I know Shows!

I love scripted series. I love watching shows, breaking them down and falling in love with the characters. Without any official writing title to my name, I’ve become the go-to person amongst friends who need a new line up of shows to watch.

TV head

I binge watched Friends in 1999 (my cable was cut off, but a friend was getting rid of VHS tapes of the show), long before that became the way to chill. I also credit my parents for letting my brother and I be latchkey kids and therefore enjoy unlimited-unsupervised hours of television.

I remember the first time I was fully engulfed in a character. I was watching The Wiz with my brother Carlos and our neighbors Lucille & Donovan. This was not the first time we watched the movie, we had watched it over and over for at least the past six weeks, but before this particular day, we’d just been rehearsing the songs and dances.

Today I was mad. I had told my teacher that I wanted to write novels and he told me that more often than not children do something similar to their parents, because of educational background and social economic status.

Since my parents were blue collar workers, he said I should consider something like administrator or stewardess instead. His eyes lit up on that last suggestion, not realizing he dimmed my light instead.

So I sat in front of the TV with my brother and friends, moody and not rehearsing the songs. I watched Dorothy get upset and pleading for help to find a way home.

That’s when Glinda the Good Witch started singing and I felt like she was talking directly to me. The more she belted, the more tears came running down my face. At that moment, she was real and I believed.

She’s the first character friend that lived in my head.

I’m a believer!

It was 8 am, June 2009 and I heard my neighbors footsteps on the landing. Christina lived on the 3rd floor and I lived on the second. I opened the door and looked at her, she could tell I was distraught. “what episode are you on?” she asked. I flung my arms around her and gave her a tight hug. “Rita is dead!” I know, I know she said, as she patted me on the back.

I binged watched Dexter on Christina’s DVD set. It was season 4, the trinity killer was Dexter’s target. I held on to that horrific scene for 3 days, until my mother told me it’s best to let it go since no one had died in real life.

I also knew John Lithglow would win an Emmy for this role ( I had already given it to him in the imaginary ceremony I hold, before every Emmy award show). The trinity killer had me legit scared to get a drink from the fridge in the middle of the night.

I’ve been mad at Orlando Bloom ever since the movie Troy, cause he was a punk and got everyone killed over that stupid random girl he met. Of course, Orlando never did anything wrong, he just played the hell out of the character Paris.

It kept happening time after time. I had to vent over these fictional characters that stuck with me. They felt like distant family members who I had to defend, protect and help brainstorm how to get the hell out of the situations they would find themselves in.

Why would they feel so real? Why do I feel like I know them? As I was writing my own drama series, I figured it out.

Just like my own characters, the creators of these shows went day and night thinking about the behavioral patterns and interactions of the very cast they were bringing to life. They wrote them so well, they are evoking emotions in myself and many other people.

Seeing this done for characters of color is a new venue. It’s becoming more normal to see a character of color on a show, but often there is no depth in their storyline.

I loved New Girl. I adored Winston, but if anyone ever had to write a spin-off based on the way the character is written on the show, they wouldn’t make the green light cut.

Cause for action!

The last eight years I’ve been working on merging my childhood turned adult favorite pass time into my dream job and started writing scripted series and screenplays of my own.

As an aspiring writer and woman of color, I’ve definitely been one to complain about the shortage of decent characters of the same hue to follow on any network or platform. I was also tired of all the stereotypical roles portrayed and would often stop watching shows when the predictable minority character would irritate me.

Then one day [the moment Issa rooted for everybody black], I realized I could approach this from a more positive angle. No more complaining amongst my friends (I love ranting about scripted characters), no random “Instagram comment war” sessions with complete strangers (why are they SO aggravating?!). Instead, I could express my gratitude for the handful of characters I deeply appreciate being shown in series at this time.

That and an annoying patch of writer’s block is what birthed this blog.

Rooting!

I think there are more people like me out in the world, people that just love a good character. A character that pulls them all the way in and becomes real to them.

I hope they read my blog and enjoy the write-up or even find new interesting characters to watch.

Blogging hopefully helps me tighten up my own projects and one day (soon)bring you characters that have you tuning in, binge-watch, live tweet, hashtag and talk about around the water cooler.

I want to start here, in the most positive way. Rooting :)