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Ashley Nicole Black dropped out of her Ph.D. program at Northwestern to pursue comedy and was soon hired as a writer and eventual correspondent for “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.” She left the show in 2019 to co-write and star on HBO’s “A Black Lady Sketch Show.” The Emmy winner and six-time nominee recently joined Backstage over Zoom to talk about her creative process, advice for up-and-coming writers, and the viral phone call she had with Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
What advice do you have for creatives to make the most of it during this time?
I think if you can write, and if you’re home right now and you have the time to, you should. I was watching Apple TV+ last night. I saw they have huge stars, and I was like, “How do they get these huge stars on this new platform?” And then when you watch the show, you’re seeing them play different kinds of characters they didn’t get to play before. Even these huge stars have a type of character they want to play that they haven’t gotten to yet, and so they’re going to a brand-new platform where they have that freedom. I think every actor has something that they know they can do that the industry may not invite them to do. If you can write it, do it.
The Secret to Writing + Producing Your Own Content How do you deal with writer’s block or distractions?
[Shonda Rhimes] talks about writing in a really interesting way. She says that writing is at the top of the hill, and you have to run up the hill. Once you get up there, you’re in the flow and it’s good, but you have to get up there. She was like, “Every time my kid comes in the room and is like, ‘Mom, look at this!’ I’m back at the bottom of the hill and I have to run up to get there.” Even just hearing that metaphor helped me give myself some slack in knowing that it takes work to get into that flow, and if you’re not in it, that’s OK. But when I am in it, I treat it as so precious and I try not to interrupt that time and I try to write for as long as I’m in that space.
What’s the best advice you would give to your younger self?
When I was applying to “Full Frontal,” I did the first round of packets. Then they asked for a second packet and I was like, “Oh, no, I might actually get this job.” And I had a panic attack about the idea of moving to New York. I ended up having two weeks to move from L.A. to New York for that job, and I was freaking out. My friend Nikki said, “Every challenge you’ve ever had, you’ve lived through.” It was such a profound thing to be like, “Oh, I’ve never failed myself before.” I’ve failed—a lot—but I’ve never failed myself.
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How has your experience as an actor influenced your writing and vice versa?
When I learned how to write, I feel like I became a better actor because I learned how to analyze a script and figure out why a character is doing what they’re doing in the moment. There are two versions of that. One is their internal motivation, so what happened before and why I am motivated to do this because of my feelings. But also, why did the writer put this here, structurally? I found that understanding both made me a better actor.
How do you deal with rejection?
[I] always have another thing on deck to trick myself into moving my focus there. When I was applying to be on “Full Frontal,” I was also applying to Larry Wilmore’s show. The moment I sent in my material to “Full Frontal,” I started shooting my correspondent audition video for Larry Wilmore. So, I wasn’t sitting waiting to see what “Full Frontal” was going to say to me. I was already working on something else. I try to do that with everything.
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This story originally appeared in the Aug. 20 issue of Backstage Magazine. Subscribe here.
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