6 Questions with Diane Ademu-John

Join the Dune: Prophecy creator for Saturday's live Q&A!

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Our next live Zoom Q&A is this Saturday, 12/7, 11am PT, with the brilliant Diane Ademu-John. The link is below for paid subscribers.

As with last month’s Q&A guest, this Saturday’s guest, Diane Ademu-John, has had an enviable career on interesting and exciting shows. Diane is the co-developer of the new Dune: Prophecy show. Before that, she worked on Apple’s anthology show Extrapolations, the terrific Haunting of Bly Manor, and for several seasons on long-running shows like Empire, Medium, and The Originals.

As Diane described when we first met on The Writers Panel in 2019, there was a learning curve to her experience in writers’ rooms. At first reticent, she finally found a way to “let my cantankerous self come out more and more.”

Having put in the hours on those long-running shows, Diane eventually came to an important realization about writing:

A lot of great stories come when you are uncomfortable and you explore why you're uncomfortable, or you make a mistake and you explore why you make a mistake. Entitlement is worth exploring. I have been in those situations… and probably 97% of it has ended up on screen.

The context of that piece of advice was about uncomfortable conversations in the room, but I think it’s good advice for writing on your own as well. If a topic, or even a scene or emotion within a scene, feels dangerous, feels like touching a third rail, then it’s probably worth exploring. What makes it distressing? How can you put that feeling into the script?

6 Questions with Diane Ademu-John

1. What you working on right now?

Currently working on a feature film rewrite, and my husband and I are developing a historical drama TV series for streaming.

2. What challenges are you facing specific to your current writing project?

Digging through a mountain of historical research and deciding just how much research is too much research. It’s an important story that hasn’t been given a lot of attention, so you want to do it justice. But ultimately you have to captivate an audience, not send them to history class, so currently trying to find that balance.

3. What advice about the business of TV/film writing can you give to someone starting out now?

For me, it’s “be adaptable”, because with very few exceptions, you will ALWAYS be “starting out,” because the business is constantly changing. Be adaptable…. but be disciplined.

4. What advice about the craft of writing can you give to someone starting out?

“Don't get it right — get it written.” Meaning, fuck being perfect, just get something, ANYthing down on the page first.

I tell myself that everyday. And it’s something that will serve you whether you have a job or don't have a job.

But just as important — do not hand in ANYTHING with typos in it. Just don’t.

5. What do you respond to most in a piece of writing?

Character, of course, is first.

But I'm also a puzzle solver. Crosswords/jigsaws/word games — nothing pleases me more than seeing a really intricate puzzle coming together in an act three.

6. What are you watching/reading/listening to lately that’s getting you excited or inspired?

The Penguin, like Andor, has made a real commitment to dark, adult storytelling in what was originally in a comic book or all-ages space.

There’s a horror podcast I love called Knifepoint Horror. Just short tales of not-so-good men and women brushing up against dark Lovecraftian forces they will never understand. Creepy, haunting short vignettes. Love it!

You don’t want to miss this one! Join us this Saturday, Dec 7, 11am PT for the Q&A with Diane! Info below. If you’re not already a paid subscriber…