Opinion
Rae: LA's entertainment scene is significantly slower and flakier than New York's
“I left New York and came to LA, and LA felt so slow to me. Like, LA people will be like, I'm working on a script, and you'll be like, where's the script? And they'll be like, oh, it's coming, I got you. New York, I'm working on the script. Where is it at? It's…”
Insight
Issa Rae: Self-producing and publishing online is viable path to bypass gatekeepers
“Because I had spent all this time trying to write and send my work to either producers, executives, contests, whatever, in an attempt to get it made, to get it seen. And I was either told why there wouldn't be an audience for this particular work, or that, you…”
Insight
Rae: Genuine word-of-mouth drives viewership much more than marketing optimization
“You can do things to amplify that, but if something is good to people, they're gonna talk about it, and that's gonna be the main source of your eyeballs, your support.”
Disclosure
Rae avoids sharing finished scripts immediately to protect her initial confidence
“It is, and you don't want, and even now I feel that way. Like, I don't want it, I don't want any negative energy. I don't want anybody to tell me it's not good, or that it doesn't resonate with them. It's always better when you feel good about it. Like, that m…”
Assertion Supported
Rae raised $60,000 on Kickstarter for 'Awkward Black Girl' in 30 days
“And we asked for 30,000 dollars, and then over 30 days, you know, people almost helped us to raise almost 60.”
Assertion Supported
Pharrell Williams funded Awkward Black Girl's second season through I Am Other
“He had one of those channels and was able to fund our second season via his I Am Other company.”
Insight
Rae: Prioritizing big names over a clear creative vision ruins TV shows
“I was just like, I just want to make a show. I just want to work with these people. And I don't really care about what I'm making. I just want to make with them. That is not, that's not, those aren't the right ingredients to make a good show.”
Insight
Rae: A TV pilot must fundamentally answer 'why today' for its characters
“One of the most common questions you get that I'll, that'll never leave my mind, but in, in pilots, there's always that question of why today? Why are we coming into this show today? And why are we following these characters on this specific day? What is our w…”
Disclosure
Rae self-funded three $50,000 ColorCreative pilots with her entire life savings
“So what if I do this with other writers and produce three pilots for 50,000 dollars each, and I thought I was gonna have money coming in. I was supposed to have money coming in, but it fell through, and I ended up funding it
With everything that I had made at …”
Assertion Supported
Rae: Every original ColorCreative pipeline writer eventually landed television industry work
“All of the writers that came out of that have ended up in television in some way”
Disclosure
Rae is working to build a major production studio in South LA
“Down the line, I want to have a studio in South LA. I want to have sound stages, and I'm working towards that, but the idea is to be one of the biggest entertainment media companies, and expand to global properties, and continue to create content in all forms.”
What-if
Rae: Stanford gave me room to fail creatively that NYU wouldn't have
“I really wanted to go to NYU, and there's no way in my mind that I would have been able to, like, fail, or suck, I'd say, as hard.”
Insight
Rae: Claiming your own awkwardness is a preemptive defense mechanism
“So in a way, it's a defense mechanism to outwardly claim it before someone else claims it about you. And also just be like, look, I know what it is, guys, ok? Just bear with me. I've already said what it is. Like, we've gotten that out the way.”
Issa Rae