It only takes a glance at Stefani Robinson‘s filmography to know that it’s anything but conventional. As a writer and executive producer, she’s worked on critically acclaimed and utterly singular FX shows like “Atlanta,” “Man Seeking Woman,” “Fargo,” and “What We Do in the Shadows,” as well as Stephen Williams’ feature film “Chevalier.”
With all that, it’s both fitting and unorthodox that she’s behind the scenes of “Adults,” the new comedy series about Gen Z friends figuring out their lives while sharing a house.
“So many people are like, ‘Wait, you’re working on a hangout comedy about a group of friends? That so different than the stuff you normally do,’” Robinson recalled in an interview with IndieWire. “And it’s true, the shows that I’ve been lucky enough to work on have been really high concept or weird.”
“Weird” or not, Robinson’s experience makes her highly accomplished in the world of TV comedy, and she knows the value of hangout comedy even solely as a viewer.
“Because of the amount of episodes and how these stories are structured and how familiar they feel, I think they end up feeling really cozy and personal for so many people,” she said. “We can all probably rattle off like five of those shows that mean a lot to us, where we feel like we know those characters.”
She hopes that “Adults” will scratch that itch for its audience, from creators Ben Kronenberg and Rebecca Shaw and starring a young cast that instantly won Robinson over. As someone who spent those formative years of her twenties in writers rooms and on set, she knows what to look for in young creatives and can now impart some wisdom.
“I wish more young people knew you don’t need to be writing or doing things for anybody else,” she said. “To me, the most compelling artistic work is the stuff that makes that individual person feel alive. I love being surprised by what those things are.”
Below, Robinson chatted with IndieWire about her eclectic filmography, a decade of working with FX, and making her directorial debut with “Adults” Episode 7.
The following interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
IndieWire: Friends in their twenties trying to find themselves is a timeless genre. What do you think makes it so evergreen?
Stefani Robinson: The joy of TV is that it’s ongoing and can be ongoing, and the format lends itself to ensemble comedies where you feel like you’re part of the friend group. You actually have time to build relationships with the characters, and if it is one of those hangout comedies that are about friends — and ensemble specifically — the hope is that you as someone in the audience, feel like they are your friends. Something about the format and it being television — seeing the same group of friends every day, every week, how often you ever put put those shows on — it starts feeling really personal.
Do you have a favorite?
I grew up watching “Martin” with my family, I love “Martin.” I also put it on when they have the reruns on. I love — it’s not really a friend comedy, but “Arrested Development” is one of my favorites. “Sex and the City,” there’s obviously a strong romance element to that show but at the end of the day, it really is about friends. I recently had a friend come over who was watching it for the first time, and we got to the finale and it was so fun to watch with him. That’s six seasons; by the end, he found himself invested in the characters, just like I had been. So those are three off the top of my head, but I feel like specifically “Arrested Development,” these people are sort of seared into my brain, as characters and as human beings that I know out in real life — and they’re not.
What drew you to the the premise and the dynamic of “Adults” specifically?
“What We Do in the Shadows” I would say is a friend/family sitcom comedy, but obviously a really high concept angle into that format. This show, it isn’t those things, but that probably was the reason that I was attracted to it. I had never done something that was so — I say this lovingly — conventional in that way, where it was just friends being friends, and there’s no other angle. There’s no other spin. It’s not trying to be something that it’s not. The intention of the creators Ben and Rebecca was to create a hangout show, so I think that concept intrigued me.
I would also say that the cast really was incredible when I first watched the pilot. When I came on board, they had just finished the pilot. I read the scripts — Ben and Rebecca were incredible writers, incredible comedic voices — but I think the thing that really like sealed the deal for me was the performances from the cast. I fell in love with them immediately. I thought they were so strong. I was so surprised to learn that many of them don’t have a ton of experience in the industry, and they were so natural and charming and easy to like, and their dynamic was so infectious. That for me was one of the things of “I would like to be a part of this show.”
