The American Black Film Festival hosted a panel discussion on what it means to be a Television Showrunner on Saturday, at the Hilton Midtown.
Audience members meet the minds behind some of the most popular TV shows and learned about the hard work which goes into keeping the nation entertained on a weekly basis. Guest speakers included industry heavy hitters Janine Sherman-Barrois (Criminal Minds, ER, Third Watch), Mara Brock Akil (Being Mary Jane, The Game, Girlfriends), Salim Akil (Being Mary Jane, The Game), and Chris Spencer (Executive Producer & Co Creator of Real Husbands of Hollywood). Audience members learned about the duties it entails to be a showrunner, career strategies taken to become one, parameters of creative control and freedom it affords, and what running a writers room looks like. Check out our coverage of the Q & A moderated by Alfred A. Edmond, SVP Executive Editor at Large, Black Enterprise.
Q: When you became a show runner, when did that happen and when did that come to you?
Chris: I was a world renowned actor. As an actor we’re out there auditioning and trying to impress people. There’s auditions and you’re trying to get people to like you. You’re trying to get work and they stopped liking me. I’ve done a lot of work with the Wayan’s and Keenan was always telling us you need to create your own way. So I started doing a lot of writing for other comedians, whether it be for their standup specials, whether they hosted an award show. Whether it’d be Kevin Hart, Mike Epps or Chris Rock, I was always one of the guys they’d call upon to start writing. So I was fortunate that when I was writing for Kevin Hart for the 2012 BET Awards. I came up with this little sketch called The Real Husbands of Hollywood. It took off. It went viral. People took that little itty bitty sketch and sent it to all their friends, creating fake Facebook accounts and fake twitter accounts. There were petitions “we got to get this show on TV’ and people were demanding we get this show on TV. So then when it sold I became a creator.
Mara: I just knew I wanted control of the story and I found out later the name of that person was called the showrunner. And I was fortunate enough to be a PA and watch my mentors Ralph Farquhar and Michael Weithorn. When I saw who they were, then I knew what I was supposed to do and marched towards that. It’s funny that Janine is sitting here. One, she was an integral part to my transition from being a production assistant- which is an entry-level role. I was at the bottom of the totem pole, a stage PA. Janine was Ralph’s assistant when I was a writer. How I even made the leap was Janine and Ralph assistants- he had a couple of assistants. They were the advocates really for me, they were putting my script in front of Ralph and when I got 3 seconds with Ralph I was able to pitch myself as a writer for South Central. When I saw South Central, I knew that was the kind of TV show I knew I wanted to write and be a part of.
I just want to publically thank you Janine. I had help is what I’m trying to say. Gina Prince-Bythewood was sitting at that table, Kathleen McGhee-Anderson, Michael Weithorn, Ralph Farquhar and Gary Hardwick. They were all sitting at that table and Janine was right across the way. So we were all doing it together, having each other’s back and even Traci Blackwell, who was a PA for South Central. Traci Blackwell is an executive at The CW. She was also an assistant to Tom Nunan who was at UPN. Kelly Edwards was an assistant too. Kelly Edwards is now an executive at The CW as well. My point is the advocacy for me came from not necessarily higher ups, it was people on the ground-my friends, my peers who wanted the same thing I wanted helping me to get Ralph’s attention.
Q: Salim you started out as a film producer and writer and transitioned into this idea of a showrunner. Was that integral? Did you try to make the next step to that which seemed logical?
Salim: I made a film that got into Sundance and after Sundance, Showtime reached out to me and ask me what I wanted to do next.
Q: If they hadn’t called did you know what you wanted to do next?
Salim: Yes, I was going to make another film but I was broke. So when Showtime called and asked what I wanted to do next, I had something. They liked it and I was going to produce it and John Singleton was going to direct it. That never happened but they said look we have this show that we’re about to do called Soul Food. They asked me if I’d go in and interview for a writing position and I did. Felicia D. Henderson, was a showrunner. I started as a staff writer position, Felicia became my mentor. She asked me after the first season what I wanted to do. I said I want to direct next season and she laughed. But sure enough as a story editor, I ended up directing 2 episodes and then Felicia left in the third year. She asked me what I wanted to do and I said I want to run the show, you’re not running, I want to run the show. She was an advocate in me running the show and I ended up running it. That’s how I got into it.
Q: Janine, tell us about your start as a showrunner?
Watching Gina Prince-Bythewood, Mara Brock Akil and Kathleen McGhee-Anderson, I said this is what I want to do. I want to do what Ralph Farquhar is doing. I didn’t get a break on South Central in terms of a writing break but from that job I got a break to assist other people and eventually got into the Warner Brothers Program. Warner Brothers has a writing program that finds Talent. I was in that program from there I got staffed on Lush Life, the show from Yvette Lee Bowser. That was when she was doing Living Single. That only lasted about 6 episodes. Then I got hired onto Jamie Foxx. I did that for 2-3 years. After Jamie Foxx, I got hired on The PJs which I did for a couple of years. Then I wrote a movie that got the attention of John Wells, who is one of televisions dramatic producers. He was doing ER, Third Watch and West Wing at the time and he hired me. That was sort of my first big big break of advocacy. I spent the next 5 years on Third Watch, the next 4 years writing up to executive producer on ER. My former boss who created Third Watch, hired me as an executive producer on Criminal Minds. It is advocacy of people who have seen your work fight for you because you need mentors.
-Yanique Bourjolly
