We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cassia Jones. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cassia below.
Cassia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
Writing and acting are continuous on the learning curve. Had I not wrote, acted in, produced and edited my first project (web series: To Live & Date in LA) I would not have been able to make all of those mistakes in silence! I had to teach myself how to do literally everything since I could not afford to hire anyone. Youtube university, Google, watching other web series, and trial and error literally became the way that I learned, in the beginning. It also taught me that asking for help is not a negative, and you don’t have to sacrifice your sanity doing everything by yourself. Since then, I have been able to meet incredibly talented writers that have read my screenplays, given me notes, and helped me figure out how to format scripts properly and hone my writing style. Being able to reach out to others is truly what has taught me the most about being an actor/writer/producer. Film school was never an option for me. I would download pilot scripts, and screenplays of my favorite television shows and films for lessons on how to write. Watching a film as a student trying to learn helps you to notice all of the nuances we may look past when watching it as a fan. The lack of funds was an obstacle for me in the beginning that actually turned out to be my greatest teacher. It made me learn, study, and source in ways I never had to. Using my failures as stepping stones has also helped me as a creative as well.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Cassia Jones is a writer/actor/producer, originally from Los Angeles, California. She began writing as a child and fell in love with acting while watching reruns of I Love Lucy, The Carol Burnett Show, The Golden Girls, and In Living Color. Comedy soon became her niche, and making her mother laugh became her goal. She began acting in school plays, studying piano and learning the complexities of performing comedic acting from the greats of the aforementioned titles.
Her blog, ‘To Live & Date in LA’, (formerly known as Awkward Girl in the City) features the life and adventures of a single woman in her thirties, navigating her way through the notorious LA dating and entertainment scene. Writing from an honest voice of humor and humility, has garnered Jonesie fans from around the world. Cassia’s blog posts have also been featured on popular dating websites such as Dating Advice, where her blog is also featured as one of the Top 10 Best Blogs for Dating in the City. Cassia also participates in the popular Monday Blogs hashtag series on Twitter, where her posts have been shared/retweeted/read over 900k times, and she has over 1.4 million Youtube impressions (Youtube: To Live & Date in LA).
Her web series, ‘To Live & Date in LA’ debuted in the fall of 2014. Cassia plays the lead role and also wrote the series. To Live & Date in LA has been nominated in the Women’s Fashion & Film Festival for Best Webseries & the LA WEBFEST for Outstanding Writing & Lead Actor. Cassia has also been profiled on the popular BlackTalentTV, Voyage Atlanta The DoubleScoop entertainment websites as a content creator on the rise, and featured on The Los Angeles Times digital site. She is currently pitching two LA based television shows to networks. She also wrote/starred in/produced the short film, ‘In This House’ and her new podcast: BLACK PEOPLE DON’T DO GHOSTS is available everywhere!
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
As a Black female creative in the entertainment industry my goal is to create television shows and films that feature our stories told from our perspective. I want to be able to play all the roles my white counterparts easily play in this industry without it always being about my race. I cannot tell you how many auditions I have gone on to be the “sassy Black bestie” and that needs to stop. We deserve better. Luckily we have creators that are changing the narrative for us. Black women like Quinta brunson, Phoebe Robinson and Issa Rae are opening doors I plan on walking through.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
As a creative in Los Angeles if you don’t have a resilient spirit, you are not going to make it at anything you want to do. Especially as a Black or POC woman. We have to work harder, be better, have more credits, create our own works etc. just to be able to audition half the time. There are still not a lot of roles for us, so we tend to all be auditioning for the same characters, which can also bring you down if you let it. Here’s the thing; I will never view another Black woman writer/actor as my competition. If I do not land the role, writing position, or my pilot isn’t picked up, but there’s is…that is absolutely fantastic because it means another door is being opened for me and others to walk through.
Contact Info:
- Website: To Live & Date in LA: toliveanddateinla.co
- Instagram: @toliveanddateinla
- Twitter: @awkwardgirlla
- Youtube: To Live & Date in LA
- Other: Podcast: Black People Don’t Do Ghosts Link: https://open.spotify.com/show/25cC0UOjoxkEfP0cxAsaZX?si=b1a0bf46a0e34e66