Pulling a fast one on studio executives. An alternate reality Justin Bieber. A hugely
successful rapper who never actually raps on his own show. This is the untold truth of Atlanta.
You would be justified in thinking that "Atlanta" was always an easy sell.
After all, Donald Glover was pitching it to FX.
The same Donald Glover who helped define "30 Rock" in its first three seasons,
kept "Community" alive, and had already proven his ability to write whatever he felt like and
spin it into gold. And this was the same FX that had spent the last decade proving its ability to
sniff out great comedies like "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" and "Archer." But, according
to Glover, the only way he could get "Atlanta" past FX execs was to hide it in a Trojan horse.
As Glover told the press backstage at the 2016 Golden Globes,
after "Atlanta" took home two of the awards:
"I told FX the show was something it wasn't
until we got there and then hoped it would be enjoyable."
Glover never specified exactly what shape the Trojan horse took,
but given the popular comedies of the day, it's likely he pitched a "Show About Nothing."
Glover has said that Atlanta was a longtime dream for him and his brother Stephen,
saying that his brother showed him a letter he'd sent home while he was in college that said,
"Yo, I had this dream where we write a show together."
When it came time to pitch the show, Glover made sure that his dream came true,
hiring Stephen as a writer, executive producer, and co-showrunner for the show's entire run.
Since the very first episodes of "Atlanta," Stephen's presence on the writing team has
consistently proven to be more than nepotism on Glover's part. Among many other gems,
Stephen penned the show's hit "Paper Boi" rap as well as season one's acclaimed exploration
into alternate reality, "Nobody Beats the Biebs." He and Glover made the bizarre — and ultimately,
genius — decision to include real-life figure Justin Bieber in the script, cast a Black actor
in the role, and never address it in the episode. As Stephen told Vulture about their choice,
"It's a good idea because it makes you ask yourself questions about the way you perceive
Justin Bieber ... This is something we're never gonna get to see unless we do it ourselves."
Setting it apart from nearly every show on television, "Atlanta" has an
all-Black writing staff. For a show determined to represent Black American lives authentically,
that type of roster is especially impactful. In fact, to anyone outside the industry,
it may seem like a no-brainer. But it's hard to overstate how atypical that decision is in
Hollywood. In recent years, a number of major studies have attempted to highlight the problem
accurately. A famous Color of Change report from 2017 found that during the 2016-2017 season,
65.4% of shows had no Black writers on their staff and another 17.3% had only one.
Equally as damning, the report found that overall, only 4.8% of all employed writers were Black.
So what percent of writers' rooms are entirely Black? A number low enough for examples to make
headlines. That's why Glover's choice to only hire Black writers made such a splash,
and the choice plays an obvious role in generating and maintaining the show's exceptional — and
sometimes uncomfortable — realism. Glover has explained the decision time and again,
not just invoking the sincerity it enables, but also the insight, at one point telling Vulture,
"I wanted to show white people, you don't know everything about Black culture."
"Resistance is a symptom of the way things are, not the way things necessarily should be."
It's no secret that Glover moonlights as a musician — he is, after all,
a five-time Grammy-winning hip-hop artist. But Glover has always been
adamant that his show about a rapper doesn't star himself as that rapper.
"Why not play a rapper? You're a rapper. Go with what you know."
"That would have been wack to me."
He then went on to explain to Colbert how he felt his preexisting fame would undercut the
show's underdog, everyman objectives. Glover wanted his show to not only feel authentic
but explore the meaning of authenticity itself, so casting himself as a poor,
struggling rapper on the streets of Atlanta would have rendered any ambitions of authenticity moot.
As a successful showrunner, however, Glover understands efficiency, so he
does help write the show's music on occasion, like Bieber's "Forget About It All Night Long."
Though "Atlanta" chronicles the potential rise of fictional rapper
Paper Boi instead of the actual rise of real-life rapper Childish Gambino,
the rapper's fingerprints are nonetheless all over the show.
For one thing, the show's score comes from composer Ludwig Göransson,
perhaps best known for winning an Academy Award and Grammy for his "Black Panther" soundtrack,
but who also has produced and acted as multi-instrumentalist on
every one of Childish Gambino's albums. The pair met while both were working on NBC's "Community"
and hit it off due to the quality of Childish Gambino's music, which Göransson has referred
to as "such an inspiration." In addition to Göransson, Glover chose frequent Childish
Gambino music video director Hiro Murai to direct "Atlanta." The director, who filmed the videos for
some of Gambino's biggest hits, including "This is America," had never actually directed TV before,
which Glover found useful. As Glover told Vulture about Murai's unusual background,
"I'm really glad, because when I'd ask him, 'Is this normal for a show?' he'd be like,
'I have no idea, I don't know.' But that's how we made something personal."
In most episodes of "Atlanta," it's clear that many of the characters, if not all of them,
are high. For some, like Darius, it can act as an important facet of their character or
drive their decisions. For others, Like Earn or Van, it is just a fact of life,
a helpful tool for relieving the stress of life as a working parent who wants more. But
the characters of "Atlanta" aren't the only ones taking the edge off — its cast and crew are too.
