NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - The Drink with Kate Snow: Lena Waithe

Episode Date: December 1, 2020

Like most kids, Lena Waithe loved watching TV – but storytelling eventually became her calling in life. Her success has allowed her to become a role model for Black creators in Hollywood at a time when the industry is going through major change.

Hey everyone, this is Kate Snow. I recently spoke with Lena Waithe for my interview series, The Drink with Kate Snow. She's an actress, writer, showrunner. She's the first black woman to win an Emmy for comedy writing. She shared with me the process of drawing on her own life for inspiration for the episode of Netflix's Master of None that you might remember that went on to win her the Emmy and become a symbol of pride. Like many kids, a young Lena Waithe loved watching TV, but her life's journey has been defined by figuring out how to make television, how to tell stories and inspire others. This interview is part of my series, The Drink with Kate Snow. You'll find other conversations with people at the top

of their game at NBCNews.com slash the drink. I didn't think the story was that interesting. I'm gay. You what? And it was a beautiful thing because it really became a symbol of pride, of family. Lena Waithe, what's your drink? I got some strawberry peach kombucha. Nice. I went with pomegranate. Nice. Cheers to that.

You're a writer. You're a producer. You're a showrunner. You're an actor. You were the first Black woman to win for an Emmy for comedy writing. The things that make us different, those are our superpowers. Every day when you walk out the door, put on your imaginary cape and go out there and conquer the world. Because the world would not be as beautiful as it is if we weren't in it.

How did you go from watching TV to all that? I mean, I think it was a long journey for sure. But it really started with a passion for television and storytelling and movies. I know a lot of kids might be super into movies and TV shows because that's very entertaining. And a lot of kids enjoy that. But I think for me, I knew that it was different. It was a little bit more trying to understand how stories were told, characters, things like that. And so that's when I realized, hmm, this might be a little

different than just enjoying watching TV. Did you feel like you had a knack for it right away? Like, did you, you know, was your first screenwriting adventure wonderful? Your early things aren't going to be that great. And that's probably what I try to tell some of my mentees that I work with. I think they want their first time at that to be epic. And I'm just like, no, you got to have some, you you gotta strike out before you hit the home run or if you don't strike out a bunch of times you'll never know how good a home run feels and so I think that's why it's important to get up there and just keep practicing and I absolutely can relate to

that. So in your 20s you moved to LA right and you have kind of a series it seems like of different low-level jobs you're assisting people Ava DuVernay, probably the most famous person that you work as an assistant to. Yeah. Were you literally like running coffee errands and all the cliches? For sure, yeah. And I think that's also part of the journey, I feel.

I'm also really grateful for that part of the journey. And also in terms of people who I'm mentoring now, I encourage it for them to be office PAs, assistants, interns, runners, whatever it may be. Because it's not just, you know, being hazed or paying your dues, even though that's a part of it. But also it's a part of you being in the environment where the pressure isn't on. And you don't have to be the person to pitch that day or fix the show or put a fire out, but you get to be a witness, you get to be a fly on the wall.

You end up getting this role on Mascar of None. I'm gay. You what? I'm gay. For people who don't know or haven't seen it, the Thanksgiving episode is basically your character coming out and the journey that your character as a gay woman of color has taken. It seems, from the outside, it seems like you draw on your life a lot.

I didn't have any plans on telling that story, per se. I didn't think the story was that interesting. But in conversation with Aziz and Alan, some other writers on the show, and as Alan and I just asked casually, we said, well, how did you come out? And I started telling the story, and they just were like, we've never seen this before on television, which are the things that you're saying. It just turned into this thing that we couldn't, you know, we no longer had control over.

And it was a beautiful thing because it really became a symbol of pride, of family, and about, you know, what it means to be a person, a Black person or a person of color who has to come out to your family. And it just affected a lot of people. So we're really proud of that episode for sure. The Emmy kind of opens doors, right? I mean, it's unfortunate, but I assume people are returning to the cause now.

These awards do shift things, and it helps other people to be aware of things that they might not have been aware of. So when you leave Black and brown and queer and people who have the trans experience out of these awards ceremonies, it makes it difficult for people like myself to be in positions of power to really change the way Hollywood looks.

And I know you've been having conversations about this, how Black and Brown directors and writers are building things and creating right now. You just did this Adobe interview series called Create Change. Black people, like, we're always creating, and the world is always burning. That's my thing, too.

I think the revolution hasn't stopped. How do you feel about the moment we're in right now? It's a really great time to be a Black person who's creating things, because I think the industry is aware that our voices are the most important and they shouldn't be filtered and they shouldn't be made to be palpable for I think what's good is that a lot of us are talking to each other and we're strategizing and we're figuring out ways to ensure that this moment doesn't just come and go and we don't see any real change. But change comes slow and it takes time and there's huge infrastructures that need to be, you know, broken down and rebuilt. And so all that kind of stuff takes time. Can we do rapid fire real quick?

Of course, sure. Lightning round, okay? Weirdest thing about you? Weirdest thing. That's the weird, I don't know what is deemed weird anymore. Like everything about me is weird. Most challenging part of Hollywood? The misconceptions about it.

I think people think that Hollywood is, you know, a place where all your dreams come true and everything is good and everything's great. And I think people don't realize that Hollywood is really a town made up of people that are misfits and have traumas and are trying to, you know, find peace through their work. And so therefore that creates for a very complicated and tricky industry. In a word, what's next for you? Everything. Lena Waithe, it's been so fun to talk to you.

Good talking to you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks so much, guys.