Writer Stefani Robinson is lending her writing talents to the FX comedy What We Do in the Shadows. But before giving vampires a comedic voice, she was a writer on another FX hit series, Atlanta starring Donald Glover, Brian Tyree Henry, Lakeith Stanfield and Zazie Beetz. Robinson was nominated for an Emmy for her writing on the “Barbershop” episode of Atlanta’s season 2.
In an interview with Collider, Robinson talked about how she made the transition from Atlanta to What We Do in the Shadows. Thanks to her work at FX (where she has an overall deal), the transition was easy.
“Paul Simms, the showrunner of What We Do in the Shadows, is actually the executive producer on Atlanta,” she said. “He’s worked with Jemaine Clement and even Taika [Waititi] for a really [long] time, back to Flight of the Conchords days, and he mentioned to me that he was working on What We Do in the Shadows. Just as a friend, I was like, ‘Oh my God, I love that movie! I love those guys and I think they’re so talented and fun.’ And then, it ended up being real and, luckily, I’ve got an overall deal at FX, and the show was at FX, so it became one of those things that was just super easy to throw myself into.”
When asked about what’s next for her, Robinson said, “I think immediately next is Shadows season 2. Later this month (June), I rejoin those guys and we’ll start talking about Season 2, and then head up to Toronto and do it all again.” And of course, she was asked about Atlanta season 3 and if that will come after What We Do in the Shadows season 2 work. “Yeah, who knows?” she said. “Fingers crossed. It was such a fun, great show that I’m always ready for it to come back. Once I know, I’m sure you guys will all know.”
The interview also touched on several celebrity cameos What We Do in the Shadows has had, including one actor who famously played a certain Dhampir vampire killer named Blade. “…Wesley [Snipes] was one of my favorite cameos, and we had to do that separately, just into a camera by himself,” she said. “I think it worked out and looked great. It was chaos, but it was so much fun.”
What We Do in the Shadows will come back to FX for its second season. Robinson’s writing credits will also include her own feature film for Fox Searchlight, which is described as a period piece set in the pre-Revolutionary France’s music world. Robinson herself said that “it is based on someone in history, and it was just something that felt Purple Rain-y in the right ways.”
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