TMCnet News
G2: 'TV will be the poor cousin': Issa Rae started out making fun of herself online, and now she's got US TV sewn up. But the internet is still where it's at, she tells Bim Adewunmi(Guardian (UK) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Issa Rae remembers when she first realised she was "awkward and black". "I had gone to New York after college to work at the public theatre and I was trying to break into the film industry," she says. "I had to go to all these networking events, but I'm terribly shy and I was just frustrated with the scene. I was writing in my journal and that's when it came to me; like, lightning struck: "This is what's wrong with you - this is your issue!" She recognised an identity - something she could sell as branded T-shirts, perhaps - and put it on Facebook, where a friend commented on how those were "the worst two things anyone can be, and I remember laughing and being like, 'What?'" Rae pauses, before adding, sotto voce, "bitch?" and laughing again. "But it ended up working out, and we used that in the first episode." That first episode of The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl (Awkward Black Girl or ABG for short) aired in 2011, and was just the beginning for Issa Rae, 29. The three-and-a-half minute video has had more than a million hits on YouTube, spawned a web series, and helped catch the eye of super-producer Pharrell, who hosted the show's second season on his I Am OTHER channel. Not bad for what was supposed to be a quick advert for a T-shirt line. When did she realise that the show was bigger than just a possible advertising tool? "Right away. It started spreading on social networks and then just increased exponentially." For their second season, they launched a Kickstarter appeal, looking to raise $30,000 (pounds 18,000) - and received almost double that figure. "I was like, 'Wow, this is something people are actually willing to pay money for.' It blew my mind." Since then, Rae has been a whirlwind of creativity, firing out new series, comedy clips and arch commentaries on explicit hip-hop - Ratchetpiece Theatre, The "F" Word, The Choir, Black & Sexy TV's Roomieloverfriends - at an almost terrifying speed. She writes, produces, directs and acts. It's no wonder, then, that when the lack of a black female cast member on Saturday Night Live became an issue last year, her legions of fans were quick to nominate her for the gig. "You know, people were fighting really hard," she says. "And I'm like, 'Guys, no. This is not . . . ' She mimes a "stand down" hand gesture. "I would not be appropriate for this." The show finally hired Sasheer Zamata in January - the first black woman in the cast since Maya Rudolph in 2007. "Sasheer is perfect for it," Rae says. "I met her and saw her in a show at South By Southwest. She just kills the game." Rae might not have seen herself on SNL, but it's only a matter of time before the web star moves into TV. She was asked to develop a script for ABC with Shondaland, the production company run by Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers, and is now working on a show called Non-Prophet for HBO with Larry Wilmore, who created The Bernie Mac Show. Is TV still superior, then, with YouTube the poor cousin? "Not at all," she says. "I think that the two mediums are merging, and one is scared of the other, and maybe doesn't understand the other." She has a lot to say about the current TV model. "The consumer is demanding what they want to see, and YouTube is prepared for that in a way that TV is not yet. If anything, I think that television will become the poor cousin. YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu . . . these are all digital networks to me. Those are the now and the future." And, Rae reckons, web series aren't going anywhere soon. "I see them as a calling card," she says. "One network executive was saying she asks all new writers now, 'Where can I see your work online?' A lot of corporations are buying multi-channel networks that are looking for web series. It's not over yet, but I think people are less forgiving - they expect you to just come out the gate swinging with high production values and great content." As a sort of fairy godmother of web series, what are her rules for creating the stuff people want to watch? "Raw authenticity is really important. I think that networks tend to filter and, even with cable networks, you have to fit within a certain brand. With online comedy, people are looking for something spontaneous. They want to be able to laugh in less than a minute." It's easy to see the need to hook the audience straightaway when an online episode is only about 10 to 15 minutes. But even that's not set in stone: ABG's season one finale was 25 minutes long, partly due to viewer demand. While she may no longer be the shy, awkward girl she was in 2011, Issa Rae still wants to get into film (directing a Stevie Wonder biopic would be her dream gig) and help to revolutionise the current models for distribution. "Diversity is still a huge issue. We need more people of colour in positions of power to greenlight content," she says. "If you want to see content of colour, then it has to be in the hands of people of colour." To that end, her Issa Rae Presents YouTube channel is playing host to a new series written by and starring Jahmela Biggs called First that "chronicles a couple's firsts: first kiss, first love, from childhood to adulthood". It premiered to good reviews last week. Oh, and she's playing Nina Simone in a biopic of the playwright Lorraine Hansberry. It's a lot of pressure, but she's not worried. "I only got where I am by being myself," she says with a shrug. Captions: 'Raw authenticity is really important' . . . Issa Rae in The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl on stage (c) 2014 Guardian Newspapers Limited. |