Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App

" '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. "

Related Quotes:

" The revolution is that we can be anything. We don't have to be one thing or the other. The idea that it is my responsibility to represent only good black people... I mean, what are you talking about? That's not a character - that's a polemic. "

Courtney A. Kemp

Responsibility

Character

Good

" 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. "

" I think women judge other women more harshly, always, which is a shame. "

Courtney A. Kemp

Judge

Shame

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

" When people watch 'Power' and they find out the showrunner is black, it's not surprising. What is surprising is that I am a woman and my background is not particularly urban. "

" 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. "

" When I was a little girl, my imagination was what helped me deal with some sort of negative elements in my childhood. "

Courtney A. Kemp

Imagination

Girl

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

" I don't want to be seen in a way where all I can do is what people expect of me. "

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

" 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. "

" 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. "

" I worked at 'Mademoiselle,' and then it shut, and I worked at 'GQ' for three years, during which I was freelancing. I wrote for 'Vibe.' I did music reviews. I wrote for 'Time Out.' I was desperate to get into 'Entertainment Weekly' or 'New York Magazine.' Like, desperate. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" Great power is setting a goal, working hard for it, and achieving it in exactly the way you expected with no consequences and no remainders after the long division is done. But does that happen to anyone? The unexpected always hitches a ride along with everything you planned. "

" Wherever I go, stuff accumulates. "

Courtney A. Kemp

Wherever

Stuff

" There's always going to be a part of me that wants an Emmy. Truthfully, I'm probably more motivated by people being entertained. I'm more motivated by people being like, 'Oh snap! Did you see that?' "

Courtney A. Kemp

People

" 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. "

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

" People are realizing that there is a financial consequence to not opening doors. It doesn't mean that they are any more inclusive in their hearts - it means they're more inclusive in their wallets. "

" 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. "

" I knew I wanted to write professionally and get paid. "

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

" I love Pusha T and The Clipse. "

Courtney A. Kemp

Love

I Love

" 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. "

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

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

" When you write a show, every character is you to some extent. "

" The show runner's the boss until the network shows up. And then they're the boss, because it's their money. "