Gather round the fire! Auntie Sierra's gonna tell you about Network TV in 2010! I had never been in a writers room, I was a dirtball state school grad with little to no connections. But by some miracle, I staffed as the Disney Fellow on a new show called Happy Endings.
I've never had an abortion. But there’s no way I’d have the life I do without one. I was a really curious kid, always asking my parents questions and even though they were always busy working, they took the time to answer them. Once I asked my mom, “What if I got pregnant?” 1/
The Duffer Brothers say filming on ‘STRANGER THINGS’ Season 5 will not begin until the writers’ strike concludes with a fair deal.
“Writing does not stop when filming begins... We hope a fair deal is reached soon so we can all get back to work.”
I have no answers. I asked my mom for permission to share this story and she said “Yes. You have my permission. Go give it a good fight. We can’t lose our rights as women.” Go give it a good fight. 8/
I’m so fucking grateful these were my bed time stories. Her honesty taught me that my dreams mattered. That it was okay, for any reason, to be a brown woman and advocate for your future. I wouldn't be here without her abortion. My path is bound to decisions she made. 6/
This shit has ripples. That's what anti-choice folks will never absorb. That we can be the leads in our stories, that we have ownership of our futures. Our bodies are guided by our choices. I’m so mad. I feel like we’ve failed these women. These mothers who remember when. 7/
She got an abortion. She explained to me that there was a time when she wasn’t legally allowed to, but luckily it was legal then. After that, she worked hard to stay in AZ, met my dad, went on to become an award winning Master Navajo Tapestry Weaver and raised two children. 5/
My mom said “If you wanted to keep it, we would help you. And if we didn’t, we would help you get an abortion.” I was kinda shocked she said it so matter of factly. We lived in AZ and people didn’t talk like that. My mom proceeded to tell me a story. 2/
Maritza and Carlos are a husband wife team in Ducor CA. They are paid around $30 per 900lb bin of citrus they pick. At the end of their day they’re tired and dirty but are glad they’ve been able to work together to provide for their family.
In the 1970s my mom participated in Relocation, (the US Gov. gave Native folks a one-way bus ticket to big cities.) She went to Phoenix because there was no snow and it was too far for her parents to visit. There she met a man with a motorcycle. And fell in love. 3/
They moved in together and planned to be together forever. One day his father shows up and said it was time to come home. That’s how she found out he was married with children. He walked out on her leaving her with rent/a bunch of bills. Then she found out she was pregnant. 4/
A room full of mostly women writers convinced Matt Weiner that Betty had to cheat on Don before going back to him on Mad Men. I loved picturing them going to the mat for that story point. Brilliant TV needs writers rooms
did you know Vince Gilligan wanted Walter White to kill Jane, not just watch her die? His WRITERS ROOM convinced him that was too far too fast. This is why even the most brilliant TV writers need rooms. You get art that is irrefutably better.
Ezra Miller kidnapped and abused Native folks. No one should ever forget that and the fact that in all their show pulls and cancellations for tax reasons THIS is the movie WB decides to release is just disgusting.
“The Flash”
With DC’s new leadership preparing a reboot on top of the controversy surrounding Ezra Miller, Warner Bros. now has a precarious high-wire promotional campaign ahead of it to get audiences to stop paying attention to its star’s past.
Not sure if unvaxed folks follow me, but there’s been a lot of scary stories about people in the ICU, you’ve been told how bad this can go. I wanted to share something, idk, positive I guess? Still to try and get you vaxed. So my brother was on a ventilator for 50ish days. 1/
So when Netflix starts offering a tier with commercials, it's that regular TV? Does that mean better residuals? Will newer writers NOT have to work in 6 mini-rooms/yr to make what I made ten years ago on one show? If we're rolling shit back, we need to roll it all back.
This rules. Seven figure donation. If you're in the upper echelon of this industry, please take note.
