Issa Rae and Promoting Diversity in the Industry

Falling in love with shows like 30 Rock and the Office and obviously Curb and feeling like these shows are so funny, but they're so like, where are the black people at? When you started your web series Awkward Black Girl and decided to put that out on YouTube, what inspired that? What sort of was the turning point for you to say, I want to do this? I was trying to break into the industry just via contest, just trying to meet people, networking, which I suck at, and just writing spec scripts, just a traditional way. But I always thought about how creating this web series really just, like, I had access to an audience, and I didn't have to be told yes or no, or your script is this or that or change this and that, and at the same time, simultaneously was watching a lot of television and recognizing what I didn't see. Falling in love with shows like 30 Rock and the Office, and obviously Curb and feeling like, these shows are so funny, but they're so like, where are the black people at? Where are the people of color? And why is the humor so segregated? It feels like every time a black character is introduced, one the race has to be acknowledged in a way where it's like, oh, this is. Black people do this, and white people do this, and it's like, okay, that's 90s humor. The representation that we had on screen, especially for black women, was just, you know, mostly in reality television. And so when I came up with the idea for Awkward Black Girl, it was just of a, you know, where do I fit in? Where does my type of humor fit in? And how can I create a character that exists in these types of shows that I love so much? And it also represents who I am as a black woman. And that was sort of the basis for the creation of that show. And then, of course, online creation is just taking the television world by storm. People are mining the Internet for new talent. And even agents and managers now will be like. In general meetings, the first thing they'll ask is be like, where can I see your work? Because there's really no excuse not to create anymore. And whereas before, it was like, you know, you do a spec script, you write an original pilot, and that's how you get a sense of your voice now. Everything is just so. So visual now because a lot of people are making their work on their own terms. So many mainstream audiences are tired of seeing the same. Same stories play out with the same groups of people. And that's helpful as well, because again, audiences speaking out, they're the ones who determine they're the ones who give the ad dollars and who dictate what's popular. If you could look back, knowing what you know today, look back and tell you know, the 12 or 15 year old self something that would be helpful or inspiring to get to where you are. Do you have any messages for her? The primary words would be chill the fuck out.