Robert Townsend: The Future of Television, Importance of Social Justice, and Working With Committed Collaborators
by Aymar Jean Christian
AJC: What led you to the web?
Robert Townsend: A gentleman out of DC named Rey Ramsey. He approached me about creating content for the web. I was shooting a movie in Toronto and he said, ‘hey Robert, you’ve run a television network before, and online/broadband/web series are going to be the future, so would you be interested in creating web shows?’ I was like, ‘I don’t know much about it.’ He started to tell me more. And as he started to educate me more about what was really going on the future, I was like, ‘yea, let me try it.’ And the first web series he wanted to do was about single mothers, because they go through a lot and their stories are never really truly being told. And that became our first web series, Diary of a Single Mom. Then I called on friends in Hollywood, everybody that I thought would be right for the part, and everybody that I asked came aboard, like the legend Billy Dee Williams, Richard Roundtree, Leon, Monica, Diahann Carroll.
What is One Economy?
One Economy is a non-profit out of Washington, DC., and one of their missions is to get minorities online. Historically it’s been documented that minorities are the last to, you know, jump on board with technology. So Ray’s vision was to create a show that had a multi-ethnic cast, and give them quality programming – ‘spinach,’ stuff that would make their lives better.
Was it hard to shoot the series?
When you shoot something, it’s the same muscles and energy it would take to do a feature or a TV series. For the web, the only difference is we’re doing 12 to 14 minute episodes, but when you average it all together, we’re really shooting a small feature. It’s the same discipline, we’re using the same cameras that you’d use on any other production. We just had to figure out how you tell a really tight story in 12 minutes or 13 minutes.
What do you think works best about the show?
I think the production really just comes together on all levels. I think the acting is really fine. Cheryl [West] is an incredible writer. As a director, I just stay out of the way, because when you’ve got a good machine and a good team, we all work all together. We didn’t do it to win awards, we didn’t even know there were awards out there for web shows. We were just trying to create the best series we could and all of a sudden we’re nominated! So I think for us the spirit in which Ray envisioned the series is what it is. And I think people respond because it’s authentic. There’s a place where Cheryl writes from because she’s a single mother as well.
A lot of that authenticity seems to stem from Monica Calhoun. You want to root for her character, Ocean.
Oh my God, do you want to root for her! I’ve re-watched a lot of the episodes, and I just finished mixing season three. We’re supposed to be in there listening for sound problems, and we’re in there crying! Monica’s going through so much. You really feel like a voyeur going into this world because it feels very real. She’s at the heart of it. Ocean and Monica are at the heart of the show.
Read the Full Interview @ Televisual
by Aymar Jean Christian
AJC: What led you to the web?
Robert Townsend: A gentleman out of DC named Rey Ramsey. He approached me about creating content for the web. I was shooting a movie in Toronto and he said, ‘hey Robert, you’ve run a television network before, and online/broadband/web series are going to be the future, so would you be interested in creating web shows?’ I was like, ‘I don’t know much about it.’ He started to tell me more. And as he started to educate me more about what was really going on the future, I was like, ‘yea, let me try it.’ And the first web series he wanted to do was about single mothers, because they go through a lot and their stories are never really truly being told. And that became our first web series, Diary of a Single Mom. Then I called on friends in Hollywood, everybody that I thought would be right for the part, and everybody that I asked came aboard, like the legend Billy Dee Williams, Richard Roundtree, Leon, Monica, Diahann Carroll.
What is One Economy?
One Economy is a non-profit out of Washington, DC., and one of their missions is to get minorities online. Historically it’s been documented that minorities are the last to, you know, jump on board with technology. So Ray’s vision was to create a show that had a multi-ethnic cast, and give them quality programming – ‘spinach,’ stuff that would make their lives better.
Was it hard to shoot the series?
When you shoot something, it’s the same muscles and energy it would take to do a feature or a TV series. For the web, the only difference is we’re doing 12 to 14 minute episodes, but when you average it all together, we’re really shooting a small feature. It’s the same discipline, we’re using the same cameras that you’d use on any other production. We just had to figure out how you tell a really tight story in 12 minutes or 13 minutes.
What do you think works best about the show?
I think the production really just comes together on all levels. I think the acting is really fine. Cheryl [West] is an incredible writer. As a director, I just stay out of the way, because when you’ve got a good machine and a good team, we all work all together. We didn’t do it to win awards, we didn’t even know there were awards out there for web shows. We were just trying to create the best series we could and all of a sudden we’re nominated! So I think for us the spirit in which Ray envisioned the series is what it is. And I think people respond because it’s authentic. There’s a place where Cheryl writes from because she’s a single mother as well.
A lot of that authenticity seems to stem from Monica Calhoun. You want to root for her character, Ocean.
Oh my God, do you want to root for her! I’ve re-watched a lot of the episodes, and I just finished mixing season three. We’re supposed to be in there listening for sound problems, and we’re in there crying! Monica’s going through so much. You really feel like a voyeur going into this world because it feels very real. She’s at the heart of it. Ocean and Monica are at the heart of the show.
Read the Full Interview @ Televisual
