When you work in a writers room for a showrunner, you serve that story, and you serve that showrunner. I don't think it should be called writing; I think it should be called rendering content. Because you are there to render the content that is agreed upon in the room, and you're serving the voice of the main storyteller, which is the showrunner.
My first time up to bat as a showrunner, what I did was hire an all-Latinx writers room. And it's a diverse Latinx writers room - we have an Afro-Dominican and Texicans and Chileans. It's diverse within its Latinidad.
I think of myself as a producer. As a producer and as a showrunner, I already understand what it meant to gather people into a room and step back, to create the boundaries of 'everything's okay' to allow TV writers to go to their craziest places.
I'm not going to be one of those people who says, 'I'm a showrunner; I'm not a black showrunner.' I'm black when I go to sleep. I'm black when I wake up, period. It doesn't affect my perspective on everything, but at the same time, it's who I am, and I'm proud of it.
A "showrunner" as a position is a relatively new thing. It used to be the executive producer. That's not true anymore. Now it's evolved into this model where people look to showrunners and say, that guy is that show. It's just become a lot more interesting to know the showrunner and to get a sense of that person.
If I weren't a showrunner, I'd be a much more accomplished mother; if I were not a mother, I would be a much more accomplished showrunner. I have to be okay with getting a B in both.
I'm really into 'Veep.' I think that the showrunner Armando Iannucci is a genius.
If you look at any sitcom that you watch, if it takes place in, say, a small town in Massachusetts, and it's about the dynamics of the people in that town, the showrunner probably grew up in a town like that, witnessed things, and created content.
Objectivity is impossible and it is also undesirable. That is, if it were possible it would be undesirable, because if you have any kind of a social aim, if you think history should serve society in some way; should serve the progress of the human race; should serve justice in some way, then it requires that you make your selection on the basis of what you think will advance causes of humanity.
I think, especially with this show [How to Get Away with Murder], we have Viola Davis and Pete Nowalk as the showrunner.
I am a black woman, and I'm proud of that, but as a showrunner, I want to think about what makes me unique beyond my race.
Being a showrunner meant writing and producing a television show, period, but with 'Lost,' suddenly it became part of the job to promote and be the face of the brand. In a weird way, the story was as much the star as any of the actors, so people wanted to hear from us.
I don't think I ever had any relationship with any showrunner, over time, with whom I didn't have conflict.
As any showrunner will tell you, it is crushing work. It is around the clock. It is like a monastic commitment that you make.
I'm a hip-hop showrunner.
To be a showrunner and a director is beyond exhausting.
I think that it's just extremely rare to see any kind of TV show that's completely written by one person, regardless of what any showrunner will tell you.