Stacy A. Littlejohn is the creative force behind the super sexy, romantic comedy, 'Single Ladies'. She is both writer and creator, giving birth to three characters, Val, Keisha & April; we have grown so addicted to. Monday nights will never be the same! VH1 has greenlit season two and I can't wait to see what she has in store next!
I was able to catch up with the smart, savvy and witty Stacy A. Littlejohn. We spoke about the success of the show, reality vs. scripted television, living grand and more.
Grand Life Daily: First I would like to congratulate you on the success of ‘Single Ladies’. I watch it every Monday!
Stacy A. Littlejohn: Oh that’s so cool, thank you
GLD: Did you expect the show to be such a success?
SL: I didn't. I thought it might be but you know when you're working on something you try to think positive. You tell yourself you're doing something good, I'm going to do something that’s big. You want to go the long distance you don't ever want to go into something with bad energy. You have to go into it positive but not with arrogant energy, you know what I mean. I don’t want to say yeah and be arrogant, but you have to have some level of confidence or you won’t get past the pen and the paper.
GLD: ‘Single Ladies’ is VH1's first ever hour long scripted show, with today’s reality takeover, you know every station has a reality show, how do you think ‘Single Ladies’ is able to compete and constantly stay in the viewer’s conversation?
SL: Well you know reality television has been popular now for several years, it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. People obviously like it and there is something that they are getting from it but there was something that was here long before reality, which was scripted. People enjoyed that [scripted] for years. People have been telling stories and reading books for years and there’s no difference when you tell a story or do an adaptation of some kind of book and put it on TV or in the movies. People like to watch a real story unfold, there is a real art there and I think people like that art. With reality television I don’t know how much art is there. I don’t mean to insult reality television because it is a kind of art but it’s kind of fly by night. It seems some reality television is some what scripted so it is a kind of art and I just think that they are two different kinds of art.
GLD: How do you feel about ‘Single Ladies’ constantly being compared to ‘Girlfriends’ and ‘Sex and the City’? How do you think ‘Single Ladies’ is set a part from those two shows?
SL: It’s [Single Ladies] all my perspective. ‘Girlfriends’ was Mara Bock Akil's perspective and ‘Sex and the City’ was Darren Stars’ perspective and ‘Single Ladies’ is Stacy Littlejohn’s perspective. To me that’s what makes it different, it’s a different person at the helm. So you can expand it to different thought processes, different people bring, different things. You can tell five people the same story about a man and a dog and your going to get five different perspectives.
GLD: Initially you had written a script called ‘Modern Love’. How does ‘Modern Love’ compare to ‘Single Ladies’?
SL: Not at all like it, it’s [Modern Love] very different. It’s about two young ladies who were at two very different places in their lives. They are very different, I guess it was what I was ramping up to before I got to ‘Single Ladies’; but you really can’t compare, if you read the scripts its just two different cases and two different characters.
GLD: You had worked with LisaRaye when you were writing for ‘All of Us’; did you create Keisha based on LisaRaye’s personality and what you knew she could bring to Keisha?
SL: Not at all, I created the character for her but it’s not based on her. I wrote it for her because I knew she'd play the character well. She’s a great actress. The character Keisha is based on three different people that I kind of merged together in my head and created the superwoman Keisha. She [LisaRaye] is one of my best friends in the world, so I knew whatever I worked on I wanted her to be a part of it. She came in and rocked the audition because she had to win the whole network over and she did that - she hit it out the park.
GLD: I heard LisaRaye on a talk show stating that the network initially wanted someone younger for the role of Keisha.
SL: They did initially when I created the show. I had mentioned her and they were like that’s too old. I was quite disappointed because I had written the character for her. It worked itself out, what was supposed to happen, did happen. She came in for an audition, we gave her a chance to do that and they were like no more questions asked -- that’s Keisha! I didn’t tell them that she was a friend of mine, they knew that we had worked together but I didn’t mention that she was one of my best friends because I didnt want that to hurt her or in anyway effect her. I wanted her to be able to earn it on her own and she did. But, they certainly were against her at first
GLD: Hands down Keisha is my favorite character so both you and LisaRaye are doing a great job. What is it like working with Queen Latifah?
SL: Queen Latifah is awesome. She is super supportive and very smart. I couldn’t ask for a better person to work with.
GLD: VH1 has “put a ring” on season two of ‘Single Ladies’. What could our audience look forward to in the second season?
SL: Well you could look forward to more great stories. I’m going to bring in some new characters that we can love and get back to the roots. I’m just going to keep building on the love so we can just keep making new friends on every season to join the ‘Single Ladies’ Family.
GLD: Outside of ‘Single Ladies’, what can our audience look forward to from you in the future? Are you working on any other projects?
SL: You know right now I want to write a romantic comedy, I would love to get something in the theater on the big screen. To be honest, ‘Single Ladies’ has taken up a better part of the past two years of my life. I haven’t had a lot of time do anything else, I actually just finished the first season of ‘Single Ladies’ this past Friday (July 22). I would love to create some more television shows and get some movies out there
GLD: What does living grand mean to you?
SL: To me it means being happy in the place that you are. Everything is where it should be in this moment. If you woke up this morning, that’s living grand to me. You’re alive and you're here and you have to make the best of every moment. You have to live in the present and make the best of this time right now!
Follow Stacy A. Littlejohn on Twitter @StacyALiljohn
'Single Ladies' season one finale airs Monday, August 8 9ET/PT.
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