CREDITS GO HERE 5/11/16 3:24 PM5/11/16 3:24 PM fth fth ghting this.” rst part of Basically, I’m I’m . Basically, otsam and novelty By Paul Hond Paul By Weeds condom, and a Weeds C. Orange in the can, the Illustration by Conor by LangtonIllustration ff “Whenever told me I couldn’t anyone ce. exudesce warmth and comfort, as does o o Life wasn’t always this good. “I spent the fi Life wasn’t always From early on, Kohan clashed with naysayers. In fi In early on, Kohan clashed with naysayers. From With the latest season of With the latest ee beanbag emblazoned with an unprintable four-letter beanbag emblazoned with an unprintable four-letter word starting with the letter my life verymy frustrated, feeling patronized, and fi injustice, and it doesn’t work when you’re young,” young,” work when you’re injustice, and it doesn’t in an armchair with her feet seated tucked Kohan says, frustration turned into “But that under her. This being the whole schmear: the hit shows, the peaceful offi do something, buttons it pushed my driven by vengeance.” she grade, as a “strange, depressed, and chubby kid,” circulated an anti-censorship petition after her play was canceled when a teacher objected to a scene in which an Asian character gives someone egg foo young. building is quiet today, and Kohan is relaxed. Her and Kohan is relaxed. Her building is quiet today, private offi Kohan herself. Her hair is the vivid indigo of blue of blue hair is the vivid indigo Her Kohan herself. been teleported cat-eye have glasses could velvet. Her from a 1962 mahjong game. Objects on her desk to a fondness for thrift-shop fl attest 8 Balls, a Magic doodads: two anan lled ngng hh e

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, Kohan’s award-winning award-winning , Kohan’s

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njnj enji Kohan ’91CC is a rare bird among enji Kohan ’91CC is a rare television showrunners: blue-haired and earth mother with female, a punkish Jewish a darkly comic vision so basic to her nature of political correctnessthat the goblin

SUMMER 2016 SUMMER ee

in everything,nd the funny especially the inap-

Kohan’s company, Tilted Productions, is based in Tilted Productions, company, Kohan’s “I fi

ThTh JJ with brightly colored educational toys. This is where Black Orange Is the New central Los build- Colonial–style Angeles, in a Spanish ing of pink stucco, arched windows, and iron grillwork. it was later Playhouse, Built in 1926 as the Masque Theatre (legend has it that renamed the Hayworth studio there). father once ran a dance Rita Hayworth’s after a major Now, Kohan bought the place in 2013. feng shui triumph a clean, spare, sunny, renovation, it’s with long hall- of orderly space and calming energy, and private writing rooms, a large open kitchen ways fi playroom and dining area, and even a children’s propriate,” she says. “Maybe it’s my survival my technique.” it’s “Maybe she says. propriate,” dramedy series, is conceived, women’s-prison birthed. edited, and discussed, mapped out, written, shrinks in her presence. As a writer, she is fearless. shrinks in her presence. As a writer, going. there, and keep She will go the last laugh laugh last the Is the New Black smoked the doubters and got doubters the smoked Black New the Is creator of the hit TV shows Weeds and OrangeWeeds shows TV hit of the creator Smart. Funny. Obsessive. Subversive. How the the How Subversive. Obsessive. Smart. Funny. J

