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" 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. "

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" 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

" What I'm about to say won't be popular, but it's true: If being a television showrunner is the job you want, and you are a woman, I would not suggest you have children. The reality is that you just cannot do both well. "

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

" The only black folks in town when I was growing up were me and my cousins and one other family. "

Courtney A. Kemp

Family

Black

" I had to figure out that finding my place was not about race but about creativity, and connecting with other artists helped me find my voice. "

Courtney A. Kemp

Place

Finding

" I love 'Archer.' That's one of the best-written shows out there. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" I say a prayer several times a day about what I can control and what I can't control. "

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

Courtney A. Kemp

You

Where

" I want to be a strong voice, period. "

" 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. "

" My experience as a black woman in the industry is simply that often I was the only one in the room. Often I would be the only woman and the only person of color. Sometimes I would be one of several women but the only person of color. Sometimes I would be one of several people of color, but the only woman. "

" 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. "

" Around me, there's always music playing. It just calms me down; it soothes me. It helps me write. It helps me with my mood. "

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

" I very much want to write about some elements of my own growing up. "

" Being a writer is great because you get to come up with stuff. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

" There are some aspects of the story of 'Power' that clearly are about race in the sense that any one of us now who's black and was raised in this country was raised with a lie, which is, 'You can never be president.' That's not true. "

" If you wanna be your own boss, you gotta work your way up - have the skills. "

" If everyone knows the role they play, and they do their job - executing it well and with enthusiasm - it comes together successfully every time. "

" 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. "

" The Shawshank Redemption' isn't a movie about a black guy and a white guy who become friends - it's a movie about freedom. At the end, the cathartic experience of seeing our own emotions reflected back to us, that's the purpose of storytelling. "

" 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. "

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