From the artist...
Because 2020 is the best show ever written, I’ll use it to highlight my experiences and multi-cultural sensibilities.
I spent the last weeks of 2019 writing a comedy feature. Having spent most of that year battling depression, I was trying to write my way out of it. I entered the new year working on a rewrite, as well as a new comedy pilot. I was optimistic, determined and prepared for some wins.
Then Covid-19 hit.
I didn’t fear the illness as I successfully battled the flu. And quite frankly, the only thing that scared me more than finding a lump in my breast was the surgery to have it removed. It’s felt much easier to keep something from getting into my body than to having to get something out. Certainly, I could wear a mask and wash my hands.
Then outside closed.
I was relieved at first. I was scheduled for three weddings and a baby shower that I didn’t want to attend, all before June. Now I had time to write with no interruptions. But the walls started closing in. It was a familiar feeling. Around 2010, during my first stint in Los Angeles, I had a bachelor apartment in Hollywood. I only left home for necessities. I had no car and no money, and it was too hot to run through tourists on Hollywood Blvd chasing the metro. LA residents spend roughly $75 every time they leave the house. I made up that statistic but you get it. My studio apartment went from being a refuge to feeling like a prison.
Then the economy crashed.
I’ve been through that as well. I graduated from college into a recession. As an actor, I’ve learned to live below my means. Freelancing is a skillset I mastered in Atlanta, when I pursued survival jobs that were reliable and flexible. In 2014 it was substitute teaching. By 2015, I was working as a stand-in. In 2016, I founded a social media management company. I could make money as long as I had wifi. In 2017, I returned to Los Angeles with a roster of clients. For the brands I represent, the nationwide lockdown turned me into an essential worker. I don’t make as much as the folks on Only Fans but I get to keep my clothes on.
Then both the George Floyd and Amy Cooper videos surfaced on the same day.
Overnight the world was forced to deal with something that has suffocated black people for more than 400 years: racism. I’ve endured microaggressions like having women clutch their purses when I walk by, not having the door held for me in my apartment building by whites and Asians, granting requests to be more urban during auditions, and my favorite, taking the notes that my writing sounds too much like Insecure or Atlanta because that’s the only experience the reader has with black shows. So now I get to protest for equal rights. Again.
And I get to do it all in a mask, which makes me look like a threat.
Meanwhile, corporations offer apologies, cities are painting streets yellow, and all I’d really like to know is when did black pain become the new currency? Where was this ‘support’ when countless black people were murdered on and off camera? What will Hollywood do to tell more authentic stories that not only shape the perception of blacks in the public, but also employ us in rooms where 67% of shows have no black writers at all? I did not make up that statistic.
The sudden interest in my work may be fueled by this moment in time. But my perspective and sensibility have always been needed. Black women are simultaneously the most lucrative and underserved demographics in entertainment. My entire existence has prepared me for this. So I’m here, ready, vulnerable, and generous. Because in reality, 2020 has taught me nothing at all.
Everybody else is just late to the party.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theactorslounge/supportGeorge Ketsios- Gives Insight On The Commercial Casting Process
Anthony Alabi- Walked Away From A Two Year NFL Contract To Pursue His Dreams Of Becoming An Actor
Kelcy Griffin- Shares The Key Factors That Have Helped Her Book More Work
Evan Joelle- Talks How He Tapped Into The Role Of A Pimp In His First Feature Film, The Broken Rose
Carrie Olsen- How She Turned Her Love For Voiceover Into A Full Time Career
Lilia Luciano- The Other Side of Filmmaking With A Documentary Film Director & Investigative Journalist
Anjelika Washington- Booked Her First Series Regular Role With Zero Credits
Mike Dopud- Talks Working His Way Up In The Business, Starting Off As A Stuntman/Background Actor To Eventaully Becoming A Series Regular
Jane Drake Brody- Master Teacher, Coach & Author, Talks About The Art Of Acting & The Business Of Acting
Erica Page- After Quitting Her Job & Surrendering 100% To God, She Began To Book Consistently & Eventually Booked 2 Series Regular Roles
Tiffany Daniels- After Booking Her First Speaking Role She Booked 12 More Back To Back.
Marquita Goings- How Finding The Right Acting Coach Took Her Career To The Next Level
Lana Young- Becoming A Successful Actress After Starting Her Career At Age 33
Nicole Collins- How A Lack Of Auditions Pushed Her To Create Her Own Content
Anais Lee- Talks Her Role In "The Sun Is Also A Star" & Working With Yara Shahidi
Ciera Payton- Talks Booking A Lead Role Opposite Steven Seagal While Still Being A Student, Working With Tyler Perry & How Growing Up In New Orleans Shaped Her
Behzad Dabu- How He Turned A Smaller Role Into A Bigger Role On How To Get Away With Murder
Christine Horn- Becoming A Booking Magnet, Lessons From Her New Book, "Playing Small: The Actor's Guide To Becoming A Booking Magnet"
Sheena Faust- Actress, Writer, Director, Producer & Creator of The Web Series "Why Am I Still Single?"
Tia Link- She Quit Her Job As A Lawyer To Become A Full Time Actress
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Cinema: A to B
I Finally Watched...
Star Wars Escape Pod
Pod Meets World
Kill James Bond!