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CREDITS

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CU_2.16.Jenji_FINAL.indd 23 5/11/16 3:24 PM CREDITS GO HERE 5/12/16 10:47 AM5/12/16 10:47 AM awed, awed, The Carol awed people,” she says. she says. people,” awed uential people. “She’s turned criminals turned criminals people. “She’s uential PARENTAL VOICE VOICE PARENTAL room) (from next tennis! Go learn to play , crediting Kohan with “creating characters of Kohan with “creating , crediting i “ “It was a fascinating culture,” she says. “Everyone she says. “It was a fascinating culture,” e a e i e EXT. A HOUSE IN BEVERLY HILLS - 1982 HILLS IN BEVERLY A HOUSE EXT. sounds hear we of From within, Go TV! the off “Shut EDICTS: PARENTAL be social! Go do something productive!” - CONTINUOUS HOUSE SAME INT. the through pushes THE CAMERA As rooms, see bookcase, we crammed a a Emmy with crowded a shelf menorah, statuettes. room, TV in the arrives THE CAMERA on is curled a sofa, GIRL a TEENAGE where Cheers. watching e m te j h K Kohan was an erratic student, but she tested well. ea f h we weren’t strictweren’t interest like hierarchies. It was more rn ar w was trying there so hard to be sophisticated that Kohan pleads guilty. “I love fl Kohan pleads guilty. t the coeducational wilderness of Beverly Hills High.the coeducational wilderness of Beverly Hills n m h w which had cutthroat social divisions, she transferred to social divisions, which had cutthroat o b A After some unhappy years in an all-girls private school, f and and lawyers, preferably. Something secure. preferably. and lawyers, win t to be readers, not viewers. And not writers. Doctors E Emmys — they were books. TheEmmys kids were encouraged and sometimes unpleasant, but always human.” and sometimes but always unpleasant, so human in these characters.“I love the damage It’s spend so much time trying People and so relatable. succeeding. I love it, and no one’s to hide it and cover areas. I want to mess. I love gray embracing it. I love areas.” live in the gray Kohan grew with her older up in Beverly Hills Jenji Jen and her parents, and Jono, brothers, David twin t Rhea and Buz. Rhea was a novelist, and Buz was anR on hundreds TV writer who worked award-winning aw of network specials and series, including o But the most Awards. Burnett Show and the Academy Bu sacred objectssacr his collection in the house were not of azine, which in 2014 named Kohan one of its hun- one of its Kohan named 2014 which in azine, infl dred most we care about, women women we know, into women the is Black, also praised Rhimes, who we root for.” of riot of color and sexual “breathtaking orientation” Orange are three-dimensional, fl all backgrounds who .” ered ix granted ix , off Orange as one for its ng sons. Noted ix, which, after hearing , was a half-hour Show- Weeds rst showrunners to sign with Another time, she was suspended for was suspended time, she Another sick of “I’m administrator, to an saying bullshit”this bureaucratic — a line that from one of her easily come could have child characters. hot on the She was rst show, show, rst Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal, in Time mag- Grey’s

, now entering its fourth season, is loosely based

vengeance.”

Basically, I’m driven by by driven I’m Basically,

pushed my buttons. buttons. my pushed

do something, it it something, do

Not surprisingly, Kohan’s child characters child are often Kohan’s surprisingly, Not couldn’t I me told The show’s success led to a great leap in Kohan’s success led to a great leap in Kohan’s The show’s Orange “The are dark, twisted, creates characters Jenji “ Whenever anyone anyone “Whenever the moral center of the damaged adult universe they center of the damaged the moral fi inhabit. Her scent of hypocrisy and found battles everywhere. and found battles scent of hypocrisy a “I did really hard to be “It’s she says. lot of tilting at windmills,” off are written You no power. a kid, because you have career, and for the television paradigm generally: and for the television generally: paradigm career, Kohan was one of the fi crack writing, its warped humor, and Parker’s nuanced and Parker’s humor, crack writing, its warped ran from 2005 to 2012. performance, Weeds the streaming service Netfl Black pitch for Orange Is the New Kohan’s time comedy about a widowed suburban California time comedy about a who becomes by Mary-Louise Parker) mom (played for herself a comfy lifestyle a pot dealer to maintain and her young, hypocrisy-sniffi funny, and startlingly honest,” wrote Shonda Rhimes, and startlingly honest,” funny, creator of her the remarkable opportunity to make an entire her the remarkable opportunity to make thirteen-episode season up front. The would season once, and subscribers could stream be released all at televi- not only to create was a newit online. It way sion but also to consume it. Best of all, Netfl Kohan an unprecedented level freedom. of creative graduateon a memoir by Piper Kerman, a Smith College from a patrician family who served thirteen months in Connecti- the federal correctional institution in Danbury, cut, regard on drug-related charges. Critics of the best and most important shows on television. CU_2.16.Jenji_FINAL.V2.indd 24CU_2.16.Jenji_FINAL.V2.indd 24 CU_2.16.Jenji_FINAL.V2.indd 25

