A season of opportunities
Jasmine Cephas Jones serves as star, producer on Oaklandset series ‘Blindspotting’
As the first season of the Oaklandset series “Blindspotting” nears its conclusion on Starz, Jasmine Cephas Jones is taking a victory lap.
And who can blame her? The series is Cephas Jones’ first as the main star and as a producer (she is an executive producer; series creators Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs, who wrote and starred in the 2018 movie “Blindspotting,” as well as Jess Wu Calder and Keith Calder, are the main producers; Casal is the series’ showrunner).
Cephas Jones first met Diggs when they costarred in the original production of “Hamilton.” While the film centered on Diggs’ and Casal’s characters, the series brings Cephas Jones’ Ashley front and center. As the girlfriend of Casal’s Miles, she is tasked with raising their young son (Atticus Woodward) on her own when Miles is locked up on a drug charge. To help make ends meet, she moves in with Miles’ mother (Helen Hunt).
A season two has not yet been announced, but Cephas Jones has been keeping busy. This summer, she has been working on an album (”I wrote it in seven days,” she said), and as an Emmy winner for Quibi’s “#FreeRayshawn,” she was asked to read this year’s nominations with her father and fellow Emmy winner Ron Cephas Jones (“This Is Us”).
She spoke to The Chronicle via video chat this week from her Brooklyn home.
Q: “Blindspotting” premiered in June. Have you gotten any feedback from fans?
A:The most feedback I’ve gotten is from a lot of the women. Some of their (social media) messages are amazing. (They like) how Ashley deals with situations, especially when she goes into heightened verse and is really honest with how she’s feeling.
A lot of women have contacted me: “I’ve been there.” “I know what this feels like.” “This is right on the money — like, I know this feeling.”
That’s why Ashley spoke to me so much, too. I’ve felt that way, of wanting to trash a hotel room when mistreated or talked to in a certain way in the workspace and I couldn’t do that. So I really felt like I was doing that scene for so many women who just couldn’t do that and have felt that way before.
Q: Was that your favorite scene to do?
A: There are so many. One of the biggest ones was to be able to trash a hotel room. But then I went on a drug trip with those amazing ladies (at San Francisco’s Baker Beach in episode five, “Beaches Be Trippin’ ”). That was an experience! (laughs)
Q: I take it you got some immediate feedback the night before the Starz premiere, when you appeared with the cast to show it in Oakland.
A: It was amazing! It was a party. They got all the inside jokes. Everybody danced afterward. It was so nice to watch it with everybody in Oakland. The energy was just electric.
Q: This series was your first experience as a producer. What was that like, and would you like to do more of it?
A:
My role was more of creative producer, so I got to have a lot of (character) input, especially with Ashley in a way that I’ve never had before. I was privy to a lot of conversations that happened behind closed doors, so it was a huge learning experience for me. It was great to be in those conversations and be involved and really understand how a TV show gets made.
We’re not greenlit yet (for season two), but I’d love to shadow a couple of people while they’re directing. I’ve asked to do that already. I have a lot of support on that show, which I’m so grateful for. Whatever I want to do, it’s never a hard “no.”
I have loads of ideas and outlines that I’ve created myself that I’d love to create in the future. I have a couple of projects I am making on my own that I’d love to be in and produce and create as well. We’re in the middle of putting all that together.
Q: This series was made during the pandemic, and since then mental health issues have come to the forefront. This show seems to address that as well.
A:Ashley almost goes through a depression this season. And a lot of other characters do as well, but everybody handles depression or trauma or sadness in so many different ways.
I think it’s important to see that when Ashley loses it, and gets so emotional and honest in what she’s feeling. After she lets that emotion out, she’s able to compose herself in front of her son — I think it’s a beautiful thing to see. Not everybody has it all together all the time. I think it’s really cool to see a character go through that and for people to know, “Wow, I’m not the only one feeling this way.”
It’s also a great example of showing community and how important that is and to be able to have people support you and understand that whatever you’re going through, you don’t have to do this alone.
Q: You shot the movie in Oakland but couldn’t shoot the whole TV show here because of the pandemic. Did you miss it?
A: We shot everything in L.A. except for the exterior shots. The last week, we went up to Oakland and shot all the exterior shots.
I wish we could have shot the whole thing in Oakland. There’s no place like it. To be around the people and do the sideshow in Oakland and hear the music and see the community and the people — that always helps.
We didn’t have a wrap party because we couldn’t, because of COVID. There was a lot we couldn’t do (during production). We had to get on set and act like we knew each other for years, film a scene and put a mask and a shield on. But we all made it work.
Hopefully we can have some party soon. I just want to see everyone soon and hug and hang out and celebrate what we’ve done.