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" I always like to write myself into a corner. I think the best stuff comes from only having a few ways out. "

Courtney A. Kemp

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" The story always leads you where it's supposed to go. "

Courtney A. Kemp

" In 2011, when my father passed away - I had my daughter first; I had her on January 24, and I had a seizure during the delivery. I lived through that, and five weeks later, my father died suddenly of a heart attack, and I lived through that. And then my daughter had surgery, and I lived through that. "

Courtney A. Kemp

" '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

" My parents were 30 years older than I was, and my parents had my brother and I ten years apart. My parents grew up in segregation, and they both lived in all-black neighborhoods and grew up with large black families. I didn't have any of that, and I didn't understand feeling so differently and being treated so differently. "

Courtney A. Kemp

" 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

" 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

" I had very much wanted to be the very first black female editor-in-chief of 'Vogue.' Barring that, I wanted to work at 'Entertainment Weekly.' "

Courtney A. Kemp

" 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

" Every writer should be able to write anything if you do the research and you're sensitive enough to ask the questions. "

Courtney A. Kemp

" There's hip-hop music in 'Power,' but the show is not about the hip-hop industry. "

Courtney A. Kemp

" 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

" I'm from an upper-middle class background. But because there was no one of my race where I grew up, I was very isolated. I felt different from everybody else. "

Courtney A. Kemp

" We use the word 'urban' to mean black or Latino, but that's not what the word means. It actually means 'from the city.' I'm not from the city. I'm from the suburbs of Connecticut. I grew up with mostly all white people. "

Courtney A. Kemp

" I'd say it's far more challenging to be female and be a showrunner. People are not surprised to see a black person running this show, but the female aspect is the thing that I get asked about. "

Courtney A. Kemp

" It... does... not... have... to... be... pointed out all the time. Like, 'Isn't it great that you're black, and you're a woman?' Isn't it great that the show's good? I would just love for it not to be a thing - for it just to be, like, super norm. "

Courtney A. Kemp

" I think as long as I can tell you a story about people that you understand, it doesn't matter if you don't like what they do; you understand why they did it. "

Courtney A. Kemp

" Obviously I'm not from 50's background - I'm from Westport, Connecticut, which is as far away from his background as you can get, right? Growing up in Westport, for a long time I was the only black person living there for miles. "

Courtney A. Kemp

" There are so many different things that create an alchemy of success. Just like there are so many different things that create an alchemy of a failure. "

Courtney A. Kemp

" Not many people get to create a television show that actually makes it on the air. "

Courtney A. Kemp

" God is in control of everything. "

Courtney A. Kemp

" Writers are, for the most part, crazy people. We're like Hephaestus of the forge. We're gnarled. We're curled over. We walk with a limp. "

Courtney A. Kemp

" 50 Cent and I really started to bond over our love for music. The first conversations we had were about Curtis Mayfield. "

Courtney A. Kemp

" When I watch television, I want to be surprised. "

Courtney A. Kemp

" 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

" When I'm at work, I want to be with my daughter, and when I'm with my daughter, I probably should be working, and it just is what it is. "

Courtney A. Kemp

" Ultimately, at the end of the day, taking a chance on 'Power' is taking a chance on me. "

Courtney A. Kemp

" It's ridiculous that we let broadcast and cable shows compete against each other at the Emmys. They are not the same animal. "

Courtney A. Kemp

" When I was pitching 'Power,' I had an executive say, 'Well, I already have a black show.' He said that right to my face. "

Courtney A. Kemp

" 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

" You don't keep your job if you don't make a great show. "

Courtney A. Kemp