Home
Authors
Tags
App
Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App
" I always ask the actors, 'What have you never done before?' "
Courtney A. Kemp
Never
You
Ask
Related Quotes:
" Being a showrunner is doing a bit of everything. It's not just writing. It's also management: managing actors, managing producers, managing a crew, being kind to people, being a good boss, observing deadlines. "
Courtney A. Kemp
People
Management
Good
" God is in control of everything. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Control
Everything
God
" When I watch television, I want to be surprised. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Television
Want
Surprised
" Wherever I go, stuff accumulates. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Go
Wherever
Stuff
" I say a prayer several times a day about what I can control and what I can't control. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Control
Prayer
I Can
" When you pretend to be an authority on everything, it forces your subordinates to defer to your opinion - which may not be the most informed in the room. If you have humility concerning the gaps in your experience or ability, it allows others to shine. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Experience
Opinion
Humility
" It was not something that ever occurred to me, to be able to be in TV. I was very lucky. "
Courtney A. Kemp
TV
Lucky
Me
" I'm seeing more and more people of color do what I do as showrunners, and that's so great. I would love to get to the point where we don't have to talk about it anymore. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Love
Seeing
People
" My dad was very, very invested in image. He felt that as a black person, the thing you could control was how did you look, how did you dress, how did you sound, how did you smell, how did you act. All of that stuff that you could control would absolutely have a strong impact on your access. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Impact
Black
Control
" The baseline character in a lot of Western literature is a man. So we, as women, do a lot of suspending of our disbelief to experience a novel or a play or a movie through that male character. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Women
Character
Play
" New York is the center of the world. I grew up in Connecticut, outside of the city, and my father commuted to the city for work. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Father
New York
World
" Not many people get to create a television show that actually makes it on the air. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Air
Television
Show
" I want to be a strong voice, period. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Strong
Voice
Want
" If you look at the back pages of 'New York Times Magazine,' and they talk about these 6.5-million-dollar condos with a great view, like you're going to pay for a great view. Well, the top floor of the projects have a great view, too. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Back
Great
Look
" When it comes to power as it functions between humans, it all comes down to desire. If you know what someone wants, you can control them. It is as simple as that. And the reverse is also true: If you have control over your own desires, no one will ever own you. As humans, we are plagued with desire - it consumes us, it fuels us, it destroys us. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Power
True
You
" As a writer of fiction, you don't ever want to limit the characters you create to the life you've lived. That's insanity to me. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Life
Limit
Me
" I am not going to say that only people of color can write people of color, because that means only white people can write white people, and that's not OK. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Going
Color
White
" Knowing what I don't know helps me every day. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Knowing
Know
Every Day
" Great partnerships thrive because the people need each other. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Thrive
Great
Partnerships
" I think television is about the characters you want to see again, and so you want to invite these people into your home. And certainly, seeing them get into bad situations and then watching them have to get themselves out, that's always super satisfying. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Television
Home
You
" In college, I didn't know whether to hang out with the black kids or the white kids, and then I found the theatre kids, and I was like, 'Oh, it doesn't matter.' We were all weird and listening to Morrissey and wearing Doc Martens so that was my tribe. "
Courtney A. Kemp
College
Listening
Theatre
" The story always leads you where it's supposed to go. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Go
You
Where
" When I first arrived in Los Angeles from New York in 2004 to try to break into television, I couldn't believe how segregated it was - how many neighborhoods were nearly all-white or all-black or -Asian or -Latino. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Try
New York
New
" I think women judge other women more harshly, always, which is a shame. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Judge
Shame
More
" I don't want to be seen in a way where all I can do is what people expect of me. "
Courtney A. Kemp
People
I Can
Want
" I remember watching episodes of 'The Sopranos' and being filled with dread knowing what was coming or anticipating what was coming. I don't think that that's always a bad thing. I think sometimes the audience needs a little catharsis held away from them. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Think
Remember
Sometimes
" 50 and I are extremely close, so all that social media drama? It's just for the show. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Social Media
Social
Show
" Show-running is a very difficult job that includes so many responsibilities; I'm working with the actors, working with directors, writing, making decisions like, 'What fabric is that sofa gonna be?' "
Courtney A. Kemp
Like
Difficult
Job
" 'Power' would never have gotten on the air if the folks at Starz weren't saying to themselves, 'This is an underserved audience.' It was a financial decision, not a benevolent decision based on a need to change the industry. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Saying
Change
Decision
" I thought I was going to be a professor; then I ran screaming from there into magazine journalism. "
Courtney A. Kemp
Magazine
Thought
Journalism