CREDITS GO HERE it comedic. Humor is how you survive thedarkness.”it comedic.Humor ishowyousurvive thinkwe’rebut Idon’t beingdisingenuousbymaking pleasure. It’s gottobefun.Prison isadark,darkworld, PeopleNo onewantstobelectured. watchTV for the needleorplantideasunlesspeopleareinvested. and stories.You’ll yourpointacrossormove get never and make theaudience careaboutthosecharacters always have anagenda, butmy fi However, it’s noteff ifyou’re ective scoldingpeople. I box,” she says. “Having asoapboxisgreatprivilege. “out-of-control prison-industrialcomplex.” skewering whatKohancallsthe whilesmartly sorts, ofall itsownreprisalsagainstpieties the showexacts nizingly, clumsily. play Andasthey theirrisky games, whointurnloveeachother—intensely,acters, ago- relationship in matter enterevery dynamicsofretaliation ofstyle. The becomes lessalegalormoral questionandmorea arbitrary, andpassionsosuppressed,thatpayback Litchfi sawnever OrangeIstheNew Black are avenged.” wrote SamuelJohnson. “Injuries crimes arerevenged; “ me? Ijustwon$250.You mein.’” shouldreallylet mein.’me in,let two weekslater:‘Hi. Then Remember won awritingcontest!I’m mein,let doingso well!Let bia andsay, Ijust ‘Ithinkyoumadeamistake. Look! weeksI’d few atBrandeis.Every started writetoColum- New York, toColumbia.Buttherewasasnag. the cocaine,becauseitwaseighties.” in thehouse,thenreallygoodfriendsroomwith friends of hell:friendsonthetenniscourts, security. “Onceyougotpastthem,itwaslike therings the turntable.UCLAfootballplayers werehiredas that endwithamannequininthepoolandpizzaon Kohan recallsJohn Hughes–caliber blowouts,thekind Presents:Productions Party atLarry’s Mom’s House.’” wereamazing:‘So-and-So groups. Andtheparties women, andcriminals.”) Equally strikingistheshow’s women, andold tales ofBlackwomen,andLatina show, and could nothave solditonthe“fascinating meaning that sheneededapretty whiteleadtosellthe sion. (“Piperwasmy Trojan horse,” Kohanhassaid, and fi unlikegures and sexualities anything ontelevi- gates, whereitmorphedintoahumanmosaicoffaces Benjamin goestojail”hookgottheshowpast Revenge Orange “It’s thattheworkIdoisalsomy soap- notasecret Fortunately, Kohanalsohasgreatloveforherchar- That’s butclearly, ahelpfuldistinction, Dr. Johnson mein,”“Columbia wouldn’tlet Kohansays. “SoI Kohandesperately wantedtogo College wasnext. eld Prison inupstateNew York, justiceisso is an act ofpassion;vengeancejustice,” isanact isessentiallyacomedy. Itssnappy“ Orange . rst job is to entertain rst jobistoentertain . Atthefi ctional ctional Private sophomore year Kohan transferredtoColumbiahalfway throughher show withpeopleIwantedtowatch.” ofwhatIwantedtodo:makenatural extension agreat going tochangethefaceoftelevision.’ Itwasjustthe outsaying,talking aboutbefore.ButIdidn’t set ‘I’m she says. “People weren’t aretalkingaboutthingsthey ofbodies,”sions abouttheportrayalonTVofallsorts attention openeddiscus- toprisonreform,andwe’ve on thediscourse.“IthinkOrange and organized,” shetakes prideintheshow’s infl leaves topeople“whoarefarmorecapable activism right upagainsttragedy.” whenyoujuxtaposethem—slamcomedy powerful sometimes,” Kohansays. “ButIthinkbotharemore dark; whenwego funny, big wecanget family hour. wego dark,wego “When lightyearsfrom toplacesseveral sex as itdeploysgross-outgagsandtakes ability tostay emotionallytrenchanteven big, wildcity. She feltfree. and beinNew York. Shewasyoung andbroke inthe education aliberal-arts wanted todotheCoreandget declareamajor.tration inEnglishbutdidn’t Shejust and Hume,on Locke andgot anA.) Shehad aconcen- her musingsonanElvis-bustlamp tokickoff (Accordingtooneformerclassmate, sheused for poets. took classesonshamanism,fi Though Kohanconsidersherselfanentertainer,Though and in thein show notice. to engrossed window. istoo woman The young We hear SIRENS SHOUTS and out the New York, played by Blair Brown. divorced in thirty-something woman professional and lifepersonal ofa inflected comedy-drama about the ahalf-hourDodd, magical-realism- TV show --The Days Nights and ofMolly YOUNG WOMAN iswatching her favorite CAMERATHE reaches the couch, where a Marquez, John and Cheever. Anthony Trollope, Homer, Gabriel Garcia with soup; astack ofbooks, titlessour by plate; half-empty ofhot-and- containers kitchen ahot dead counter; roaches on PAN show: to roaches crawling over a A r INT. WELFARE -NEWYORK, HOTEL 1990 oom inside a hotel on W. inside ahotel on oom 110th Street. . Her she academictasteswereeclectic: lm editing, and physics lm editing,andphysics hashelpedbring COLUMBIA SUMMER 201625 a paper apaper uence 5/12/16 10:48 AM CREDITS GO HERE 5/11/16 3:25 PM5/11/16 3:25 PM

