![]() ![]() We had dozens of conversations about the show, the ideas.īut in the meantime, over the course of four years up to now everything was happening. And when I met him, ‘I’ve been asking about your show for the last three years.’ And it’s just something about it that stuck with me when I heard the concept, especially coming from the NFL, knowing how NFL players are, you know ,kind of stereotyped, and I wanted to be able to create something to change that stereotype across the board with Black men, and so when I met Deji we just clicked immediately. And from that point forward every two months I’d reach out, What’s up with Johnson?, ‘What’s up with Johnson? and I didn’t know that it was Deji’s show until I met him in 2017, three years later. I bumped into a writer that mentioned this show ‘Johnson’ to me and said that I’d be perfect for it. in 2014 to pursue acting and this whole next transition in my life from football, and probably two months after I moved to L.A. He came on board, he’s an incredible creative, you know very, very specific mind, great ideas, and I think him coming on board just made the writing and the work all that much better, but I’ll let him speak on from that point in 2017 when we started to collaborate. But like Thomas said before it just got even more specific. The pilot in the first season had been in constant writing mode from 2014, so we had a lot of time to really craft and develop these characters and develop these storylines. He challenged me a lot on concepts in the script and it just continued to evolve. You know, I wrote the script fast-forward to 2017 when I met Thomas, I think that was the moment where it got even more real you know because Thomas is a very specific guy. When I traveled outside the country they all thought we were a certain way, so I saw a void in television and wanted to create a show that really expressed how I was, how my friends were, and how the vast majority of men around were. I traveled a lot, so seeing how we were represented. We all know how important media is in shaping people’s opinions on certain cultures and men and women. Jones, who plays Omar, and executive producer Eric Rhone, who behind-the-scenes helped to bring forth a show that fills the void on television, that being relatable stories told by Black men.Įach one tells us the idea behind “Johnson” and what the process was like to finally bring the television show to fruition.ĭL: In 2014, the show concept started with myself - just having people in my life who represented all of these characters, and also seeing the void in the media, you know when it came to representation. (Photo: Black Star caught up with the show’s creator Deji LaRay, who plays Greg, actor Thomas Q. The stars of ‘Johnson’ (L-R): Philip Smithey, Derrex Brady, Deji LaRay, and Thomas Q. ![]()
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