When interviewed by the New Yorker,
Glover — who was high during the interview — revealed that in the writer's room and on the set,
"We do everything high. The effortless chaos of 'Atlanta' — the moments of enlightenment,
followed by an abrupt return to reality — is definitely shaped by weed."
When Glover ran the scripts for his pilot episode by FX executives,
he was met with a specific pushback that, depending on your experience and outlook,
is either inevitable or unbelievable. Execs told him not to use the N-word in the episode,
and when Glover disputed the constraint, the execs consented to an odd compromise.
"You actually said that?"
"Yeah man I had to."
"Cool."
Glover resorted to bringing in a seasoned executive producer,
Paul Simms, who has gained a reputation among Black creators as a "white translator," helping
explain creators' visions and necessities to execs in a language they can relate to.
Eventually, Glover and Simms won out, and "Atlanta" has since included the word liberally,
in a manner that the cast and crew feel is appropriate and accurate. That doesn't stop
Glover from recalling the linguistic battle with disbelief, telling the New Yorker that:
"I'm Black, making a very Black show, and they're telling me I can't use the
N-word! Only in a world run by white people would that happen."
There are few creative teams that have publicly cited a more diverse set of
inspirations than the team behind "Atlanta." Though perhaps that isn't so surprising,
given Glover's famously multifaceted nature and the fact that neither director Murai
nor most of the writing staff had ever created TV before. The rawness and quirkiness of the
"Atlanta" crew are apparent — not just in their finished product, but in their influences as well.
Murai has cited "Louie" and "Adventure Time" as structural inspirations for the show,
especially how the latter is:
"Very world-based. Sometimes the main characters won't even appear
in an episode and the story will sort of detour with some side character."
Glover told press that Season 2 was inspired by the format of "Tiny Toon Adventures:
How I Spent My Summer Vacation." In his Colbert interview, Glover likened "Atlanta" to "Curb Your
Enthusiasm for rappers" and has also referred to it as "Twin Peaks for rappers." Murai also cited
the Coen brothers' ability to deftly balance multiple tones. Glover has cited the albums of
Kanye West as inspiration, admitting to lining up his seasons as if they were West's releases.
One of the most memorable entries in the "Atlanta" canon — which is saying a lot in a show where Katt
Williams plays an Alligator Man and characters identify as "trans-racial" — is the Season 2
episode "Teddy Perkins." The episode sees Darius trapped in a dimly lit, decrepit mansion with
an unsettling, vaguely threatening old man, apparently born Black but now white due to
an extraordinary amount of plastic surgery. The old man, Perkins, looks just a touch inhuman,
right in the uncanny valley sweet spot. His slow movement and quiet, forced speech bring
the episode as close to an actual horror movie as "Atlanta" had ever ventured up to that point.
"What's in there? Go ahead, walk in."
Perkins was played by Glover himself, who went all in on the role, staying in character as Perkins
for the duration of filming. Actor Derrick Haywood, who played Perkins' elderly brother,
revealed that Perkins' true identity was kept secret, even to fellow actors. He told Vulture:
"I was introduced to him the night before at the fitting,
but I didn't know it was Donald. And obviously, he didn't want you to know."
In 2017, "Atlanta" won the Golden Globe for Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy and Glover
won for Best Actor in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy. Then, at that year's Emmy
Awards, the momentum continued. Glover won Emmys for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
and Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series. The wave of success that "Atlanta" and Glover
were riding in response to their first season was tremendous, and it was also historic.
Glover's win for directing was the first time a Black person had ever won an Emmy for directing
comedy of any kind. And as the Los Angeles Times noted, Glover was the first director to win for
a show in which they acted since Alan Alda won in 1977. Awards were not the only bragging point for
"Atlanta," as its pilot set a new viewership record among basic cable comedies, and it
managed to maintain the majority of its audience throughout its run. When all its ratings success
is combined with the Peabody it received for "its seamless blend of vibrant character study and rich
sociopolitical commentary," it becomes clear that "Atlanta" is more than just your average TV show.
Fans and critics can't get enough of "Atlanta," but its creator can. Despite the series' stellar
fan following, critical reception, and cultural importance, Glover has repeatedly made it clear
that "Atlanta" won't run for long. As early as 2018, he was quoted as saying,
"'Atlanta' won't interest me much longer." FX later made that prediction official,
announcing that Season 4 would be the last for "Atlanta." Glover explained the decision
to reporters with a lengthy paragraph that can be easily boiled down to its opening sentence:
"Death is natural."
As disappointed as many fans had to have been when they heard the news,
those who have followed Glover's career might have expected an early finale. Glover is famous for his
short attention span, which caused him to quickly exit "30 Rock" and last only slightly longer on
"Community." As former costar Danny Pudi recalled, Glover's talent was so obvious that his castmates
knew he would move on almost immediately. It's worth remembering that short attention spans swing
both ways, however, and the same restless drive that causes Glover to end projects can easily
push him to revisit them. As he told reporters shortly after his "death is natural" speech:
"If there's a reason to [come back to 'Atlanta'],
of course ... It always depends. I like keeping my options open."
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