Interview (Written): Tracy Oliver and Kenya Barris
A conversation with the screenwriters of the hit movie Girls Trip.
A conversation with the screenwriters of the hit movie Girls Trip.
The comedy Girls Trip has achieved some notable accomplishments:
- The first with an all-black creative team, both in front and behind the camera, to hit $100M at the domestic box office.
- Co-writer Tracy Oliver is the first female African-American to script a movie to break the $100M mark.
- It stands a good chance at surpassing Bad Moms at the box office to end up as the #2 R-rated comedy with female leads behind Bridesmaids.
The New York Times interviewed the movie’s screenwriters Oliver and Kenya Barris about the film’s success.
“Girls Trip” just crossed the $100 million threshold. What does this accomplishment mean to you and what does it mean about the possibilities for films starring black actors and written by black writers?
TRACY OLIVER I could not believe it, I basically went online and tried to fact-check it myself because I was like, “That cannot be true.” What I realized is that this represented an issue that still needs to be fixed because there are movies like “Hidden Figures,” for example, that have black women in lead roles that have grossed over $100 million but when you look into them further, most of the time they’re not written by black people at all. That’s something producers and studios need to take a harder look into and start reaching out to people of color more often.
KENYA BARRIS It opens up the possibility for what it means to be a person of color in this industry, a woman, all at the same time. The thing that is most interesting to me is what it is doing for the international box office. Traditionally we have been told that our movies don’t do well overseas. That is one of the biggest obstacles to making movies with people of color and I’m actually seeing that this movie is having some steam overseas.
What was the over all goal, from your perspective, of “Girls Trip”? Is there a scene that personifies that goal?
OLIVER I want it to be the type of environment where you walk out of there entertained, but also wanting to reach out to your friends and celebrate sisterhood. I feel like we accomplished that — and I was later told this was why the studio hired Kenya and myself — in the ending as a love story between the four of them. It didn’t have a traditional romantic-comedy, finding-a-man ending.
BARRIS The primary goal was to see black women being able to, at the comedic level, wild out and be free, and not as restricted as they have been in previous movies, the same way that women from other cultures, predominantly white culture, have been able to, you know, “Bridesmaids” and “Rough Night.” A scene at the end [of “Girls Trip”] with the conversation about what friends mean — that scene made me a little teary. I have three daughters of my own, and I want my daughters to keep their friendship circle.
Here is a trailer for the movie Girls Trip:
Twitter: @TracyYOliver, @funnyblackdude.
For the rest of the interview, go here.