Really wack title (or is it?!), but being inspired by the Screenwriting Links posts I used to do over at Aspiring Screenwriter blog and by Black Girl Manifest‘s Link Brigade, I want to do weekly (or less, because I’m still learning consistency) link posts of cool TV/screenwriting/diversity/industry things I’ve read this week. Sometimes I do this when I share one link and semi-officially post on it, but sometimes links require less commentary. I like how BGM is sort of conversational, so I might take that approach.
Anyway, here are some things I’ve been reading this week, features two Gina’s and a Jennie.
I love Jane the Virgin and have been loving Gina Rodriguez as the title character. Reading this Entertainment Weekly article on her desire to smash stereotypes was really insightful. Plus, I really appreciate her show of faith and the honesty of her prayer before she got the part. A prayer I hope to pray everyday:
“If it’s mine, it is, and if it’s not, give it to the person that’s meant to have it. Take this away, and I let it go. I lay my career at your feet. Just give me the patience and understanding to accept the story you have for me.”
So great. Then read her statement on Buzzfeed at this summer’s TCAs on how she waited for Jane, because the only roles out there for Latinas shouldn’t be maids.
Oh, more Jane the Virgin? This time, showrunner Jennie Urman speaks over on the AV Club on her experiences adapting Jane for The CW.
“It was in that third and final draft that I decided to put the frame on with the narrator and have a bit of a meta-telenovela happening at the same time. Once I did that, I felt like it unlocked for me, tone-wise.”
I love the insight she gives on creating a show and presenting it to the important studio people and the way she both fought for it, but also the way it seemed to have all been meant to be. This is fantastic considering Jane was just nominated for 2 Golden Globes! There’s a lot here, on writing the pilot, casting the actors, the color scheme, music, it’s all important!
I recently saw Beyond the Lights in theaters. I loved it, but what I love even more is writer/director Gina Prince-Bythewood’s push for authentic stories for people of color.
I feel what’s discriminated against are my choices, which is to focus on people of color as real people. Those are the films that rarely get made and those are the films that take a lot more fight. But I’m up for the fight, because if we don’t fight for this we stay invisible.
She makes a statement for her film over at the Huffington Post.
Finally, for this week, after my Arrow recap (hmm, should shameless plugs also be a part of my Clicks posts?), a commenter referenced the double edged problem of casting vaguely Arabic R’as al Ghul of Batman/DC Comics lore as a white actor (again). He says, in the comment and in a longer blog post that while we may complain that characters like R’as aren’t played by people of color, he questions if we want them to be. Should the only options for PoC be to play stereotypical villains who’s purpose was to mock a culture and represented eras of fear again [Muslims, the Chinese, the Japanese, insert your allegorical villain here]? Instead of wishing R’as was played by an actor of Arab-descent, let’s include better written characters of Arab descent.
That’s it for this week. Hopefully I can keep this up and bring more links throughout the week in this way. Until next time!
The Arrow season 3 finale finally gets us out of the Ra’s al Ghul arc that has been killing the shows cred with fans. Now that we’re moving on, hopefully season 4 will be better. That said, this episode splinters our main characters that could lead to interesting places come season 4. I’m also proud of an Aladdin joke and a Captain Planet joke that you should click-through to enjoy in its full glory.
