye to it, yeah, it remains difficult, you know, especially as someone who I love being on set. I love it so much. I loved directing on Insecure and later directing on Rap Shit. I love being in the room. I love breaking story with writers, and development is not that. Development is more internal, it's more conversations with producers. It's more like thinking how it could go. And so I've been in development now for almost a year and when we could call it six months since Rap Shit because I directed on Rap Shit in November December. But like, I miss that so much, like being part of the machine that is moving, I miss it so much. That's where I belong. I'm happier when I am in the mix of the machine, so that synergy, that energy making something together with people who understand what you're making all at the same time. And Insecure in particular was very special because like we had so much of the same crew from as far back as like season two, and a few people even from season one who stayed through the whole series, and so we were all saying goodbye, not just to the show and the content the characters, but to each other. And that is something I miss. Building something great with people who understand you're building something great all at the same time. It's a really, really beautiful feeling, and that only comes through time, Like that only comes from making something that lasts more than half a season, which, like let's unfortunately lots of shows get canceled before they get that far. Like when I watched like Quinta Brunson's stories and stuff on Abbot Elementary, I'm like, they get it, you know. I'm like, they are experienced to get now in their first season, how special it is to be making something special that everyone else recognizes as special. They're getting that now. So many shows like that. You see that you're sort of like, Okay, they get it, and I want that again. I know it will never be exactly the same as Insecure, because it really was the first of its kind in so many ways, even though it was also continuing the legacy of many black shows that came before it and many adulting stories that have come before it in its own way, in its own artistic way, thanks to the eye of Momina Matzukas the original mind of Ray and the leadership apprentice Penny. It was one of its kind. So I'll never have that specifically again. But that ability to be in the machine, Oh how deeply I want it back, And I can only cross my fingers and hope because I'm trying so so hard, but it just takes time. Yeah, and I also love that so many of you, it seems like, continue to do projects together. Right, So it sounds like you were able to direct, and I'm sure maybe some of those same people will be working on some of the shows that you are coming up with. Yeah, there's been a lot of insecure cross pollination and lots of different shows, like shout out to Phil Jackson who created Grand Crew, Kiins a young who is an insecure writer who is writing for him, you know, And obviously Serrita Singleton, who is a shower for Rapture got her start on insecure. So there's been a lot of insecure cross pollination and I'm very excited for that to continue for years and years in decades to come. So earlier, you mentioned that you feel like you are trying to like unlock this next level of success for yourself. What does that look like? Like? What are you hoping to grow into doing? Dr Joy? This interview is making me sweat. I'm just gonna be honest, like, I'm like, is this therapy for me dealing with my weaknesses? I'm just like a girl. What does it look like? I'd love to know, Like, what do you want to do? What do I want to do? Number one thing I want to do is change this entire industry from the ground up. And I do believe as I said when I was speaking about Tribe, it starts with investment and can passionate creators of color. And the reason I say compassion is because everybody in this industry has passion for their job or some people passion for power. But come passionate means you care about the people as much as the work. That's what I care about most. That's the type of creator I am. Those are the creators I want to pour into so I want to change this industry and I want my voice on television, But the more important thing to me is to change this industry. I want more people who look like me in the spaces that I get to be a part of. And beyond, when I look at the writers, like there's like a mid level writer problem where there are a lot of lower level writers and a lot of upper level writers of color and not a lot of mid level because people aren't being encouraged to matriculate upwards. People aren't being supported in their failures. And I think we have to support people of color and their failures, just as we support as the industry supports people who don't look like us all the time, Like I have to be given space to fail. And I think what's hard as a creative of color is very often you don't get opportunities until you've proven you've already deserved them, whereas lots of people can bet on a straight white man's potential. And I really hope that if I can keep moving up, I can start betting on other people's potential on their behalf. That's what I want. So beyond that, yes, I