My advice to aspiring writers is just focus on dialogue.
This is just an easy job to do.
[LAUGHTER]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
We were in the room together all day.
Which I think leads to a more productive room quite honestly.
There aren't breaks where people go off and disappear for hours.
Like it was the first time that we didn't have offices
to retreat to, so we were in the room all day,
and I think it led to a more productive room.
You were at the table all day every day with each other,
and also during a really crazy series of cultural events.
And so the writers room also became like a really great
space for conversation about what was going on in the world,
whether it was Black Lives Matter, or Trump's election,
or just like seeing the ways in which
that made its way into the stories
that went up on the screen.
Was really fascinating and an awesome experience
to be a part of.
Plus unique things about "Greenleaf"
is Craig's real gift for poetic language.
And I think he calculated this show
to give an opportunity to write in a way
that normal people don't speak.
But the people in this megachurch
do speak in that way, so informed
and inflected, a biblical language.
A strength like yours, dear, is best expressed in stillness.
LOLIS ERIC ELIE: And trying to learn Craig's approach to that
and try to incorporate it into some of the dialogue
that I wrote, that we wrote, was one
of the things that I had not experienced
and I'm still very grateful for.
KRISS TURNER TOWNER: I really enjoyed
the Rochelle Bishop dynamic.
That probably was my favorite, so I was always kind of like,
what, what's Rochelle doing?
Yeah.
[LAUGHTER]
ERICA BUTLER: But LeToya added so much to that role.
Like, before we knew who was going to be cast for it,
I don't know that we were as excited about the storyline.
But as we worked on it and we saw what LeToya was doing
with it, my favorite as well.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
CASEY VENDEVENTER: From episode 1,
just the family coming to meet Grace and Sophia
on the front steps of this big house,
getting their entire history in terms of like here
comes Bishop, he's coming down to hug his baby.
He hasn't seen him in forever.
And then you have Lady Mae just very slowly skulking down
the stairs saying hello to her daughter,
but giving her a big warning, like do not come here to sow,
you know.
Promise me, you're not here to sow discord
in the fields of my peace.
CASEY VENDEVENTER: I can watch that
as just an example of how to set up
so much with very little words.
In the episode that was solely dedicated to the Bishop,
there is a scene where Bishop gives
his runaway train story to Sophia,
like trying to help her get her faith back.
Happiness isn't the absence of sadness.
It's living and it's being in the mystery and the adventure
of this life in God's world, with others.
With God.
ERICA BUTLER: I just, I cried when Craig
told the story i the room.
I cried when I saw The Bishop deliver that speech on screen.
It's so moving, so I think that's my favorite.
My favorite scene was from the pilot
also, where Grace talks about her view of Christianity
as there's a part of everything that tries,
and I always want to cry when I hear that scene.
I guess I believe there's a part of everything that tries.
You know, like plants try to grow, animals try to survive,
people try to better themselves to get ahead.
Everything tries to do something.
And I guess I think that Christianity is just one
way that the trying part of people
tries to connect with the trying part of everything else.
Basically any and all Lady Mae, so--
For sure her with her Brandy Alexander's,
dancing with her by herself.
Also, my favorite clapback of hers
was towards the end of season one
when Grace comes in after having spent the night with Noah
and they go at it and she tells her,
she comes in here looking like she's been rode hard
and put away wet.
And who are you to stand here talking about being
called by God, looking like you've been rode hard
and put away wet.
Where have you been all night?
Also in the episode where Charity
punches the vending machine, and then Charity--
[LAUGHTER]
--happened.
And she's that upset about a candy bar and just moves on.
KRISS TURNER TOWNER: I love Deborah Joy singing,
and just the feeling of church.
I love all those scenes where we're in church
and we're really feeling church, you know, outside of so much
of the family drama.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
WAYNE CONLEY: I mean, in terms of work
being done to authentically capture
the experience of the black church,
it was already my existence, you know.