‘Historic’ Donation to SAG-AFTRA Relief Fund, Says Pres Courtney B. Vance: ‘It’s a Call to Arms for All of Us’ via
@variety
America’s first Indigenous Cabinet member, U.S. Secretary of the Interior
@SecDebHaaland
steps into her historic role with pragmatism, empathy, and the spiritual guidance of her ancestors.
I’m freaking ecstatic to announce that
#RutherfordFalls
will be back for season 2!!! Can’t wait to get new eps in front of your eyeballs soon! Until then, get your tush to
@PeacockTV
and catch up on season 1! What a day!!! 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽❤️😭
Writers I know we are freaking about the strike, please remember that Rich people (not like me rich, but like mega rich people) live to spin you out and make you think you're crazy. 1/🧵
Just know, there are folks out here who didn’t die, but who’ve been working for over a year to be able to properly bullshit over voice memo about podcasts and TV shows. I’m forever grateful to those who made that happen. And would be equally grateful to you, if you got your shot.
Over three seasons, Happy Endings had 23 writers. If you count assistants, 21 of us became showrunners. TWENTY-ONE. In that room, writers were given a runway to learn and grow and become our bosses.
Hey friends, sooo we’re in the last 2 weeks of data sampling for
#RutherfordFalls
. If you haven’t watched yet or feel like a rewatch, now is def the time to do it. So do it!! (This is how they decide about a pick up) Thanks!
For those shooting in LA soon, there were vendors who always showed up on the line. Consider them:
Recess Ice Cream, Kogi, Tacos1986, Fat Boys, The Lime Truck, Pie n' Burger, Homestate, Say Cheese Sandwiches, Love Bird Kitchen.
This is a homemade business, as much as outside forces try to “disrupt” and ruin it. So let’s keep giving these companies hell. Because we know how to do this better than anybody.
#WGAStrong
I went to the only other writer of color (it was 2010) Prentice Penny, who gave me great advice: “The Showrunner is the painter and we’re the paint. Figure out your color and when they need it, be that color. Don’t try to be someone else’s color. Also, you gotta start talking.”
I’m SHOOK by how good this deal is. I wanna like, make out with this deal. I’m just. WOW. The power of Labor. Thank you everyone. We fucking did it!!!!
There's power in passing your knowledge to future generations. There’s power in giving new writers a chance to learn, so eventually they will have a chance to teach.
CONGRATS TO THE ENTIRE BROOKLYN NINE NINE TEAM!! Thank you for the short time I got to be on a great show and EXTRA THANK YOU for putting two Latina women on the same show and neither owned a bakery!!
I know u have reasons for refusing a vaccine that make sense to you. But there are things in life that you can’t get the gravity of, until they’re ripped away from you. I feel like the Ghost of Covid past trying to get y’a to understand the ripples of trauma this thing can create
Holy moly, THANK YOU for all the Rutherford Falls Love I’ve been seeing. You make a show and it’s hard to get a picture of how much it means to folks. Please know if ur sad, we are too. But we’re also hopeful. For Rutherford and everything that it springs forward. Thank u again.
Today I explained to my writers room what it was like getting real network residuals. It was like I was telling a fantastical myth. My hope is that an IATSE strike would signify the start of many big systemic changes in our industry.
So obviously this would never happen today. There are no rooms where half the writers are lower level. Well, I can think of one: My first show Rutherford Falls. I wanted to make a room like the one I’d been afforded.
Holy Shit, he is taking credit for this?!?!?! It was him and not a tide of Native advocacy!?!? Y’all I need a ride to urgent care bc I just violently rolled my eyes too hard. Fuck this Columbus.
The fact that her mom kept her from being a writer because it was a “job for fat people” and now she’s famous AF for her beautiful and soulful WRITING about her mom. Just chefs kissing till my fingers go numb for this woman!