want to be a showrunner again. I want to run my own show. I want to run multiple shows. I have it in me, like my brain just operates that way. I can do it. So it excites me. When I think of the idea of running two shows at once, I think people will be like terrified. For me, I'm like, yes, something for my head to do, because I just think of myself. Or I'm like something for my head to do instead of just the admired in doubt. I'm like, the idea of like running multiple shows at once is really exciting to me because not only am I like, yeah, Amy gets to run two shows, but I'm also like, yeah, I get to have two number two who are ready to be show runners, and I get to build them, and I get to mentor them, and I get to pour into them and get them ready to run their own show. That's how deep I believe in mentorship, is that I want to run shows so I can create more show runners. I believe that the reason people are storytellers is because stories can last forever. So I'm in this to be immortal. I want to be immortal, and by doing that, it means that my ways, my methods of telling story, my ways of training the things I believe in the way I operate cannot die with me. I must pour into the next generation to be immortal. So for me, the reason I want multiple shows on air is so that I can create multiple show runners, that they can create multiple shows that are all being led by compassionate people and we actually change this industry. This is a marathon, not a sprint. I got sprint energy and I really want to win now. But I also have to remind myself all the time that this is a marathon and I'm just getting started and secure as the foundation to what I'm going to be tomorrow, and I'm so excited to get there. I hope it hapn't sooner rather than later, But I don't have control over the timeline, just the dream, So I'm focused on the dream. Yeah. Yeah, that that that does sound like an industry that lots of people would love to be a part of and that we as viewers would really get to benefit from. Yeah, because by telling very specific stories, you actually tell universal stories. I think it's easy to believe that hitting the four quadrons like men, women, age eighteen to forty four, children, that that's how you get the most people. But I think by being really authentic to you, you can actually capture more people than trying to service like, quote unquote a mandate. So that's why Awkward Black Girl hits so many people is because its authentic too. It's key creator and then you find your tribe. So that's what it's about. So one of your most recent endeavors is podcasting. So you have kind of stepped into the podcasting space with your co host Great Edwards. You all host the podcast The Antidotes. Will tell me about what it has been like trying out a new medium. Yeah, co hosting The Antidote has been awesome. Grace, we were friendly before Insecure, but we really became like work wives on Insecure and had each other's backs and just like we're really really close. And as Insecure was ending, you know, we saw the light at the end of the tunnel and we're like, ah, we won't get to work together again. Like what happens now? Like how do we find a way to stay connected in a professional sense? And we landed on podcasting because we really wanted something that was regular, that could keep us in contact kind of on a weekly basis, and also because it just development of a podcast moves faster than development of a TV show or a movie. So we were like, we can actually control this, Like we can like say we want to make it, and we're making it tomorrow. So the idea for the antidote even just came from Liga. Everything was going wrong last year and we were like, what's our antidote for this? Like, what's our antidote to this bad news that we're talking about on the phone. Like we'd be like spiraling for like twenty minutes on the phone and be like I need answered doe to this, And then we were like, is that the podcast? Like because the world just keeps getting worse week to week to week, So is the podcast finding ways to cope with that? And in so many ways, Grace is my antidote, and I know I am hers. So getting to collaborate on this podcast and get to be each other's antidotes week to week while also empowering people to discover their own has been really exciting. We really just set out to be funny, to feel connected and to help our guests feel healed and like they're not alone, and I think we're achieving that. I'm really excited about the guests we've had from Tracey Ellis Ross Yes or Leicester to Robin Bede to a Looke is coming up soon. And Tunday Oinen, who's one of the best teleton instructors of all Fun Time and Nigerian shows. He's fam like, our guests are popping and Grace and I have such wonderful energy together that I I am so happy about what we've created and I hope that people are latching on in finding their antidotes right along with us. I love it. So you all had the idea floor a podcast and then the name of it came to you. As you will continue to talk. It was more like we had the idea of a show. We were like, is there a show around having antidotes? I think that was the order was like it was their show, and we were like, how would we ever get this made? And then