00:00Hey, welcome back. I'm Kori Murray and you are in for a special treat because I'm about to talk
00:11to the creator and showrunner of your next favorite show. Okay. And it's on Starz. It's
00:17called Pea Valley. Please welcome Katori Hall. Hello. Hi. Oh my God. I'm good. I want to confess
00:29I've only been to a strip club once in my life. Wow. Okay. Right. And it was recently before Corona
00:39and now watching Pea Valley, your show, I have like a whole new view of these women, but I'm
00:52talking as if everyone that's listening to us knows what we're talking about. So can you please
00:57tell us the premise of your Pea Valley? So Pea Valley is set down in the Dirty Delta in a club
01:05called The Pank. It centers on the lives of the women who are working and dancing there. It's
01:13about, you know, their relationships with each other, their relationships with themselves,
01:19their relationships with the customers. It's all about that grit and glitter, that ish and
01:25that shine. And we enter the world through this mysterious newcomer named Autumn Knight.
01:33Now this series, there wasn't always just a series, correct? It started on stage.
01:39So it started out as a play. Um, and what's crazy is that it took me six years to make it into a play.
01:49Um, I interviewed over 40 women. I visited like so many clubs from the North to the South because I
01:58really wanted to get, um, you know, the authentic experience and I wanted to, you know, just research
02:05it. So I got every detail, right. And so I put all of this information up into this play. And I remember
02:12when I watched it, I was like, girl, you ain't wrote no play. You done wrote a TV show. Cause these
02:18characters got legs for days, like literally and figuratively, you know, you want to, you want to
02:23be inside this world for a very long time because there's just so many stories to tell, not only the
02:28stories of the dancers, but the stories of the people who come in. Um, and I'm just so happy that
02:34stars gave me this opportunity to move into like a longer format story, uh, for the show.
02:41Now, speaking of the six, going back really quickly to the six years. Now, the reason also it took six
02:48years, you were doing some other things, correct? Come on now. Well, in terms of just my life,
02:55your life, my life, I had two kids. Um, you know, you had a Broadway play open up.
03:02I was developing Tina, the Tina Turner musical, you know, I had an off Broadway play, you know,
03:10it, you know, when from the play to the actual TV show, it took me even four years added on to that
03:15six. So just think it is, I've been on an odyssey, like a real talk odyssey. Um, when it came to this
03:22show. Um, but you know, life is what it is. I think because I had my own lived experience,
03:28I was going through my ups and downs. It really helped me, um, just use everything that I was
03:33going through and infuse the characters. Um, you know, just with that, that artistry and that
03:40realness. Cause you know, these women, they just like me and you, like there are sisters, there are
03:45our daughters, there are mothers. And I was just really happy as a black woman, um, who really
03:51understands that long history of like hyper-sexualized images to be given a platform so
03:57that I could like really humanize them because, you know, they've been stigmatized. Um, they've
04:02been shunned and you know, the world of exotic dancing, it, it exists. And I, I really wanted
04:08to put a human face on, on, on these dancers.
04:11What I love too. I mean, there's so many things I do love. I love what you're saying about the
04:16stories because immediately you're drawn into, um, I believe it's autumn's character who is
04:23seemingly running from the floods. Correct. Displaced. And so that's a very real thing.
04:30And then to see the outcome, but one thing I'm curious about, and I've read you talk about this
04:36is that you just reading the log line, you think stripper club, you think the South black women,
04:42and you're like, okay, this is players club, or this is another take of hustlers, but you've said
04:47you don't mind those comparisons. Can you talk about why you don't? You know, I definitely feel
04:51as though, you know, we, we descend from the players club and that, you know, that was a movie
04:59that really, uh, moved the culture, you know, for a minute, it was number one on Netflix. It was
05:05either number one or number two during quarantine. So people was like going back into the crates and
05:10and looking at that movie. Um, it was like one of the first movies that really, I would say,
05:16um, visually articulated a black Southern strip club, right. Um, in terms of, of hustlers, I always
05:22say that we're sisters. Um, the fact that, you know, that particular story was told from the female
05:27gaze, which is something that I think our show is extremely successful at, you know, we center the
05:33stories of the women. We experienced the world through the women. We are up on the pole with the
05:40women. Um, so I really do this though. My show is definitely in conversation, um, with those, uh,
05:47pieces. Um, and, and I just hope that we're adding, you know, uh, uh, a different, um, unique
05:53perspective in that we are not only dealing with, you know, the, the lives of the dancers, but, you
06:00know, you think of the character of uncle Clifford, this non-binary gender fluid hustler, like we never
06:06get an opportunity to see uncle Clifford's on TV. And like the fact that uncle Clifford
06:11going to be in people's living rooms is like mind blowing to me. And I'm like, just so ready
06:16to see how the world, um, reacts to that character as well.