Did I make mistakes? Yes. Did I co-write an ep where Max becomes an actual Bear? Yes I did. But I also I stayed on for all three seasons. (Skipping the hell most “Diversity Writers” experience, repeating levels)
OKAY, I cannot give as much as last year, straight up, but NATIVE TEACHERS and folks teaching at TRIBAL SCHOOLS! Drop your wishlists below and everyone please come join me help these kids!!
They want to convince us to give them Sunday prices on Saturday. I refuse. Shit is hard, no way to debate that away. But I was raised not to let multi-millionaires get the best of me. END.
One of the things imo that is hurting the business is the slow death of a “showbiz mentality”. This obvs has its traps as well, but Drew Carey covering lunch is such a showbiz move, it really warms my heart. A person just saying “I got you.” in this moment.
At Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank where
@DrewFromTV
is picking up the tab for striking writers who show their WGA card and the manager says the tab he’s covering is around $50k. Per week. We are heading into week 7, with no negotiations scheduled. This is the 2nd strike he’s done this.
So we pulled writers from everywhere - Instagram, stand up, podcasts etc. And as the seasoned writer, I got to share everything I knew about how to make TV, crazily in the same building where we made Happy Endings. On the Paramount lot, eating free food and living my dream.
I need to see the film. But I am holding space and love for all the Native actors in Killers Of The Flower Moon, who due to SAG rules aren’t allowed to publicly promote, defend, or even celebrate being in a film made by the greatest living American filmmaker.
Except for the death penalty. And healthcare. Ooooh… and child care. And yeah, add climate change and school shootings, but other than THAT and also the mentally ill, the elderly, and anyone who could get covid, we’re your guys!
So I did what he said, I willed myself to talk and to find my strengths. I learned from everyone on that staff. Happy Endings was my grad school. I was able to visit set before and after the room started. When I got an ep, I went to every meeting. I learned through doing.
Clients paying for the travel experience Get Lost, which starts at $15,000, have to find their way out of desolate situations—and they have no clue where in the world they are going, until the last minute.
Season 1, we had 17 writers. Including me there was 7 staff writers. SEVEN. A seasoned writer called the show “America’s Next Top Staff Writer”. But I didn’t care, I was in, baby! On the Paramount lot, eating free food and living my dream.
Yes, I made peanuts as a “free writer” aka below minimum, but I was in a room with folks who’d worked on big shows: Conan, Will and Grace, Veronica’s Closet. (This is not a joke, I fucking loved all TV and couldn’t believe my luck. He also worked on Bette. BETTE!)
Then there’s the worry about what his ICU nurses are dealing with. Who are they calling right now to share stats and ask about knick names? Do they even have the time or the bandwidth. This is getting sad again. And I don’t wanna guilt or shame.
I believe it was every Staff Writers' first major job. And I was green as hell. It was the most unfunny I've ever been. Just sweaty and weird. Everyone was trained to be funny. Seal Team Six funny. I was terrified, quiet, and could quickly tell it was kinda bumming everyone out.
NGL, Life gets away from you, hourly check ins, turn to daily, then weekly. But we’re up to 9 minute messages. They are clear. And I savor every fucking second of them. /7
I watched the first 2 eps and y’all this show is sooooooooo freaking good: beautifully shot, fun and funny w/ many LOLs and a slice of Indigenous life that’s never been depicted. Some good friends made a great show. Check it out tomorrow/MONDAYS on Hulu and every week after!
We very seriously don’t talk enough about how streaming took advantage of the desperation of historically disadvantaged groups to tell their own stories, set them up to fail by denying them the standard industry training, and then slammed the door when the contraction hit
My brother still can’t do as much as before, a day of errands takes him out for two days. But his recovery has been phenomenal. And we’re in a place where I can call and lean on him. Like he can on me. /8
The gratitude I feel to just speak with my brother sits hand in hand with my fear other loved ones will get it, my son who’s too young to get it. It sits next to the grief over the loved one I lost to this thing.
