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MADE: How do you create content that
builds a loyal audience?
PP: You know, I don’t know. I didn’t create
all the shows I’ve worked on, but I’ve contributed to them. I always try to ask myself if
this is anything that I would watch or if this
is something that I’m personally interested in.
MADE: So, do you actually put your real life
situations in the work that
you create or is it all imagination?
PP: Yes. I think it’s not just
about writing what you
know, it’s also about writing
what you’re experiencing.
There is something that I’m
developing now that has
nothing to do with anything
I know, but it personally has
to do with my personal life
right now. So, I’m putting it
in a show where I can do
that and I can talk about
those things. So I think as
long as you’re honest with
yourself and you’re putting
PHOTO CREDIT:
a part of you in the show HBO
whichever part that it is - as
long as you’re truthful to that.
Truth, I think, is always a great place to start.
What hit, what doesn’t hit...who knows. It’s
the time we live. I don’t know if our show
would’ve gotten picked up if we had a
different director because they probably
wouldn’t have shot it. I don’t know if they
would’ve gotten another showrunner. So
many of those of things are kind of like
whatever you believe in (God, the universe)
putting those things together.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine. I think at that point I
was ready to try something else. I was just
looking to make a change just within itself,
because I had been there for years and
I’ve been on a lot of shows that were just
starting. I’ve been on Happy Endings and
Brooklyn Nine-Nine and they were great
shows, but there it always in the beginning
(which was a blessing), but it takes a lot of
work to get a show up and figure out what’s
the DNA of the show and what’s the spine of
the show. But when I was on Girlfriends, that
show had been on for four years already,
and I was coming into a machine so it was a
different energy there. We kind of know the
rules since the rules have been set. So I was
looking to do something different and I just
happen to look on “Deadline” that morning.
And I’ll never forget I was in my office early
and I have never got there that early. And
I was just scrolling through Deadline and it
was posted that HBO was going to do this
pilot and they needed a showrunner.
MADE: Since you mentioned the universe,
let’s chat about you and Issae Rae. How did
you all even meet and start collaborating to
MADE: Now that really sounds like the
end up combining creative energy to produce Universe calling.
such a great show?
PP: I remember I called my agent that
PP: That’s a good question. So, what
morning. I was like “Hey, get me a meeting
happened was I was involved in the show
to run this show”. I was just adamant about
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