Courtney A. Kemp on Breaking Into the Industry Today: Make the Show, Then Get the Job
Power creator and showrunner Courtney A. Kemp appeared on the Script Notes Podcast to share exactly what she would do if she were starting over today — make a five-episode micro-series, post it on YouTube, and let the audience find it before the industry does.
Courtney A. Kemp on Breaking Into the Industry Today: Make the Show, Then Get the Job
Courtney A. Kemp built one of the most successful crime franchises in cable history. From a solitary project, she expanded Power on Starz into an expansive universe that captivated a devoted fanbase, evolving it into a multi-platform endeavor. With Nemesis streaming on Netflix, Kemp has demonstrated her ability to reach diverse media and content types. As a Scriptnotes Podcast guest, she didn't mention her achievements, which she had already accomplished. She discussed what she would undertake if she had to restart today, at the beginning, with just a smartphone and a tale to share.
The Landscape Has Changed, and That's a Gift
When Kemp first arrived in Hollywood, the path into the writers' room ran almost exclusively through spec scripts. You wrote episodes of existing shows to prove you could hear a character's voice, structure an act, and deliver pages. That work was invisible to the public. It sat in a drawer or a PDF until someone in a position of power decided to read it. The audience had no way to find you, and you had no way to find the audience.
That constraint, Kemp explained, no longer exists. The tools that were once reserved for studios, cameras, editing software, and distribution channels are now sitting in the pocket of anyone with a phone and something to say.
The Five-Episode Blueprint
Kemp's advice was specific, practical, and direct. On the podcast, she laid out exactly what she would do if she were under 30 and trying to break in right now:
"If I were under 30, like I was when I got here, I would make a five-episode series, eight minutes per episode, and I would shoot it myself, or with some friends," said Kemp. "Cast a couple of friends who are actors, young actors, everybody my age. And not make it just about our fun lives, but make it about a specific thing, a specific story you can tell in those five episodes."The keyword there is "specific." Kemp isn't advocating for a casual vlog or an unstructured hang. She's describing a micro-series with a real dramatic spine, conflict, stakes, characters who want something and can't quite get it. Her off-the-cuff example made the point perfectly: Jane's dad dies, the group has to travel for the funeral, but not everyone knows Jane has recently come out. Five episodes. Forty minutes of total runtime. One contained story with emotional weight and something to say.
Make It Work While You Sleep
What separates Kemp's blueprint from simple DIY filmmaking advice is the distribution strategy baked into it. She's not just telling aspiring writers to make something; she's telling them to make something that builds an audience on its own. Put it on YouTube. Have everyone in the cast post about it. Let it accumulate views while you're sleeping, writing your next thing, working your day job.
This is a fundamentally different proposition from the spec script era. A spec script cannot work while you sleep. A YouTube series can. It can be discovered a week after you post it, or a year. It can earn you a conversation with a development executive who happened to see a friend share it. It is, in the most literal sense, an asset, something that generates attention and opportunity passively, independent of who you know or which agency will take your call.
The Issa Rae Model, Scaled Down
Kemp was candid about where this idea comes from. She named it directly: the Issa Rae model. Rae made Awkward Black Girl, a low-budget YouTube series that built a real, loyal audience, and that audience became the proof of concept that eventually led to Insecure on HBO. The industry didn't discover Issa Rae in a pile of spec scripts. It discovered her because she had already done the work of proving people wanted to watch her stories.
Kemp's insight is that the same playbook is still available, and arguably easier to execute now than when Rae first used it. The episodes can be shorter. The production can be simpler. She even suggested shooting vertically, built natively for the way most people consume video today, on a phone held in one hand.
Writing Still Matters, It Just Has Company Now
Kemp didn't suggest abandoning traditional craft. After the series is up and finding its audience, she still recommends assembling a proper writing portfolio: a couple of spec episodes of existing shows, two original pilots, and a short story. That package demonstrates the range and formal skill to anyone in the industry who wants to take a deeper look.
The difference is that the portfolio now has something to stand next to a produced work, with real performances, real choices about pacing and tone, real evidence of creative judgment under constraints. For a writer trying to get a room, that combination is significantly more compelling than pages alone.
The Takeaway for Anyone Starting Out
Courtney A. Kemp has earned the right to give this advice. She built Power from a pilot script into a television empire. With Nemesis, she has continued to take creative risks at the highest level of the industry. When someone with that track record tells you to stop waiting for permission and make the show yourself, it's worth listening.
The tools are there. The platforms are there. The audience is there, looking for something specific and true, something that could only come from the person who made it. What Kemp is saying, plainly and without hedging, is that the only thing left is the decision to begin.
