美国国家公共电台 NPR Inside 'Family Reunion,' A Sitcom With An All-Black Writers Room（在线收听）

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

In the Netflix series "Family Reunion," Tia Mowry-Hardrict plays Cocoa McKellan, a free-spirited mother of four and wife of a former football player, played by Moz. The McKellans have packed their bags and moved to Georgia to live with Moz's parents.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "FAMILY REUNION")

ANTHONY ALABI: (As Moz McKellan) We're new-school parents.

LORETTA DEVINE: (As M'Dear) And the jails are full of new-school kids who need they butts whipped.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: The family sitcom, which is penned entirely by black writers, is drawn from their personal stories. Meg DeLoatch is the creator and executive producer. And she says the series was inspired after she went to her own family reunion in Georgia.

MEG DELOATCH: You know, it's such a warm, lovely feeling to be sort of surrounded by family. And, you know, it's summertime. The food is great. And I remember wondering how different my life might have been if I had been able to sort of grow up and live and work and raise my son within arm's reach of family. And so that sort of had been marinating in the back of my mind for a while. So when Netflix came to me and asked me to do a family sitcom, I immediately thought back to - wow - that time in my life.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: One of the things, among many, that makes this unusual is that you have an all-black writers room. How did it happen?

DELOATCH: I actually didn't set out. That wasn't sort of what I was thinking. And I'll be honest with you because it's never really been something I've been allowed to do, at least not with the major networks. And then when one of the execs said, Meg, you're going to hire an all-black room, right? - I was like, I am. Yeah, I am.

(LAUGHTER)

DELOATCH: And it was really, really cool to do because I wanted to genuinely share the African American experience. And it's - there's no one experience, of course, in this country. And so to assemble a group of people that, in some ways, what we all only had in common was being black - and then, you know, we came from different walks of life, different parts of the country - it was a great way to sort of talk and weave together the experience of one, black family.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: So it's like diversity within representation.

DELOATCH: Absolutely. I mean, it was important to me that we have younger writers, writers that were from affluent and less affluent backgrounds because all of that is reflected in the show.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: What is it like to have an all-black writers room. I mean, what are the conversations like that are different? Take us in there.

DELOATCH: Well, first of all, there's a shorthand that happens when we've been raised a similar way. And nobody had to stop and explain certain things. It was sort of already understood. Whereas if I were in other rooms that weren't all black, I might stop and say, OK. Just so you know, a lot of black people when they go to church, they'll wear dress hats or things like - you know, whatever the topic might be, I might feel the need to stop and explain to someone what we're talking about.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: There's this great scene actually in the first episode where everyone's at church. And you have, like, these fantastic hats. And...

DELOATCH: Yes.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: And the whole thing, though, is about this family that's kind of lost touch with its roots. Why did you want to delve into that experience?

DELOATCH: Because I think it's so important that kids be raised with an understanding of who they are culturally if, for no other reason, for self-esteem. I was raised in a very integrated environment. And what that meant was that I felt good about being a young African American girl and having friends who weren't African American. And if you're not, you know, in touch with your culture, sometimes there are small things that might make you feel less than whether it's the way your hair curls or the fact that you're just different from your friends. So I wanted to sort of get into that and say, it's cool to integrate, even to assimilate. But it's only cool if you know who you are and where you come from.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: And you address that right away with the character of the teenager. How did you come up with that scene in particular where she gets confronted by a group of girls because she doesn't know who the Black Panthers were?

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "FAMILY REUNION")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) How do you not know about the Black Panther Party?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) That's crazy.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) So sad.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) Hashtag get a clue.

DELOATCH: It was really important to me. I wanted this group of - I call them my woke, mean girl crew.

(LAUGHTER)

DELOATCH: And I wanted - because, you know, high school is high school. And often girls are not very nice to each other. But I thought it would be really interesting if they were kind of coming at her and weren't being kind to her because they felt like she was not awake and woke. And so that there was more to their cattiness than just, we're teenage girls and we don't like each other. And it's - their constant prodding with Jade is encouraging her to sort of own all that she is. And ultimately, they get her there. It's just not the nicest way possible.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: You're touching on this idea as well of, like, situating this family in the South because everyone in the African American community is, in some way, connected to the South. Where do you see that connection now with your show.

DELOATCH: I think that we, as African Americans, can have a very complicated history with - so much bad happened to our community there and yet so much good as well. And I think it's great if people are making a peace with, I can go home to the South, and I can live here and feel good and feel at home. You know, it says a lot about a lot of the attitudes and the way that things are changing sort of across our society.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Do you feel like this is a better moment to be telling these stories? I mean, Netflix in particular has taken on a lot of different types of storytelling, "One Day At A Time" for Latinos, even though...

DELOATCH: Yes.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Of course, that was canceled. But do you feel like this is a sea change, something different is happening?

DELOATCH: I do. And let me say first, I hope it lasts because it happens every now and then where culturally everybody will get into, you know, diversity. And then it kind of goes away. But it does feel different this time. And I am optimistic that, at last, it is an awesome time to be a woman of color and a storyteller in Hollywood because people want to hear our stories. And it hasn't always been that way.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: That's Meg DeLoatch. Her show is called "Family Reunion." And it's on Netflix now. Thank you so much.

DELOATCH: Thank you. Appreciate it.