ME:  Maiya, you’ve written for sitcoms, sketch shows, and now a talk show.  How do the writers rooms, and their writing processes, work differently on these different types of shows?

MAIYA:  When you’re on a sitcom, the show is usually the point of view of the executive producer.  [They want different writers with different voices], but it is definitely a point of view everyone has to match.  So you write in room full of people, where everyone pitches, [and the show] has everyone’s voices, but [it mostly] has the voice of the show. 

On a show like “MadTV,” they want to have everyone’s sensibility in the sketches.  Some people like politics, some people like gross-out humor, some people like silliness.  [And since] they want the show to have many different points of view… they prefer people write alone, or with one other person, so they have [different sketches] to choose from. 

There was rarely a room on “MadTV,” but sometimes—if there was a guest or a sketch that no one pitched, but was assigned—they would assign it to three people.  “You people peel off and write this sketch”… but it was rare anything was worked on by the whole staff.  We had twelve people on staff, and that’s a lot of voices for [a single] sketch, but not for a sitcom.  In fact, I can’t remember one time we [all worked] on something.  When the show was being shot, people might suggest a joke to throw in, but that was the only time other people might work on your sketch, if people were watching and something just popped into their head.

On a show like “The Wanda Sykes Show,” where there’s one person’s point of view—and since none of us is Wanda—she’s the only one with her point of view.  But we try to match it as much as possible.  We don’t write together because they want volume.  Rather than having seven people come up with ten jokes, they want seven people to come up with seventy jokes in the same amount of time.

ME:  The WGA recently released a report saying there was “little if any” improvement in employment for diversity and minority writers.  But it seems like every studio has a diversity writers program, agents say they’re all looking for diversity writers, and every show wants diversity writers and minorities.   So is Hollywood a better place for minority writers, including women?  Is it harder, easier, or the same for diverse writers to find a job?

MAIYA:  It’s a complicated question because there are many things at work. 

No, it is not good for minorities, despite the fact of diversity programs. 

Diversity programs bring people in, and attract brand new writers, and put them on shows at the lowest level of writer, but a lot of times these people don’t graduate to higher levels.  [In theory, these] diversity programs are trying to get more minorities [hired, so they eventually get to] positions of leadership and executive producer positions.  [But since these low-level writers don’t always graduate, they almost never get to those higher levels.]

The secondary problem, and the reason that’s an issue, is that minorities get pigeon-holed in Hollywood, especially in sitcoms.

As a minority writer, I work mainly on black shows; only once have I worked on a show with no black actors.  I went to Harvard, majored in history and literature, and I always thought my sensibility would be a show like “Frasier.”  But I always end up on hip-hop shows, where I have to do a lot of research.  But that doesn’t matter, because I’m black… and that’s a black show. 

I’ve made a good career writing for black shows, but black shows have become “ghetto-ized.”  In the 1970’s, you didn’t have two nights of black shows.  [All the black shows were] just on FOX, which was a lesser network.  Then they were on the WB… and then on UPN and the CW, which were even lesser networks than FOX.  As networks start up, they start up with black shows.  But as they get a bit of success, they drop those shows because they’re so specific.

Nowadays, it’s difficult to find a black show on television.  I can only speak from the perspective of a black writer, but—from the point of view of a black writer—when there are fewer black shows, there are fewer black writers working.

ME:  What advice would you have for young minority writers trying to break in?

MAIYA:  My advice, if you’re just starting out:  Write for hour-long shows, which seem to be a little more color-blind.  They have black actors without being black shows, so your resume will have a richness to it and you won’t get pigeon-holed.  If you have a sense of humor, there are some funny hour-long shows.  So even though sitcoms are coming back, unless you want to be pigeon-holed, write for hour-long shows first.

Monday, November 23, 2009 9:38:50 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [2]