It was just pulling from going to church every Sunday
and Wednesday, and just making sure that things
felt authentic, which they did.
I felt like we were always an accurate representation
also, but of course with the sake of entertainment as well.
But I felt that we were accurate representation
of the black church.
When I was PA, too, on season 2, I would do research.
I think I did it every day.
Like what was going on in the black church
around the country?
And Christianity in general.
If I found anything interesting I would send the links out
to the whole group.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
CASEY VENDEVENTER: Coming in on the first season
and really feeling Grace is the center of the story,
I did not expect to get into Lady
Mae's history, which we eventually get
into with the Mac storyline.
Or Bishop's history, so once you kind of explode the center
of the story the steps really make sense why every generation
gets a voice in this show.
And to that, you just want to make sure the voices match.
You know, you want to make sure when you have the younger
characters you want to make sure that you are
writing how they actually talk.
Erica, you know, had a lot of fun with that.
And I'm like, oh is that what the young kids say?
[LAUGHTER]
There was, maybe obstacle's the wrong word,
but there was a unique situation on this show, where you
had a multigenerational family that all
lived in the same house.
And watching the ways in which multigenerational interaction
were affected by all coming together in these huge house
is super fun.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
KRISS TURNER TOWNER: Promise you,
I could not write Lynn Whitfield's characters.
That was a very difficult character for me,
but one of my favorites.
Setting scenes that contain siblings was always fun for me.
Grace and Charity, Grace and Jacob, Sophia and AJ,
just anything with siblings, I enjoyed those scenes.
Kerissa was also a firecracker.
As someone who is always ready to operate
as the person calling other people out on whatever they're
nonsense was, she was, I think, a very funny character
to throw in the scene.
ERICA BUTLER: I love Zora and Sophia, obviously,
but I will say the most fun I've ever had writing on "Greenleaf"
was when I could write for Isaiah, who was terrible,
but also the most fun creatively.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
KRISS TURNER TOWNER: Listen, I'm going to Charity's character.
I mean, when I came on, you know,
she still wanted to preach.
And she can be, her character can be just like come on now.
And just making bad choices.
And it's just human, and conflict, and a lot of people
have problems with her character,
but I think that's what makes it so juicy.
In terms of creating characters that the audience
has seemingly strong negative reactions to is
I think that's good.
I think you want them to-- KRISS TURNER TOWNER: Absolutely.
WAYNE CONLEY: --find a way about the characters.
What you don't want is a character who just falls flat,
and then people are like they could care less whether that
characters on the show or not.
CASEY VENDEVENTER: Well, you can't have someone always,
always do the right thing.
I know I struggled a lot in the room trying
to defend certain characters.
Saying why would we write them doing this?
Like I want her to always be a shining
example of what is right.
It's like, you can do that, but there's
not going to be any conflict.
And no one's going to recognize themselves
in a perfect character, you know.
It's like, if Kerissa always behaved just on the up and up,
well that's great, but we're not going
to get any drama out of that.
And no one's going to have a chance to be like oh, you know
what, I had that same reaction and I see now why oh,
if I would've done a different way,
maybe it would have ended up.
Making some of the characters that you love
do the wrong things sometimes hurts in the process,
but the drama is worth it.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
ERICA BUTLER: I think bringing personal experiences
to the table was very helpful.
I think we had a very safe room where
we felt comfortable revealing things about ourselves.
Like you know, things that we'd experienced
or things that we know other people have experienced.
I think that's important in creating a story
that is impactful and truthful.
WAYNE CONLEY: I think the approach of the room
was to be really thoughtful about what you were saying.
To be careful, but not shy away from stuff
just because it was taboo.
But just to really be authentic, like the stuff that we talked
about was real and did happen.
Like we weren't necessarily demonizing or villainizing
Christians in particular.
It just was like we were telling a story
that, in this world of Christians,
and that these things happen.
Because I probably would have been,
truthfully, one of the first people to raise objections
if I felt like it was portraying Christians
in like a stereotypically bad light.