As much as it may surprise people that you’re working on this after different shows, it is kind of comedy bread and butter, a rite of passage.
I think that’s exactly right. Ben and Rebecca are so comedy- and joke-forward in that way that the promise of doing a show like this was having that experience. It was going to be a writers room and a production that was just based in comedy, silliness, jokes. I consume a lot of this type of television and have never really worked on something like this before.
You’ve obviously done a bunch of FX shows and you’re on a deal there. What makes them such a great studio partner?
I think they’re great because they really understand their voice as a network — which, that sentence feels pretty dystopian. Their voice as a network is probably most aligned with how I like to approach the projects that I work on, so at the end of the day, they are creativity-focused. They’re never really thrown or surprised by anything that I’ve thrown their way, but also the shows that I’ve worked on, from “Atlanta” to “Man Seeking Woman” to “What We Do in the Shadows” — all super different shows that are very weird, particular, and specific in their own ways — exist alongside each other under the FX umbrella. They’re open, and because of their openness, I’ve been lucky enough to work on all of these different shows. Any of the shows, I’ll rewatch them like, “I can’t believe that anyone put this on television.” It’s crazy.
I remember starting “Man Seeking Woman” and thinking “I can’t believe this is getting made” — respectfully!
Truly! I worked on the third season, and I loved the first and second season so much. I was just really a fan of the show. It’s probably one of my favorite pilots of all time when Josh (Jay Baruchel) breaks up with Maggie (Maya Erskine), and then she’s dating Adolf Hitler (Bill Hader). You rewatch that and like, how did this — why am I laughing so hard? Was this allowed? It’s so crazy, but it’s working, and it all feels grounded and emotional but is so funny.
You mentioned watching the pilot for “Adults” before you got on board and the chemistry specifically, but what do you look for in a script or show now that you have more experience as an EP?
My compass is always: is this gonna be fun to work on for the next however many months of my life? There’s an enjoyment factor, and I think so much factors into that enjoyment factor. Am I excited by the material? Is it funny? Does it feel like it’s emotionally compelling? Does this feel like something that I could contribute to? Does my voice match up and align with ultimately the goals for the show, and what they’re trying to accomplish — Ben and Rebecca, in this case — with the show in broader terms? If I had to distill it, it’s just “Would I watch it?” and “Is this gonna make a fun job,” a fun way for me to use my brain and spend my time for a year.
Do you have advice for emerging writers in a very confusing time for all creatives everywhere? And to that end, how were you able to guide Ben and Rebecca with your experience?
The thing that I kept coming back to with Ben and Rebecca that I would then extend to younger writers or singers or creatives in general — I was always most concerned with their artistic vision or artistic processes or feelings, about what they were making and why they were making it, and getting them to be very clear about what that was for themselves and not for anybody else. Just starting there first and then finding ways to explain that vision to other people. Ben and Rebecca are incredible writers, and they’re new at this. The thing that I found maybe newer to them, was that they were in control. You are in control of the stories that you tell. You are in control of your own process. You are in control of the experience that you want to have within a sandbox, [collaborating] with so many other people who are amazing what they do; heads of department, actors, the network, etc. You have to make space for that process and those collaborators as well.
It was really like drilling down with them as to what do they want to say with this television show? Why are you doing this? Why have you worked on a pilot or this idea for this long? You’re about to launch into making a full season of television. What is it about these characters, the show, the setting, that basically light a fire under you, and how do you communicate that to everybody else?
I talk about this a lot, but one of the first things Donald Glover said in the “Atlanta” writers room, truly the first day he was just like, “I think we’re gonna get canceled.” And the subtext behind it, when he did elaborate, was we should write like we’re gonna get canceled too, because that’s the only way that we’re ever gonna make a show that feels satisfying to us. Basically he reframed the writers room experience not as “Let’s write something for audiences and for the network to make sure that the show goes on and on and on.” It was, “Let’s do the best version of a show that makes us as writers and creators and artists feel really good, and that way we can go to sleep at night knowing that we made something that we were proud of.” That was the unofficial motto or directive for that writers room, and for me as a young person there, that really was so helpful and took so much pressure off. Because if you are writing things that you are passionate about, that you feel great about, and you can take in other people’s collaborations and take another notes and feedback to make that vision feel better, that’s the most rewarding way there is to work.
