-My next guest is an Emmy-winning director, writer,
and producer who has made films like "Selma," "13th,"
and "A Wrinkle in Time."
The fifth season of her show "Queen Sugar"
airs Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. on OWN.
Here is Ava DuVernay.
-Oh, my good-- -Hey, Jimmy!
-Thank you so much for being here.
Thanks for doing the show.
It is so nice to finally meet you.
-I love you.
And I watch you every night.
You really helped me get through quarantine,
and I just want to say thank you.
And I just want -- One day,
I want you to call me "buddy" or "pal."
That's all I want.
-Wow, you really do watch the show.
-So I can feel it, you know what I'm saying?
-You are the best. I love that you know that.
You are honestly -- Not only do I love your work,
but I love your work ethic, and I love how much you do.
And you go, "Yeah, check this out. I'm going to write this."
And then you write it. Then you produce it.
Then you direct -- I'm like,
you are one of the busiest people in the business,
and it's quality stuff.
There's something I want to ask you about.
Your company, ARRAY, launched last week.
It is called ARRAY Crew,
A-R-R-A-Y Crew, C-R-E-W, dot com.
Can you explain what this is, and how can people get involved?
-Yeah, ARRAY is a collective
that I founded about 10 years ago,
and we do all kinds of things.
We distribute films for women and people of color
who otherwise wouldn't have their films distributed.
We make TV shows and film,
the "When They See Us" and the "Queen Sugars" of the world.
But we also know that from being on all these sets,
you know, when we make film and television
that most of the people behind the scenes
kind of all look one way.
They look like you more than they look like me.
And so what we want to try to say
is both of us should have a place on set.
And we want to open it up and make sure
that people who are hiring crews --
producers, studios, networks --
know about people of different cultures, colors,
different identities, ages, physical abilities.
The people who usually we don't see, we want them to be seen,
and so that's what ARRAY Crew is.
-That's wild, and it's taking off.
-It's really taking off.
The big thing is, we knew there were crew members there
who would want to be in the platform, in the database.
But the question is, could we get the studios
and the networks to get behind it?
And when we launched last week,
every single major studio and network,
every single one, every streamer, committed to use it.
And they're using it, and people are getting jobs
and getting connected. And that's all we wanted.
We're a non-profit, so we just wanted people --
-That's the key. -It's free, you know?
It's just connection.
-Great. I love that you did that. Good for you.
I want to talk about "Queen Sugar."
This is a show you created and you produced.
And the fifth season just premiered,
and it's already been renewed for a sixth.
It's very up-to-date, very 2020, very present.
You ended up rewriting the whole thing.
Tell everyone what's going on.
-Well, you know, this was the first series I ever did.
You know, I was making movies, so I was used to kind of make the movie, and it's over.
And this is like, make a movie every week,
oh, and you're renewed for six years!
Like, we're still telling the story.
But one of the things about it
is that it's about a contemporary Black family.
We always took pride in the fact that we were telling the story
of Black people in the here and now.
And so when the here and now changed
and it was COVID, and it was, you know, politics,
and it was, you know, a real racial reckoning
that seemed to be happening in some corners,
we wanted to deal with that.
And so we changed the story that we had written
so we could stay true
to contemporary stories of Black folk,
and we rewrote the season
that's basically a flashback to everything in 2020.
So just, you know, we opened with, it's the month before.
It's like February 2020,
when no one was really tuned in on the fact
that this was going to be something that affected us,
not just people in other countries.
Then we get to March, and it's like "Oh, yeah,
I heard something's happening in Seattle
with old people in a old folks home.
Not to do with me."
And then each episode, it starts to really happen
in the way that it happened for most of us
where it starts to confront you head-on.
-Yeah. The show is on the OWN network,
which is Oprah Winfrey's Network.
All the Oprah wisdom and advice
that she's given over the years, that I've taken --
I mean, I do dream journals.
Everyone -- Please, she's touched everybody.
Is there anything specific that's always stuck with you?
-The idea of nothing bad is happening to you,
it's happening for you. -Wow.
-That was really a big one for me.
-Is there anything that Oprah would say
that you've taught her?
-[ Chuckles ]
I think I've taught her how to put GIFs on her IG.
I've taught her... -No! Did you teach her --
[ Laughs ] You upped her GIF game?
-...how to do a Boomerang. Okay, these are important things,
just like it's not happening to you, it's happening for you.
-I wish you could teach me how to do a Boomerang.
I want to show everyone a clip
from next week's episode of "Queen Sugar."
Take a look at this.
-What about getting your crop loan?
Couldn't that help?
-Banks ain't given loans to no farms right now.
To be honest, I'm happy we ain't harvest.
It would have went to waste
like all them other farms throwing out all they product.
[ Sighs ]
Next year,
the soil will be three times as rich.
We could recoup everything we didn't make this year,
so I'm -- I'm not worried about that.
Feel like the land's gon' take care of us.
Just got to be patient.
-You have a really beautiful outlook on this.
-[ Chuckles ]
I mean, it ain't come easy.
We've seen the ups and downs, but,
hell, this is where we at.
Guess it is what it is, right?
-Ava DuVernay!
Season 5 of "Queen Sugar" airs Tuesday nights
at 8:00 p.m. on OWN.
Thank you so much again for coming on the show.
I'm a big fan. Please come back. Bye, buddy.
-Thanks, buddy.