of of gure out her life. There, .) NBC sitcom The Fresh of the

rst job is to Will & Grace red after thirteen episodes. Distraught, she

“I always have an agenda, but my fi entertain and make the audience care about those characters and stories.” The agent was receptive, and soon Kohan, at twenty- Ullman, the protean performer Tracey Meanwhile, Ullman was a huge turning point for me,” “Tracey Kohan spent three years with Ullman and would two, joined the staff two, Prince of Bel-Air. She remembers a dysfunctional, into quarrelsome writers’ room — a “rough entrance” , where she next job was on Friends show biz. Her of more argued with her older bosses for the inclusion authentic details about the lives of twenty-somethings. She was fi to fi escaped to the Himalayas she couldn’t help writing a spec script between hikes, done she wasn’t . She took it as a sign that for Frasier with television. on one of Kohan’s her hands had gotten and writer, the staff scripts. Ullman hired Kohan to work on On . . . Kohan was part of the Takes Tracey HBO’s for out- producing team that won the 1997 Emmy music, or comedy series. standing variety, “It was so healing, because she ran a sane Kohan says. everythingand wonderful room. She gave a shot and set the room with an incredible example. She packed and then we would go off hitters, old-school heavy of work per week. and come back for one serious day She had a wonderful did everything family life and just a stellar example and talent. My right, and she’s I was the baby in the time with her was invaluable. room, and they were lovely to me. I’ll be grate- always ful to Tracey.” later heed the lessons, implementing a “no-assholes” policy her in her own writers’ room and prioritizing a husband, Christopher She and her Noxon, family. sight of blood.” (David Kohan went on to co-create Kohan went on to co-create (David sight of blood.” the NBC show

ly rt ese st g a - - n e a o Los Angeles of a show,” of a show,” ction, but TV, ction, but TV, a campus, she got iers”). She was a devotee and wrote spec scripts.

“I had a Japanese erent education. In her senior year she didn’t year her senior get In campus housing and moved into a and moved into campus housing was all part It welfare hotel. of the Off adventure. diff Seinfeld and

She would have to write, then. After to write, then. she college, She would have Success in television. The Kohan’s words raised his fateful opinion. when the boyfriend uttered That’s chance of being elected told me I had a better “He stirred in their were pushed. Missiles buttons Kohan’s She returned and to LA with a stack of scripts occurred, naturally, in the elevator). Kohan had in the elevator). Kohan had occurred, naturally, sugar daddy,” she says with a laugh. “But it was mostly a laugh. “But it was with she says sugar daddy,” long walks down- take she’d On weekends, chaste.” a performance-art Furnace, Franklin town, ending at As set the intern, Kohan helped space in Tribeca. I had no visual sense; appar- up shows (“I was told I made very ugly fl ently, returned to Los up odd jobs. She picked Angeles and and a video store on in a juice bar in Venice worked Sunset, and wrote restaurant reviews for the short fi written competitive hairs. She’d on the staff to Congress than I did getting silos. Schmershwin had unleashed Schmarmageddon. Kohan quit her jobs and moved to Santa Cruz to stay with a friend who was going to medical school. There, she watched tapes of apartment,” “shitty in the friend’s Roseanne father to pass them to an got her ex-sister-in-law’s in the same building (the hand- agent who worked off known that if she pursued television, she’d always parents’ philosophy was, to be resourceful. “My have had support, We it on your own.’ got to make ‘You’ve kids ‘Give my we had education, but it was not like, or a well- I was supposed to be a lawyer this job.’ was sup- brother David heeled housewife, and my even stand the though he can’t posed to be a doctor, of spoken-word performance,of spoken-word and caught shows Spalding around town by artists Eric Bogosian, like and Laurie ’72SOA. Anderson ’69BC, She Gray, space, empty on a stool in an dreamed of sitting with her own tales. But rapt holding an audience comfortablein truth, she wasn’t onstage. She was nasal. she felt. Too too blinky, a budgetReader (“they to send me to restau- didn’t have rants, so whoever on the phone got a was nice to me told her about his her boyfriend good review”). One day, This he friend, best friend from camp, who was a writer. success in television.said, was having then, she should give TV Maybe, too, was in her DNA. a shot. one-liner. winding up to her signature Kohan says, — er, Gershwin’ you, David career is ‘Fuck whole “My Schmershwin.” Schmavid