It’s invigorating just to hear it retold! You’ve worked with some amazing TV directors. Did you get advice from them before tackling your debut this season?
Oh yeah, of course. I didn’t know what I was doing. I called all of them. I was speaking to everybody that I had ever worked with, even if it was just a two-second “Any advice, any thoughts?” I was so annoying to everybody. Jason Woliner, who directed a couple episodes of “Adults” this season, was super helpful. He’s a really great friend, and directed some of “What We Do in the Shadows.” Yana Gorskaya, who I worked really close with on “Shadows,” was amazingly helpful and she’s got an incredible brain. She’s an incredible director. She’s also an incredible editor, so much of her approach to directing is holistic in that way; her approach informs so much of what happens in post-production as well. Jon Krisel was amazing, he’s EP of the show. You’ll know him from “Man Seeking Woman,” “Baskets,” “Portlandia.” He was so helpful on set, he was there with me anytime anything felt confusing, or I had questions about anything. I could not have had a better guardian. Because he was there, I could fall over a million times, and he was there to pick me up. I’m so indebted him and grateful to him.
What were some of the joys and challenges of actually getting to direct Episode 7?
It’s so much about this teenager who comes in and is just a nightmare. It’s not like we were tackling abortion, or making a bigger commentary about it — but obviously there is a weight to that issue, and a sensitivity around it, and sensitivities that I share, that the actors share, and everyone on set shared. Being sensitive to that, and being sensitive to the tone and keeping the comedy preserved within a topic that isn’t very funny and isn’t always funny, was a challenge, but it was really fulfilling. I think Ben and Rebecca are really happy with it, which is great. But also this is one of those episodes where a few of our characters are split up from each other. In terms of just technically making that episode work, we did not have a lot of time to shoot this episode, which meant it was a lot of unit moves, lots of locations, and lots of crazy, bouncing around from one place to another, very, very quickly. It was a challenge, but we made it work.
Being an episodic director period is such a unique challenge that you can’t even necessarily talk to like a film director about it. It’s just its own thing.
It is entirely its own thing, and I have so much respect. I’ve always had respect for episodic directors because of that but a newfound respect obviously now. It can be a really difficult job, especially if those directors who don’t have the full scope of the project in mind, and don’t have access to the showrunner at all times, the writers at all times, the other directors at all times — truly you’re thrown into the deep end in some cases, and have to intuit what you can without a lot of information and tools. It’s really, really unique job, and those who are amazing at it, it’s such an incredible skill to have.
Is there a specific type of comedy series, or even non-comedy series that you would like to tackle next?
I don’t know! It’s a good question. I’ve been in comedy for so long — not that I don’t like it, I love it — but I do think often, what does a limited series feel like? A dramatic limited series, or just drama — it’s something that I’ve done before, I’ve done in features, but I haven’t really done in television. Something I think I’d like to try more of.
It’s interesting, because looking at your career in the shows you’ve worked on, none of those are the kind of answer you could give looking to the future. If I interviewed you 10 years ago, I don’t think you’d say, “I want to work on a mockumentary about vampires.”
It’s crazy, right? That’s why I say I don’t know. I feel like my resume, to some people, can look very disjointed. I look at the shows that I’ve worked on almost like tattoos. They’re so representative of that period of time, or what I was into, or what I was really excited about. Those things haven’t necessarily changed, but I have changed as a person. Right now, I don’t know what is exciting to me, but I kind of know it in the moment. In that way they’re a little bit spontaneous, but a little bit sentimental as well. But they truly feel like markers in time.
“Adults” is now streaming on FX via Hulu or Disney+.
