INTERVIEW: 'Dune: The Sisterhood' Showrunner Diane Ademu-John
"The world needs Toyotas and Ferraris. Don't spend any time trying to turn one into the other. Don't spend any time uplifting one while running down the other. Know what car you're making. Know what team you're on." - Diane Ademu-John
Up next for our interview series is Diane Ademu-John! She is a tv writer and just a few weeks ago it was announced that she would be the new showrunner for the new HBO Max series ‘Dune: The Sisterhood’! Below is her bio:
“Diane has been working in television since 2001. She got her first staff writing position on NBC medical drama CROSSING JORDAN. Diane has been writing very grisly tales ever since, writing and producing medical crime dramas (BODY OF PROOF on ABC), and supernatural detective shows (MEDIUM on CBS). But more than anything, Diane loves telling tales of really disturbed families who kill or die for one another, be they the world’s oldest vampires (THE ORIGINALS on the CW) or Chicago drug-dealers-turned-music-moguls (EMPIRE on FOX) or sci-fi family feuds set 10,000 years in the future (the upcoming DUNE: SISTERHOOD on HBOMax). Most recently, Diane served as Executive Producer on THE HAUNTING OF BLY MANOR for NETFLIX, and consulting producer on the upcoming horror comedy THE AUTEUR from Taika Waititi. She is currently co-showrunning DUNE: SISTERHOOD for HBO MAX.”
Very grateful I got to catch up with her at this point in her career! I enjoyed her tips about the importance of being content where you are at (no coveting - Exodus 20:17)! and how to move your writing career forward. Hope you enjoy!
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1. In a recent interview, you explained that you started off in an international relations career and then ended up in television production as a way to pay your bills. How did your international relations background/studies prepare you for the work you are doing now?
My studies and career in international relations helped me tremendously in my writing career. It was literally world-expanding. I traveled and studied abroad -- and was constantly an outside observer who had to find ways to adapt into an environment that exists perfectly well without my American or Western sensibilities. The scariest but most fulfilling and rewarding thing about traveling to places where you barely speak the language (yet are game to try!) is distilling what we have in common to its essence. Finding that common thread, that thing that speaks to all of us no matter the language barrier, has helped when writing. But some of the most eye-opening lessons were learned right here in the U.S. When I first graduated from college I worked for Amnesty International, USA for several years, in their Refugee and Asylum Seekers office. I would assist people applying for political asylum in the US and document their stories. Day after day, hearing hundreds of stories of people fleeing the most horrific of circumstances, and coming to the US to try to make a better life -- was both tremendously heart-breaking and completely life-affirming. Glimpses of these triumphs and tragedies were very eye-opening to me at the time. Later, when I switched careers to work in television, I always strove to bring the immigrant, emigrant and refugee perspectives to my storytelling.
2. You have written for several television shows (Crossing Jordan, Medium, The Originals) - what qualities/traits/characteristics do you think helps someone to be a great television writer?
The ability to run TOWARD things that scare you. I've worked on a lot of different types of shows: medical procedurals, supernatural dramas, hip-hop melodramas, and now sci-fi. Each time I've changed genres, it's never NOT been terrifying -- but that "fear" tells me I'm pushing myself in all the best ways. No matter the outcome, I will always take away a new set of skills. I learn something new and cool each time. Be safe, be smart, but don't be afraid to be around people who are not like you. Different sexes, different ethnicities, different nationalities, different abilities. Approach differences with curiosity and kinship.
3. What advice would you give to younger women to have a sustainable television career like yours?
Understand what show you're writing for, and adapt. Quickly. It may seem obvious, but I've seen many young writers (myself included) become slightly underwhelmed at the show they're on, and wishing they were on something edgier or on a more prestigious platform. These desires then lead them to start sentences with "well that's not how they're doing it on XXX show..." or "why can't we be more like XXX?" Your show-runner isn't trying to hear it. The world needs Toyotas and Ferraris. Don't spend any time trying to turn one into the other. Don't spend any time uplifting one while running down the other. Know what car you're making. Know what team you're on. Another bit of advice I would give: once you do get a job, do your best to be a part of the production of your episode. Also, equally as important, find a way to sit in on the editing of your episode, even if it's only as a fly on the wall, for one day. It is so essential that young writers get this full picture of the TV making process. People who understand how to take a story from outline to script to production to editing are the people who will be most valued when it comes time to running your own show. It's tough these days for writers on shows with short episode orders to get this type of experience, but ask to shadow the show-runner, or the director of your episode, if you can.
4. It was recently announced that you will be the new showrunner for Dune: The Sisterhood - what will be your day-to-day tasks in this role?
I'm just in the early stages of this, so as of now, the day-to-day has been hiring writers and writing a series bible for the show. In a short time, it will be running a writers room, and successfully imparting my vision for the show. While also leaving open spaces in the story and characters for my writers to fill in and take ownership of. I'm very excited to begin! Looking ahead, the main task of the showrunner after crafting scripts in the writers room...is making those scripts producible. All sorts of internal and external factors will make that "perfect script" something that needs to be rewritten extensively -- budget constraints, actor availability etc., etc., etc., -- so it's an entirely new job once the scripts go into pre-production. Then an entirely new job again when the show goes into production. Those scripts will keep changing and evolving and often you won't have the benefit of your writers room (probably already disbanded) to help you. As I said in the previous answer, the job changes yet again when your footage gets to the editing room. Up until now, all you've done is given your editor 10,000 jigsaw puzzle pieces, with a picture on the box to help him or her piece it together...but who knows if all the pieces are there? As a show-runner, you basically go from being a dreamer, to a sketch artist, to a painter, to a jigsaw carver, to puzzle solver.
5. What new, upcoming television show are you most looking forward to checking out (besides your own)?
There are so many! I'm looking forward to Apple TV's FOUNDATION, an adaptation of a classic sci fi novel. It looks epic, and I can't wait to see what they've done with it!
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