As pilot season is underway, Blackfilm.com had the opportunity to speak with writer/director/producer Jason D. Gregory about his dramedy series Waking Up White he’s hoping gets picked up by a network or cable or streaming platform.
A Black family wakes up White and has 30 days to determine if they’d rather return to their cultural roots or stick with the “new” skin that they are in.
Waking Up White is a one-hour, weekly examination of racism, colorism, privilege and social injustice, but with a twist of dramedy. The goal with Waking Up White is to discover if the grass is truly greener on the other side. As much as Waking Up White is about the modern day struggles and social injustices that people of color must face, it also delves into African-American history through sharing the story of the town of Wellsville.
Gregory is a recent, MFA graduate and a screenwriting lecturer at the University of Central Florida. He is the writer, director and producer of Waking Up White. Gregory is also Founder & CEO of Gregory Media Group, LLC, an award winning, full-service marketing, advertising, and event management firm, based in Central Florida. Whether thru commercials, television programming or films, Gregory is dedicated to crafting stories of those who have been marginalized, ignored and are champions for social justice.
Where did the inception for it come from?
Jason Gregory: Well, my life experiences and experiences from my friends and family. Honestly, I was watching the news one night, early 2013. Another African American male had been shot and killed by the police and a news crew was at the scene covering it. They turned to an older African American woman and asked her her opinion and she frankly just said, “This wouldn’t have happened if we were white.” And that just stuck with me. I went to sleep that night with her statement in my ears and woke up the next morning and started writing the storyline for “Waking Up White.”
We’ve seen our share of dramas and comedies centering around this topic of being white. From Soul Man to White Chicks and others films. So was that your inspiration? Black individuals think differently. Because she said, What if? Is it because of the neighborhood, the environment? How did that strike you?
Jason Gregory: It really struck me because we see so many things that again, are happening in our community and are in the news right now about the state of Black America. We’ve seen quite a bit of it on TV lately and we need to see the flip side. You don’t hear about White people being harassed or shot by the police as often as you do with African American men and women. It just an issue that needs to be investigated quite a bit more.
You made this a comedy. Why take this route?
Jason Gregory: Actually, we set it up as a drama. Initially, it started as a feature film for my thesis project, and then based on all of the isms that we were talking about, racism, colorism, ageism, and even touch on sexism. Let’s break this down more and just create a TV series so that we can discuss these issues on a weekly basis. We felt that when I initially created it, as a feature film, it was very dark. We said that now we’ve done all the research, let’s just flip it into a TV series and add some comedy to it because the message might be a little easier to digest with comedy.
Did you think about what could be the drawback to it if there is a drawback?
Jason Gregory: Yes, I thought about that. The last thing that we want to do is have our characters wake up white and appear to be the white saviors that come in and save the Black community. That’s not it at all. This story is rooted in history going back to the Great Black Migration, integration and segregation. It’s rooted in Black history and Afro-futurism. At the end of the season, our characters have to make a choice if they prefer the loss of their cultural identity or the beautiful Black history that makes them who they are.
As a producer as well, you see what’s being sold and being picked up. You know what the climate is going to be when you’re presenting this. Was that a thought process when you were putting this together?
Jason Gregory: Yes, and no. Yes, because we are aware of what is selling and we know that race is a hot topic. But also, no, because we wanted to tell our own story which we believe is different from everything else out. Of course Blackish was an influence as well as Queen Sugar. But we also went back and looked at Black No More by George Schuyler and the works of Zora Neale Hurston. As a matter of fact, we were honored to shoot the pilot over seven days in Eatonville, the home of Zora Neale Hurston. We borrowed from the rich history of Eatonville, and it helped in creating our fictitious town of Wellsville.
You’ve got a cast of relatively newcomers, but when you were putting this together, did you think about going for a name that can help sell this project?
Jason Gregory: Yes, I actually did. Quite a few. But, I’m proud of the work that our actors gave us and I think personally, that they may not be household names yet, but they will be soon.
Have all the episodes been shot already?
Jason Gregory: No, just the pilot. We wanted to shoot it as a proof of concept.
How long did it take for you to write this, get a team together and start shooting the pilot?
Jason Gregory: This was a three year process. I conceived the idea back in early 2015, but I had no idea what I was going to do with it. And then all of a sudden I found myself applying to grad school to get my MFA in early 2016. One of the first things they asked me was if I had an idea and I pitched them Waking Up White, and it just started from there. So, while in school I wrote a feature length screenplay, and then by year two, I had already transformed it into a TV series. I also started working on my electronic thesis dissertation, and we started shooting in June of 2018.
Within the three years of putting this together, has anything changed with the script considering certain events happening within the Black community?
Jason Gregory: Yes, a lot has changed. We shot it in June 2018. Trump had already been elected president. But, the political scene is just getting a bit more grim. We can use everything that is happening now in future episodes.
What do you think the end result would be should the pilot get picked up, the cast stays intact and folks like the show?
Jason Gregory: Conversations. We want viewers to have a conversation around each episode. What I love about about TV is that you can have weekly conversations around the episodes that you just watched. Hopefully, we can sit down with White people, Hispanics and others to talk and just say, “Hey, I didn’t realize that about your culture. Tell me more about this.” We just want to keep everyone informed.
Do you still have your day job?
Jason Gregory: Yes. I’m fortunate to teach at the University of Central Florida as a screenwriting lecturer. I enjoy that. As soon as I graduated, I accepted a position in our English department.
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