|
|
|
|
|
Adrienne Lopez - Opening Doors and Launching Careers
By Carla Robinson
Adrienne
Lopez is a woman who refuses to allow things to go unchanged if there’s any way she
can improve them. During her eight-year tenure at Nickelodeon, she has risen from a
producer to her current position, vice president of talent development for both
Nickelodeon’s television and film projects. Always one to have a plan, Lopez used the
leverage of her newest position to create the Nickelodeon Writers’ Fellowship
Program.
She developed the program, now in its inaugural year, as a way to give writers of color
the foot in the door that too few of them have had not only at Nickelodeon, but also in
all of TV. Her response to the dog-eared notion that there aren’t enough talented
Black and Latino writers to fill available positions is that “People don’t look.
They don’t provide enough opportunities.” And that’s what Lopez feels is
her obligation, not only as a woman of color, but also as a human being to do.
The goal of the Writers Fellowship Program is to provide yearlong
fellowships to four writers to work various projects at Nickelodeon. The response to the
call for writing samples was tremendous, netting nearly 1,000 applications, which made it
difficult to choose just four. Lopez hopes to increase the number of fellowships with each
coming year, in order to grant more opportunities. Her advice to anyone who wishes to
write for children is to remember that they have specific sensibilities and to “be
into story. Remember that funny is money.”
|
|
|
|
Lopez wasn’t always in a position to create fellowship programs for
major cable networks. Before working in television, she was a practicing attorney. Having
“outgrown the law profession,” she saw a program on Lifetime Television hosted
by Joan Lunden that piqued her interest in television. Not long after, she learned of a
research assistant position at an upstate New York studio. Married with children and a
mortgage, the decision to apply for the position did not come easily, since it offered a
whopping $300 a week. But the work seemed engaging. So with the support of her
then-husband, Lopez took it, with one condition. She would have to be promoted to a
full-time producer within three months or she’d be out the door. She stayed for four
years.
Afterward, she went on to produce Donahue, Jane Pratt, and the pilot for The Ricki Lake
Show. By the time she reached Ricki, she was ready to move beyond the talk show format,
and Nickelodeon came along just in time. She never made it to the first episode of Ricki.
All these years later, she still loves her work at Nickelodeon. And her plans for opening
doors for people of color are just beginning to be realized. In addition to the fellowship
program, she’s giving the green light to shows like Taina. She challenges others who
want to get into the game to “take a chance. I never thought I’d be doing what
I’m doing now. I work to entertain children. What better job can you have?”
M
September 2000
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Vote for MO'
Make Donation Below |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
