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" There's a difference between talent and skill. You might have writing talent, but skill is learned. You have to practice. I remain teachable. I was sure that I didn't know everything. People who work with me will tell you I don't think I know everything. I watch people sink around me thinking that they knew everything. "

Courtney A. Kemp

Work

Writing

People

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

" 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

" I want to tell more stories about lying, dual lives, self-deception - those are my favorites. "

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

" 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. "

" Wherever I go, stuff accumulates. "

Courtney A. Kemp

Wherever

Stuff

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

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

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" If I weren't a showrunner, I'd be a much more accomplished mother; if I were not a mother, I would be a much more accomplished showrunner. I have to be okay with getting a B in both. "

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

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

" 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.' "

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

Courtney A. Kemp

Family

Black

" Knowing what I don't know helps me every day. "

" 50 and I are extremely close, so all that social media drama? It's just for the show. "

" 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. "

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

" Humans are powerless, and even in our exercise of free will, either the Universe is gonna get down with your plan, or it isn't. "

" 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. "

" 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. "