Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Nneka Samuel. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Nneka, appreciate you joining us today. The first dollar you earn is always exciting – it’s like the start of a new chapter and so we’d love to hear about the first time you sold or generated revenue from your creative work?

I used to write for a website called Comediva (comedy + diva = Comediva). I wrote articles and funny, silly listicles about any and everything, from a blockbuster case study on Keanu Reeves and his fine *ss, to ’90s tv shows that lied to us about life. The Comediva team were down for just about anything that I pitched. They even let me publish content using both my real name and an alias, which felt really cool at the time. Still does!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m the daughter of two very left brained parents – my mom is a nurse who used to work in Labor & Delivery and then as a school nurse, and my dad is a scientist who taught biology at the collegiate level forever and ever, Amen. I did not get their genes.

I always knew that I wanted to do something artistic. Initially, that was architecture. I went to Cornell to study that, hellbent on becoming the next Frank Lloyd Wright. But it wasn’t meant to be. Totally dating myself here, but I got captured by a little film called The Matrix and my obsession with that movie made me want to pursue a career in visual effects.

So, I transferred to USC to pursue vfx, but that dream died fairly quickly for several reasons. Mostly, I didn’t have the patience for it and would rather see the final results on a completed project, completed by someone other than me, than have to wait for some tiny effect to render on a computer for eleventeen hundred hours.

But I had been writing that whole time and after graduating, joined a writer’s group and things kind of clicked there. And me being the studious person that I am, I went back to school to get my MFA in screenwriting from UCLA.

That whole journey helped me realize that I’m very much a builder. Now, I build with words instead of brick and mortar. I love taking seedlings and kernels of ideas and growing them like magic. Building worlds. Diving into character.

I’ve been fortunate to have written on the second season of Showtime’s comedy series, Flatbush Misdemeanors. I also wrote several episodes of the music docuseries Unsung, including episodes on The Jets, Marvin Sapp, Lloyd, Thelma Houston and Monie Love.

I’ve written for a string of magazines and websites like Heart & Soul, Uptown and MadameNoire, but in terms of the stories that I’m drawn to – at my core, I love telling untapped stories in the film and television space. These stories often center Black girls and women because that is my lens and because there are so many stories we have yet to tell that center Black women or Black people in them. Ooh, and I love dramedy. I find that the mixture of drama and comedy is very true to life.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Being a writer, especially a writer in Hollywood (especially a Black woman writer in Hollywood, hello), isn’t always rewarding. It’s a very difficult, competitive industry and it’s very much in flux right now which makes things that much tougher. But there’s magic in being able to create something from nothing. As long as you’re motivated, consistent and resilient (no small feat!) and not burnt the eff out, you have the power to create anything, anywhere at any time. Whether or not that thing sees the light of day is another story entirely, but not everything you write has to be for public consumption. At the end of the day it’s always for you. And in being true to how you feel, what you’re interested in, etc., it shows on the page and on the screen and allows others to be a part of a journey that’s bigger than you could imagine.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I love this question, but it’s a difficult one to answer. The thing about pursuing a career in the arts is that there is no clear, straight forward path let alone guarantee that you’ll achieve your goal(s). In other industries and careers, there’s a proven way. You want to be a doctor? You go to med school, complete your residency and get licensed. You want to be a lawyer? Not that it’s a walk in the park, but the path is already laid out. You know what needs to be done – the exams you need to take, the amount of years you need to put in in order to get to X.

There’s a lot happenstance in the arts. A lot of close calls, a lot of hustling, a lot of free work (open writing assignments, anyone?), gig work, short-term work. There’s no straight line here. The way forward is winding and progression does not always lead to continued success or growth. Maybe the tv show you’ve been developing for years ends up being a no-go because the company you’ve been developing it with changed its mandates. Maybe the person championing your script got fired and their successor wants to champion something else. Maybe another writer “won” the pitch-off. There are many circumstances that are out of your control. And regardless of what civilians might think, I can’t just call up Tyler Perry or Oprah and ask them to give me money to make my show or movie (so please stop asking).

There are also down periods in your creative journey. I spent most of 2023, a year in which WGA writers went on strike against studios, trying to figure out what else I could do for a living. By that point, I was spent, disappointed by the industry, uninterested in writing and completely unsure of my future. It’s devastating to reach that point especially when you’ve spent so many years pursing a field that once made perfect sense to you but now feels strange and unachievable. Like traveling without moving. This shit takes courage. Resilience. It takes knowing when you need a break to reset and refuel and being okay doing exactly that. I’m currently in the process of regaining confidence lost. I’m finding my voice again and it’s going to take however long it’s going to take. Having a supportive community of family, friends and fellow writers who believe in me makes a big difference.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.nnekasamuel.com
• Instagram: _nj_mj_
• Twitter: @NeekNique

Image Credits
Photos 1 and 7 taken by Sade Oyinade