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you have to be unemployed a lot. The shows
I worked on kept getting canceled, so then I
would have to go to staffing season every year
and staffing season is rough. You have to go
and get yourself ready and excited to go and
work on different shows to prove that you
would be the right hire for those shows. I think
everyone goes through staffing season about
six times, that’s probably the greatest challenge
- being able to do that.
world. What’s real is that there are all different
types of women. And this is a woman who
had a very specific perspective and she was
not written to be every Black woman. She isn’t
supposed to represent all of us. She’s supposed
to be a specific character at specific time with
a specific mindset. I think that it’s so frustrating
that there’s so few Black female characters that
women identify with - that they want them to
be everything.
MADE: In your opinion (specifically as an
African-American woman), do you believe
that Black female perspectives are accurately
represented and acknowledged in Hollywood?
MADE: So you’re working to evolve the
different types of stories you tell so all women
are represented?
CK: I would say that all different kinds of
perspectives are not represented fully, but
that’s okay. I happen to be a right-handed
Black woman from Westport, Connecticut, so
that’s what I write (from that perspective). I’m
39 years-old. I’m a Democrat. I am a mom. I
write from that perspective, that doesn’t mean
that I can’t write other kinds of characters,
but I write from that perspective. Not every
Black woman works in Hollywood, therefore,
not every Black female perspective can be
portrayed or represented. I don’t think there
is a single female Black perspective. So I don’t
know how you can represent that. I ask are
there enough Black females making television
shows? No! Are there enough Black charac ters
for Black female actresses to play? No. But
we’re getting there.
MADE: How does the concept of diversifying
ways of portraying black women show up in
the hit STARZ series, Power?
CK: A woman had written to me that because
Ghost and Angela [characters of Power] were
together, that I hated Black women. And, I
am one, and I very proud of that fact. But I
also think that it is so weird to me that people
look at Tasha as a representative of all Black
women. If you remember in the first season of
Power, Tasha was like, “You can’t quit being
a drug dealer, I’m not interested in that! I only
want you to deal drugs.” I don’t know a lot
of Black women who are like that, but what’s
real is that there are people like that in the
CK: I think we’re beyond the time - Thank
God we’re beyond the time - where every
Black character on TV has to be Claire
Huxtable. Because we think that it’s cool and
badass that Tasha has a gun in the back of her
bustier and then Canin comes to the house and
she’s like, “Uh, don’t try it”. Also, that doesn’t
mean that I’m carrying a loaded weapon in
my house with my kids. [Like hello!] Is that the
person that you want to be? [laughs]
MADE: In what way do your characters hit
home on a personal level for you?
CK: Every character on the show definitely
represents all different parts of me. As a writer,
I will tell you - this is a piece of advice every character that you write needs to have
something in common with you. Because when
it’s three in the morning and you’re doing your
rewrite and you’re up against it, you don’t have
someone else to talk to - you have yourself
and your computer. You have to be able to dig
within yourself to find those feelings. So when
I write a scene between Angela and Tasha,
I’m both of them. We have a rule which is that
every character has to be right in a scene. So
on Power, both characters are always right. So,
what that means is that every scene has natural
conflict that the audience is invested in because
both characters are right. In a way we always
just try to make sure that every character
is right. Every scene has natural conflict, as
supposed to giving someone a monologue.
MADE: What habits or routines do you create
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