She brings Mary Jane on as a correspondent and basically allows her to truly start over.
But its in New York.
Its her first time in a long time of being away from her family.
Credit: BET
She really wants to use this as an opportunity to reset her life.
The previous three seasons were set in Atlanta.
There was a greater balance of work-life so you saw a lot more of her family.
But you also saw the codependency of it all.
Moving it away from Atlanta to New York is the biggest difference: shes not codependent in the BS.
It really allows everyone to grow.
New York is really just a massive reset button.
You see Mary Jane struggling to make it.
You mentioned Mary Jane gets a job at a morning show and gets to work for her idol.
But their relationship isnt exactly friendly.A lot of these [stories] are drawn from our collective experience.
Im not helping you!
You cant be this stupid.
And thats what Mary Jane runs into.
She quickly has him star in her sexual fantasy, veryEyes Wide Shut.
But you will definitely see more of Lee this season and more of their cultural differences come into play.
The idea of black masculinity can you define it?
That storyline plays out in her bedroom and on the show.
There are a lot of prongs that come off of Lee.
Creator Mary Brock Akil stepped away last season from being showrunner.
I really wanted Will Packer [Straight Outta Compton], whos also an Atlanta native…
Together we were able to find Erica Shelton, an amazing senior writer fromThe Good Wife.
To be able to bring Erica over to our show has been huge.
You sound creatively reenergized by this season.
Story-wise, we definitely know where we want to take it.
We definitely have enough material to carry on for a few more seasons.
If the audience will have us, wed definitely be game for that.
Sometimes its the creative part; its not due for a desire to continue having a steady paycheck.
Its creatively, Where are we going?
Where are these characters going?
Certainly with the move to New York, its opened up so many worlds to Mary Jane.
The move to New York has really energized every character.
So I had to learn how to stand up for myself very early and to do it often.
I just had to carry that into my career.
Being Mary Janeairs Tuesdays at 10 p.m.