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CREDITS GO HERE “in “Revenge,” Nozick wrotethephilosopherRobert ’59CC, it canallbeaccomplishedifyou’re organized.” fairly sanehours.I’m usuallyhomefordinner. Ithink time what Iwantedmy worklifetobelike. Sowehave worked alotandreallylearnedover things at once.I’ve hen,” shesays. “Tough love,andaneedtodomillion a similarinfluence atwork.“I’m defi nitely amother havedidn’t kidsforotherpeopletoraise”)andexerts andsixteen.Kohanisahands-onmother(“I fourteen, journalist andauthor, have threechildren,ages ten, (he usedtheword “retribution”), bycontrast, “need suff volves a particular emotionaltone—pleasureinthe volves aparticular ering ofanother.” Nozick arguedthatvengeance out ideas. isseatedteam the table, around tossing creative many team, ofthem The women. ANGLE:ANOTHER We the see Orange for ensemble best acomedy.) in Actors the 2015 Guildwon Screen Award cast star Blair (The Brown. season-three host playedcooking-show by Molly Dodd new inmate, JUDY KING, atax-evading TV more,including dozens and Polanco); a DAYA artist pen-and-pad DIAZ (Dascha BIG the young, dreamy (LeaDeLaria); BOO (Laverne the Cox); burly, tank-top-clad SOPHIA hairdresser BURSETtransgender kitchen empress (Kate “RED” Mulgrew); the for the role); the hard-bitten prison- Warren (Uzo Aduba, who two Emmys haswon savantquoting “CRAZY Suzanne EYES” Taylor the Schilling); Shakespeare- the fish out ofwater PIPER (played by Is the New Orange from Black. There’s wall with iscovered photos ofcharacters colored markers the table. on The front A l INT. -DAY WRITERS’ ROOM ong tableong Jars asunny in room. of talent with tits, terrific. what’s Ifyou find can dangling. writer,find agood Idon’t care so forgender me. It’s to hardenough about talent. Talent overrides they’re alltalented. It’s always atthe scenes company. our And crew, our show on behind and and We have the alot on of women KOHAN (v.o.) this iswhereIwant tobe,andI’m notafraid .” worked here, and toohardtoget pull my punches.I’ve beengiventhisopportunity,“I’ve andI’m notgoingto phrase goes, takes noprisoners. and poke. Whenitcomestoherwork,Kohan, asthe be suretoamuseandoff she’sbaseline ishigh.Butwhatever gotinstore,itwill excited,”it, andvery shesays. “It’s goingtobebig.” date: June 17), proudof forobviousreasons.“I’m very endup? going?Wherewill they violence. Wherearethey acceptance, atthehazardofphysicaloremotional tobreakaway,struggles tocrossboundaries, toseek Much ofthedramaconcernspeople’sself-preservation. Orange withothers.”comfort fi overyourbias.Onceyoudothat,you’ll to get to talkaboutwithpeoplewhoaren’t like you.You have yourself outofthat bubbleandrealizethat there’s stuff what’s youhave Butsometimes toforce comfortable. understand tribalismandwantingtobesurroundedby a cabalofmensaying, ‘Let’s keep womenout.’ Ideeply think it’s necessarilyintentional—Idon’tthinkthere’s majority oftheaudienceisfemale,” shesays. “Idon’t innotacknowledgingthat the and shortsighted the way she looksatajoke: eitheritworksordoesn’t. as that happensIthinktherewillbeanexplosion.” says. “Communication amongwomenischanging,and off erhelp.“Ilovetohelp,andIcallforhelp,” Kohan to andbeenreluctant eachotherascompetition, view that women,vyingforlimitedspots,have tendedto good forthem,” is result,shesuggests, she says. The andit’s thatwomendon’t, that mennetwork been very it’s like tobeaminority intheroom.“There’s away before shescoredwith have doneitHer Way. BlueEyes,And like besaidto Ol’ shecancertainly “is massivesuccess.” bestrevenge,”Sinatra. “The saidthegreatshowman, that peoplecanbemovedbymixedmotives.” deny that therecanbemixed cases,or the two overlap.“Idonot conceptsoften being done.” ButNozick admitted that another one,namely, pleasureat justice involve noemotionaltone,orinvolves entertainment, too,” ismyfunandentertainment, “This shesays. Coming fromKohan,that’s apotentpromise.Her season(release Kohan istightlippedaboutthenew She couldeasilybetalkingaboutthewomenin “I justthinkthebusinesshasbeenincrediblystupid But Kohanisn’tafi beeneasy.It hasn’t She’d written pilots seventeen Kohan seemstobeanadherentoftheSinatra school. there’sThen thewisdomofphilosopherFrank Such arethegray areaswhereKohanlikes tolive. , forwhomtribalismisafundamentalmatter of nger-pointer. Shelooksatasystem Weeds. Sheknows,too,what end, inspireandenrage,stroke COLUMBIA SUMMER 201627 nd that

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