Quinta Brunson created the breakthrough series ‘Abbott Elementary’ that cemented her role in the industry, thanks to the show’s huge success. The actress and producer talked about the hardships that preceded the show’s hit and how she had almost given up on it and moved back home.
Speaking to Jennifer Aniston about the show’s road to success, Brunson revealed the difficulties she faced to get the show picked up and how it all worked out in the end.
Quinta Brunson Talks About The Path To ‘Abbott Elementary’s Success
During an Actors on Actors series interview with Jennifer Aniston for Variety, Brunson admitted that she was beginning to lose hope for a career in entertainment before the pickup of her popular sitcom Abbott Elementary.
“Really I mainly needed a job,” Brunson revealed, “I sold a pilot to CBS and I sold a pilot to HBO Max. Neither of those went, but Abbott was the one that, if Abbott didn’t get picked up, I was going to move back home.”
She then talked about her life before the show and said, “When I first started using the internet as a stage — I really looked at it as this other stage that opened up to us — I was doing improv, I was doing standup. Even when I was at Buzzfeed, my goal was one day to make a sitcom and one day to act in a sitcom.”
Quinta Brunson produced the American mockumentary sitcom television series for ABC. In it, Brunson plays Janine Teagues, a second-grade teacher at the impoverished Abbott Elementary, a fictitious school in Philadelphia with a large Black student body. Tyler James Williams, Janelle James, Lisa Ann Walter, Chris Perfetti, William Stanford Davis, and Sheryl Lee Ralph are among the ensemble cast members on the show that has since garnered a massive following.
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Quinta Brunson Thanks ‘Friends’ For Inspiring Her
The actress also thanked Jennifer Aniston’s show ‘Friends‘ for inspiring her to create her own sitcom. She said, “I just want you to know, I learned about the beauty of an ensemble through watching Friends.” To which Aniston replied, “Well, you just gave me goosebumps. You really do all seem to have a really beautiful relationship and chemistry — it’s just perfection.”
Previous to this, however, Brunson had criticized the show for not having enough black representation during her SNL monologue. She had said, “I have a show called ‘Abbott Elementary,’ and it’s kind of unique. It’s a network show, like say ‘Friends.’ Except instead of being about a group of friends, it’s about a group of teachers. And instead of New York, it’s in Philadelphia. And instead of not having Black people, it does.”
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