In the fast-paced environment of television production, there isn’t always a chance for co-workers to express their appreciation for one another. It’s also not often that kind of acknowledgement is advocated for, but for her recent episode of “What No One Tells You,” “Forever” showrunner Mara Brock Akil shared that a simple “thank you” goes a long way in forming a connection.
During her interview, Akil reflected on her first job in Hollywood working as a production assistant on “The Sinbad Show” in the early 1990s. It was there she first met the man who would become her mentor and give her many of her first writing jobs in the industry, Ralph Farquhar. At the time, he was working with another writer/producer, Michael J. Weithorn, who would go on to create “South Central” with Farquar. Akil desperately wanted to be part of this show and found her way in with Whitehorn by leading with kindness.
‘The Power of a Thank-You Note’
“What Ralph recognized is that a lot of the PAs — we were broke — and so he would give us an opportunity to audition for small roles,” Akil told IndieWire’s Future of Filmmaking, “so I auditioned, I got a role on the show, and it was the most money I had made in one fell swoop for like one day of work and it flipped me out. I think I made $800.”
Akil was so moved by this gesture that she decided to invest some of that money back into her career by commissioning a selection of thank-you cards from her friend in Chicago. Farquhar was at the top of the list of recipients, but Akil also decided to write one for Weithorn despite not having as close a relationship with him.
“I never had any intersection with him in any kind of way,” she said of Weithorn. “He kind of played the background, but then I gave him the thank-you note early in the day, and now we’re on set later shooting the show and Michael was nearby … we caught eyes and then he came over and he said, ‘I just want to thank you for the thank-you note.’”
Akil laughed at the notion of him thanking her for a thank-you, but Weithorn explained how this had never happened to him before, making the gesture mean that much more. He also registered how special the card was in that it wasn’t your standard Hallmark stock.
“It led to my ability to tell him I’m from Chicago, we found a connection in Chicago, we found a connection at Northwestern,” Akil said. “I think I impressed him. It was just sort of like, ‘Wow,’ this huge moment with Michael Whitehorn because of a thank-you note. You just acknowledge that someone did something kind for you. That is energy that we need to be talking about all the time.”
Akil described the outcome of her thank-you note as a “ripple effect,” in that since she had made her appreciation of Weithorn’s contributions visible, he was now able to see her in a brand new way as well. This ultimately led to her being able to advocate for a position on his and Farquhar’s new show “South Central,” which led to later work on “Moesha,” and ultimately her first self-created series, “Girlfriends.”
“It has been a lifelong well for me that I draw from all the time,” Akil said of what she learned from writing that thank-you. Watch a clip from her episode of “What No One Tells You” below.
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