06:21Yeah. I, I don't mean to rank them, but I'm already, if I have favorite P Valley character
06:25right now, it's uncle Clifford is Mercedes and then it's autumn. But I think it's only because
06:31we're, we're just, I mean, I've only gotten to two episodes. So we're only just starting
06:35to see exactly what autumn's, uh, what her real story of what she's hiding. But no, uncle
06:40Clifford has me in because also the other thing is he's a business owner, a business owner who
06:46is providing a service, which he loves to tell people. But I, but I do, but I, but I also
06:54love his interactions with people, at least what I've seen so far, no one questioned, like
06:58you said, non-binary, no one's questioning him. Absolutely. You know, yeah. Like, uncle
07:03Clifford like embraces the pronoun she, but yet, you know, will always use her male privilege
07:10because in the moment, like uncle Clifford, that name ain't going to change for uncle Clifford.
07:15Nope. Just going to be, um, who they are. And yeah, I'm just, I cannot wait until audiences
07:23meet, you know, uncle Clifford and then, you know, just get to know all of the characters
07:28over the course of these, these eight episodes, this first season.
07:32You just gave me a thought. I think I'm going to be uncle Clifford for Halloween. If we can
07:35go back outside.
07:39I'm like, are we going outside? I'm told for 31st, 2020.
07:43I'm.
07:44Oh, I don't know. It's crazy.
07:48One more thing I want to talk about before we, before we go, cause you are putting these
07:52an array of beautiful black women, black stories, black roles and characters, new characters
07:58for us to see on screen. But behind the scenes, you did something also incredible. There's
08:02a number of black women behind the scenes. Can you talk about that? I mean, starting with
08:06yourself, you are an award-winning playwright.
08:09And yeah, I'm an award-winning playwright and I'm a first time showrunner. And I just,
08:14I wasn't ready for being a showrunner. Cause there ain't no, no school to go to. There ain't no book
08:20three about it. Um, but the fact that I've got the opportunity to do it now, I just feel
08:27like I can, I can do anything. Like I, I myself feel like a super hero now. Um, but you know,
08:33the black women that are on my team are incredible from, you know, my line producer, uh, uh, Montez
08:41Monroe to my, um, one of my co-epees, Kalia Neal, um, Rita, who does costumes, Jamaica, who did
08:49the choreography. We got makeup by Stevie. We got, um, hair by, by Pam. It's just, it's
08:56crazy. Even locations is run by a black woman. We got, we, we served that we showed up and
09:03we showed out, uh, on the, on the P Valley set. Like, and I'm, I'm really happy, uh, about
09:08that to have been, you know, blessed and, and, and just to be able to use this platform
09:14to give other people jobs, because that's the thing. A lot of people haven't had access. They're
09:19not given opportunities and, you know, times are changing and it's time for us to, to step up
09:26into our power. And so, uh, I was so thankful that I was surrounded by, uh, a wonderful sisterhood.
09:33All right, great. Now, before you go, let me ask you, who was your favorite character to write?
09:38If you had to pick one, you can just tell us, you can just tell us.
09:41Now you know it's Uncle Clifford, and let me tell you why though. Uncle Clifford is like
09:48a mixture of my mama, my daddy, and my Uncle Clifford, right?
09:51Oh, okay.
09:53So I love, something that I love to do is to give a living ancestor of mine, um, to give
10:00their name over to a character, um, that I've created. It's a way to kind of, you know, honor
10:05them and to, to make them, um, almost like a historical figure, you know, through fiction.
10:11And so, Uncle Clifford, the, the sass and also just the truth telling, I think is, is a beautiful
10:19mixture, so unique. And I think people are going to be memeing Uncle Clifford today.
10:26Oh, definitely. I'm going to start it. I'm going to start it. Katori, thank you so much. It's been
10:32such a wonderful time speaking with you about P-Valley. Thank you, Kori. Always a pleasure.
10:37Take care. You too.
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