Harlem, the latest Amazon Original to hit the streaming service, is a comedy centering on the life and times of four best friends who are ready to conquer New York City in their respective fields. The show was created by Tracy Oliver (Girls Trip and Little), whose work has often not only explored female empowerment in various settings but also championed Black voices and artists.
Camille (Meagan Good, Shazam), Quinn (Grace Byers, Empire), Angie (Shoniqua Shandai, I Am The Night) and Tye (TV newcomer Jerrie Johnson) make up the fabulous foursome. Camille is a college professor looking for tenure, Quinn is a fashion designer hoping to break away from her family's expectations, Tye is a tech genius down on her luck when it comes to love, and Angie is a performer waiting for her big break. But whatever paths their lives take, their friendship remains as strong as ever.
Oliver spoke to Screen Rant about what goes into opening the door for Black creatives to make and control their own work, as well as how she decided on the kinds of characters to represent and types of actors to cast.
Screen Rant: I love that you're always opening doors for Black voices, not only in front of the screen but behind the scenes. What is that process like for you, being on the production side of things?
Tracy Oliver: That's a really good question. I think what I ended up having to do a lot is a lot of outreach. And what I mean by that is you can't just rely on agents and managers if you're trying to build a diverse writers' room or crew or anything like that, because a lot of the people that are already in the pipeline are not people of color.
We just don't have the numbers that other communities might have, so you kind of just have to reach out, and you also have to train people and mentor. Even though on some level that's harder, it's something that I've made like a mission of mine: just to find new people or even undiscovered great people that are not new, but haven't had the right person vouch for them. That's where I look for people.
You have also gathered some amazing people in front of the cameras. The four women really drive the show and all their different energies combine to make such a fascinating experience. How did you decide what kind of actors you needed on screen?
Tracy Oliver: I would say that I knew I wanted them to all look and feel different. And the reason why that's important to me is I think sometimes there's a tendency to - especially when men are casting - just find the prettiest, skinniest people and then assemble a show. And then they wonder why women are not relating to the characters.
For me, I don't care about any of that. I just want them to feel like real people. I want them to feel like real friends. I want them to have different body types, different complexions, hair textures, just to show the breadth of Black beauty. And also, so that people who look any sort of way can relate to somebody on screen. You can't really do that when you don't vary the physical types on screen as well.
Of those all the different types, whether it's physical or emotional, which lady do you relate to most?
Tracy Oliver: I would say Camille. She is the closest to my sometimes type A personality type. I always had strict ideas of - I used to, it's all imploded, so I don't have it anymore - where I wanted my life to be. I was very regimented about stuff, and then when it just stopped working out in the way that I wanted, I had to learn to surrender and just release control.
But that's something that I had to get to. I think Camille when we're meeting her, is learning to let go of this plan and this control that she thought she had on her life but doesn't.
All 10 episodes of Harlem are currently available to watch on Prime Video.