The News-Letter sat down with Tracy Oliver and Issa Rae after their presentation to talk more about their experiences in producing "The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl."
News-Letter (N-L): Is there anything that you would go back and change if you could?
Issa Rae (IR): There were a lot of editing things that were rushed, and I would definitely change some of those things. I would've [liked] more time. . .to do things. And I would've taken advantage of social media way more.
Tracy Oliver (TO): For me, it was sound. That's something that, with some of the voiceovers in the beginning, you miss them, because they're so low compared to the rest of it. Especially the line, "I don't hate Mexicans." It is so low that it's, like, not there. So when she says, "I hate Mexicans," it just leaves it at that, because people miss that line. So I think sound for sure, I'd go back and change it.
N-L: Did you think the show would be this successful?
IR: No. I thought it was going to expand my portfolio, and then my friends and family would think it was good, but I never imagined this.
TO: I would say yes and no, just because I thought that it was doing something new and fresh in a way that could kind of dominate a section of the marketplace because no one else was doing it. But no, I had no idea that it would get this big.
N-L: Was it hard to find people to embody your characters?
TO: Almost everybody, except Cici and Boss Lady, everyone is a friend.
N-L: Does this bring you all closer together?
TO: It makes the experience more fun. It's like chilling with homies.
N-L: What was the whole idea behind the college tour, what made you guys want to go out and talk about it?
TO: A lot of college students seem to be already watching it and commenting, and it was already a big audience-base.
IR: And we were getting a lot of requests from the faculty to come see the students.
TO: I think it was a logical thing to do, you know, we should actually do a tour and meet the fans in person.
N-L: Has it been fun?
TO: Yeah, we get to travel and see the screening a million times, but it's awesome because each time we watch it, every crowd reacts to it different and laughs at different things. We still laugh.
IR: It's really cool to meet different people and see how it is affecting people, like how the show resonates with each person.
N-L: When you went to Stanford, did you have any idea that you were going to do something like this?
IR: I knew that I wanted to go into entertainment for sure, but I was going to college to either go into law or business or something. I wanted to figure out what I wanted to do [outside of acting] because I knew that my parents wouldn't improve because it wasn't a stable job. I was also pursuing things, and I knew I would find a creative way. . .like, if I was going to do law, I would implement writing and skits into my law. Everything I was going to do, I was going to find a way to make it creative, but I didn't really consider making it my career until I met her (Tracy Oliver).
N-L: Do you get recognized in public a lot?
IR: Surprisingly now, yes. It's crazy.
TO: It depends on where it is. For some reason, the least amount of times I get recognized is in LA. But when I was in Atlanta, I couldn't go anywhere without someone saying something. Just arriving in the airport, when I was writing in the coffee shop I'd pull out my headphones and talk every five seconds.
N-L: Do you like that?
TO: The good thing about it for me is that I get to prove that I'm not a b****. People are always like, "Oh my God, I was so afraid to talk to you." It always starts like that, there's always some friend hiding in the corner, who's too afraid to talk to me. They always think that [Rae's] amazing and nice and that I'll breathe fire, that I'm the dragon lady, so that's cool.
N-L: Can you tell us anything about Season 2?
IR: We're going to explore themes of interracial dating, for sure. We're going to meet Jay and Jay's parents and we're going to see how the office politics play out with the new boss.
N-L: Would you date Jay in real life?
IR: The character Jay? I totally would.
TO: I would be all up on White Jay in real life, if that existed. He's acting, we're giving him lines. He's not that nice. I mean, he's a gentleman, he's great, but white guys aren't walking around saying that "your motherf***ing beautiful." We give him amazing stuff to say that black people will eat up. If someone was actually like that, I would die. I would holler so quickly at White Jay. I really like Fred too, though.