Craig was always talking about the importance
of drama and conflict.
In terms of dealing with the church,
we had to deal with the conflict of the church,
is the most beloved institution of the Black community.
We could not violate the sense of trust
that people have in the church, but also it
is one of the most fraught institutions
in the Black community.
And only in dealing with those two sides of the church,
do we get the substantive and dramatic conflict
that would propel the show.
And so that was always on our mind.
We're not disrespecting of the church.
Nor are we reifying the church itself.
The idea is that we got to look at it warts and all.
KRISS TURNER TOWNER: I don't think there is anything
that we did where somebody would go,
oh that's too far, that would never happen.
No, we're bringing it out.
And those are the stories we want to tell.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
WAYNE CONLEY: Well, the character that I
enjoy, from beginning to end--
I mean, just as a viewer and then as someone in the room,
probably from me is Grace.
Like especially in that last season,
last couple seasons, that it's really she became less pious,
wasn't on her high horse as much,
a little bit more relatable.
Merle did just such a great job and just
kind of bringing that to life.
It was a subtle change, but you could
see the character changing arrival to her departure.
She's a different person.
ART ALAMO: We were talking about that being the completion
of her, her art, from day one.
I mean from the minute the pilot was conceived
it was, Grace as a character came back into this world
to close a lot of things that she had
left open when she ran away.
And that's the best way for her to both symbolically,
and for her personally as a character,
to finish that business, is not running away,
not avoiding the problems.
But rather having solved them then
she can move on and forward in her life.
It is very difficult, and I think it's rarely accomplished
when you can take five seasons to actually land, you know,
the last episode.
That moment that was planted truly in, in episode 1
of season 1.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
KRISS TURNER TOWNER: I'm going to say
one thing that's not popular, but I'm going
to say it because it helped me.
Living in Los Angeles is helpful.
I was a PA, writer's assistant.
I have been an executive to decorative producer.
You want to be around people who are doing what you do.
So that is an advantage to being in Los Angeles.
My advice to aspiring writers is to tell
your own truth on the page.
Like the thing that's personal to you
that's maybe hard to tell, and you'll
find a home if you do that.
To write, obviously, to write as much as possible.
But to live, like to live a full life
so you aren't just parroting what you've seen on TV.
That you're bringing a unique POV,
unique set of experiences, to whatever you write.
You know, open up your world and then
that stuff will probably naturally
make itself into your writing.
You want to read, and live, and work on your writing
as much as possible it's all important.
But I also think it's important to maintain a positive mindset.
I think a lot of times, especially in this industry
when you want something so badly,
you can fall into the trap of comparing yourself to others,
and asking yourself, well, this show sucks
or this script sucks, like how did this get made?
I think it's important to be as positive as possible
and believe that it will happen.
Because if you're doing the work, it will happen.
You just have to wait for the opportunity.
CASEY VENDEVENTER: I agree with Erica.
I think, I think not so much on advice for skill
or how to build skill, but once you
start collaborating with people, and you
will no matter what level.
It's always collaborative, but it's
less about skill and more kind of the content
of your character.
Like you have to be nice but you have to be fearless.
Like you really have to have a point of view about something
and be ready to defend that point of view.
Be someone that someone can trust too.
With all their thoughts, feelings, emotions, you
know it's, it's a very vulnerable trade.
So, I think, I think focusing on just intentions behind
why you're here, et cetera, goes a long way and how you--
We're missing structure.
Do what I still do to this very day.
Take your laptop, watch a television show,
write one sentence of what happens in every scene.
Whether there's commercials or not,
there's going to be an act structure.
Whether you're writing comedy or drama.
Look at how many scenes there are.
Look at what a scene is made of the,
beginning, middle, and end.
And look at the structure.
Structure, structure, structure.
And the other thing, I've been doing this a while, it's hard.
It's hard.
I want to say that, but you can do it.
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