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" 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

Time

Black

Growing Up

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

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

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

" When human beings say they have power, it always makes me laugh a little bit. "

Courtney A. Kemp

Power

Always

" The impetus for 'Power' was me writing about my dad, who was an advertising executive and very interested in image. He thought that perception was reality and what people thought of you was what was real about you. "

" 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 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" I thought I was going to be a professor; then I ran screaming from there into magazine journalism. "

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

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

" I am tired of people using 'diverse' to mean 'of color.' That's not what that word means. 'Diversity' means people of all different races, all together - like a New York City subway. "

" I called my show 'Power' because, for me, the whole series is about the way my main character, Ghost, is power-less over his circumstances, even though he has almost endless access to money and guns. "

" If you are other, you don't think twice about hiring people who are other. "

" I love Pusha T and The Clipse. "

Courtney A. Kemp

Love

I Love

" My dad and his sister, who is no longer with us, used to dance on the streets for money. They had nothing. "

" Wherever I go, stuff accumulates. "

Courtney A. Kemp

Wherever

Stuff

" There's this idea that you can have it all, but in my opinion, you can't - not if you're a perfectionist. "

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

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

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

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

" '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. "

" 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. "