we're like, let's make it a podcast. So I think we had the idea. If I'm not mistaken, we were coming up with show ideas and then sort of like back channeled into podcast because we were like, that's something that we can control, whereas TV, you know, I'm always going back I'm a control for freak and so I'm always going back to what can I control? What can I control? What can I control? And I can't control the script to screen pipeline, but a podcast is a little easier to control. Mm hmmm. Do you think you might ever toy with the idea of a fictional kind of a podcast. There's such an emphasis now in this indo ture you on I P like having I P before, like selling a show or something. And I love the idea of a podcast serving as i P. I will say, because podcasts are really hard to make, like there are a lot of work to make. Part of me is like let me buy a short story and make that my IP because it just be easier. But I do love a scripted podcast. I really enjoyed Fruit, which wass podcast that she produced, and obviously you know Homecoming or Homegoing Homecoming that was on Amazon. Yeah, that that was the scripted podcast first. So I think I'm more in the market as a producer of looking for scripted podcast that could be the i P that becomes a show. I'm really interested in that right now as opposed to creating my own. Well, where can we stay connected with you, Amy? So we know when all of these shows are coming out and what's your O T Next, what's your website as well as any social media handles you'd like to share? Sure? Yeah, everything is my name. It's a M y A n I O b I on Instagram, Twitter, and the web amyaniobi dot com and at Amyanniobi on everything. And also my company is called super Special. The idea of the name comes from it's the opposite of superficial. Superficial is what people think of Hollywood as. But we're the opposite of that. We're genuine as, we are fully ourselves and it makes us special. So you can find my company at super Special on Twitter and Instagram, and the website is www dot b E super special dot com. I'll just also add and if you are interested in the tribe writing program, information that can be found on our Instagram which is at super special and also on the website www dot b super special dot com. Backslash tribe t R I B E will be should include all of that in the show knows so that nobody misses any of those. Thank you. So we do have a little game we want to play if you have Yeah, yeah, let's do Yeah, let's do it. I want to play. Okay, all right, So this is a quick who said what now? Game from Insecure? So from some of the famous lines from Insecure. So we're gonna read it and then you tell us who said it. Okay, I let's see how I do. I think there's at the beginning, but it all brings together after a while. So help me. I hope I do a good job. Okay. So the first one is, oh, so now y'all want to be woke when it's been in the lawn clock since day one? Well, beat beats. That was okay. I was like, that's gotta besa okay, okay. The second one is, no, we've given white people enough time? Frieda that lost Freda, look at you girl. I was the writer's room. I gotta know this. If I miss one, I'm gonna be bad. Okay. Number three Radio check ain't even got a store no more Kelly. That was Kelly, Yes, okay. And the final one, Yeah, it's like a pre son you know my heart? Okay, Yeah, it's like a free sign you Molly. That's all it was? Okay, good okay, good god, good good good okay, A perfect one. Anything I'd be like, where was I I was daydreaming in the writer's room. No no, no, oh, I'm so happy. Oh my gosh, what. Thank you so much, Amy, this has been such a pleasure. I really appreciate you chatting with us. Thank you, this is awesome. I so stand everything that you are doing. I am such a supporter of Therapy for Black Girls. I actually found my therapist on the website. There are people black girls dot com. So I I am such a supporter. We we all deserve care, self care, mental health check in. So thank you for everything you're doing to spread that, spread that again across our community. I appreciate it. I'm so glad Amy was able to share her expertise with us today. To learn more about her and her work, visit the show notes that Therapy for Black Girls dot Com slash session to seventy four, and don't forget to text two of your girls and tell them to check out the episode right now. If you're looking for a therapist in your area, check out our therapist directory at Therapy for Black Girls dot Com slash directory. And if you want to continue to get into this topic or just be in community with other sisters, come on over and join us in the sister circle. It's our cozy corner of the Internet designed just for black women. You can join us at Community Not Therapy for Black Girls dot com. This episode was produced by Freda Lucas and Elise Ellis and editing was done by Dennis and Bradford. Thank you all so much for joining me again this week. I look forward to continue in this conversation with you all real soon. Take it care

Therapy for Black Girls

The Therapy for Black Girls podcast is a weekly conversation with Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, a license 
Social links
Follow podcast
Recent clips
Browse 473 clip(s)