Spirit Awards: ‘How To Die Alone' Creator Natasha Rothwell Talks The Challenge Of Navigating 'Fairness' During 'A DEI Purge' And Celebrating Black Stories
Despite a recent cancellation for Hulu comedy series How to Die Alone, the celebrations will not stop for creator and star Nathasa Rothwell. The series followed Mel (Rothwell) a Black, plus-size and perpetually broke JFK Airport employee who's never been in love and forgotten how to dream, until an accidental death scare challenges her to ignite her passions.
Rothwell, who won the Independent Spirit Award for Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series, spoke to Deadline ahead of the event on the Indie Spirits red carpet about the challenge of finding a new home for the series.
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'Right now in Hollywood, there's a DEI purge of programs, positions and projects,' she said. 'And I feel it's unfortunate that How to Die Alone was not able to survive that. It was worthy by all merits. It was a critical success and we had the numbers and more importantly, we were centering marginalized voices. We had representation on the stage. And that representation is being honored tonight. So it's exciting to see the show get that recognition in spite of the circumstances.'
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In addition to the Indie Spirit win, the show also received two nominations at the NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series and Directing for a Comedy Series. Rothwell went on to talk about the importance of being Black and having resilience in the cutthroat industry. 'Nothing quite prepares you for these particular types of shenanigans than being a Black woman that walks through this world,' the writer-actor said. 'Fairness is not something that we're as familiar with in a lot of areas. So being disappointed, those are experiences that I've felt before, but none at this magnitude. I'm grateful for the Black love and support of people who've shown up and held me up in encouragement. It's just confidence in knowing that the work speaks for itself. And although its journey is not what I had anticipated, it exists and people can find it and the message will live on forever.'
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Rothwell's next project will see her team up with TikTok's Tareasa 'Reesa Teesa,' who went viral for sharing her true story about the wild dissolution of her marriage in a 50-part video series that ranged from five to 10 minutes long. 'I have so much stuff in store. That's the other silver lining when you're in a writer's room and in production for a TV show, your bandwidth is narrowed. So for the time being, I am able to entertain a lot of other projects.'
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