It took forever. 6 months later no more voice box. Now real talking and he’s home. To strengthen his lungs we send voice memos. At first, they were 40 seconds. Full of coughs and wheezes, but also inside jokes and podcast recs. They got longer, his voice got stronger. /6
Johnson: I'm not trying to establish christianity as the national religion, that is not what this is about. If you believe in the bible commands and seek to follow those, it is impossible to be hateful person.
Remember how those folks were like “fuck the system!” And ⬆️ Gamestop stock price? I say fuck the system, everyone nominate
@janaunplgd
for an
#emmy
for writing “Adirondack”, the funniest and most biting Native commentary on TV last year. Noms opened today!
Maintaining that Rutherford Falls is the best fat media to exist. Reagan just “is,” no one’s commenting on her body (not even her). She’s not “Hollywood fat” (aka normal). She’s dating, she’s living her life. What happens when fat people get to write their own stories.
Because they wouldn’t just pay her what she was worth. And it was always a teacher, or a doctor, or someone who had saved that never haggled because they really loved her work. And yes there were years my mom didn’t give in and didn’t sell.
He kept almost waking. Two steps forward, one back. I’d read old text messages, and just cry. And then one day, my last text from him was fav’d. A little heart popped up. He was awake. /4
I couldn’t believe it. It’s all the stuff you know: rehabs, learning to walk, talk, tons of tubes, bad food, trauma. And with each step forward, he messaged more. Likes, turned to emojis, to broken sentences. His brain was there, but his fingers had to catch up. /5
But the BEST part of the weekend? Better than finally cashing the check and gorging on cheddar biscuits at Red lobster, was on Sun when the Rich came back and her piece was already sold. Those rich dummies had to look at the sold sign on my mom’s rug and know they missed out!
This camaraderie of appointment television, well thought out and beloved by the room of writers to who made it and the audiences who watch. This could be all the time, babe! Or at least more often than now. Succession is special but it also harkens to how we used to make TV.
My mom sells rugs at Indian art markets. Most sales are on Sat, then you make deals on Sun, the last day. But really rich people try to talk down your price day 1. They fill you with fear, say your work isn’t that great, or it’s a bad year for your type of art, you should cave.
#RutherfordFalls
S2 writers room (w/most of our writers) starts the same day as the premiere of
#reservationdogs
streaming now on Hulu!
Sometimes it’s THE BEST day to be Indigenous!
Rich folks would try to spin her out and she had to hold the line. To remember her worth. She would smile and say “We’ll see you on Sunday.” Once a Rich guy got so mad when she told him her price, he said “You know I have kids to feed!” And without pausing she said “So do I.”
That meant no school clothes, and broken crayons and half ripped notebooks for school supplies. But she never gave in. We are being tested by the silence in this town right now.
And he is my best friend. Before he went under, he only worried about us, his loved ones. Processing that he might not come back made me wail and wail. (This gets better, I promise) So 50ish days of facetiming him, trying to look up podcasts he’d suggested to tell him about it.
I’d pray and pray for him to wake up. Even to yell at me, or tell me why I was an idiot. I would take him anyway I could get him. And bless the nurses who’d call me back with stats or ask for details about things he liked, knick names, etc. they were hell bent on helping him. /3
I love my union. I trust my union. I want what's fair and will fight like hell for it. I also never forget that things are shitty for SO MANY right now. It's an industry town, everyone feels it. Thank u fr the bottom of my ❤️ to SAG, IATSE, the Teamsters, and all workers affected
The AMPTP offering to let us see streaming data but not tie is to any payment is like going "We won't invite you to the rich kid's birthday party, but you can look at pictures!"
I barely use this platform but on here to say this is total fucking bullshit. This show was so brilliant and special and MEXICAN and JFC literally everyone who had a hand in canceling this gem is stupid and should eat rocks forever.
Wow. End of an era, but the beginning of so many more I imagine. I freaking love this show and everyone who made it should be crazy proud of what they did. ❤️