Emmy-winning writer Cord Jefferson (Succession, The Good Place, Watchmen) sat down for a long talk about his new film, American Fiction with his friend and collaborator Mike Schur. An adaptation of Percival Everett’s novel Erasure, the film satirizes the commodification of Black artists — in a directorial debut for Jefferson that was highly lauded following its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.


00:00 Intro
00:01:20 Journalism Career
00:03:28 TV Writing
00:08:40 Adapting Existing Works
00:16:34 Erasure by Percival Everett
00:23:30 Nailing the tone
00:29:09 Directing (and selling) his first movie
00:45:29 Ending the movie