Quinta Brunson Is in a Class of Her Own

There was a moment in 2021 when the fate of scripted network comedy seemed a little shaky. Watercooler talkers like Succession and Mare of Easttown kept cable dramas on top, while longtime fan favorites Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Black-ish prepared for their final seasons. For the first time in 50 years, NBC—once a leader in prime-time half-hour comedies—released a fall schedule that didn't include a single one of them. Paired with a viewing public that statistically favors streaming over live broadcasts, it was unclear where the network sitcom stood with today's audiences. Some critics even began to question whether the genre was dying out, citing a significant shift to streaming platforms and a generally overcrowded TV landscape. Then came Abbott Elementary, a spirited comedy created by writer and comedian Quinta Brunson about an underfunded grade school in Philadelphia. "I wanted to make a workplace comedy that had remnants of a family comedy because I know that makes for easy TV viewing," the multi-hyphenate West Philly native shared with Adweek. "Those made some of the best network comedies. I focused on people from different generations viewing it in a room—[people] who probably don't have anything they enjoy watching on TV together at the same time." Charming and heartfelt, the ABC mockumentary follows the work lives of the school's determined staff and precocious students. At its center is Janine Teagues, an exuberant rookie second-grade teacher played by Brunson herself, who also executive produces and writes for the show. "Janine wasn't really a main character at first," Brunson said. "I had it based around Barbara Howard [played by Sheryl Lee Ralph] because that character is based on my mom. But after developing [the show's concept], we felt like we needed someone to openly invite the camera in, someone who is overcompensating for the reality of the underfunded school." As the show gained momentum, viewers responded on social media to Janine with favorable comparisons to characters like Ted Lasso and Parks and Recreation's Leslie Knope—unrelentingly positive figures tasked with galvanizing their not-as-enthusiastic contemporaries. "Janine was pushed to the forefront because not only would she invite the audience in, but she would also kind of force the people around her to be better, even though they're annoyed with her," Brunson said. "I found that dynamic to be really, really funny." Ultimately, the adjustment proved to be one of many smart choices Brunson and her team made that are now paying dividends. In its first season, Abbott Elementary has amassed record-breaking ratings, sparked early Emmys chatter, earned a second-season renewal and garnered a fervent, vocal fan base. Time magazine also named it one of the best new shows of 2022. But the show's smashing success comes as no surprise to many who are familiar with Brunson's journey from indie creator to television star—a path forged not only by her sharp comedic writing, but also her ability to cultivate an audience and a keen understanding of the business of comedy. With Abbott, Brunson is proving the network comedy is alive and well. In fact, it's leading a new, digital-friendly era of broadcast television. Like, share and subscribe Long before scoring her first TV credit, Brunson found an outlet in Instagram as an independent digital creator. When she started making online content in 2014, Instagram had only just introduced a 15-second video-sharing feature a year prior. While fellow creators were still largely turning to the now-defunct Vine platform for short-form content, Brunson found an audience on Instagram with a comedic sketch series called Girl Who Has Never Been on a Nice Date, in which she starred as a young woman vocally impressed by her date's generosity. Brunson was part of a smaller community of users trying to make the space work creatively. "People were like, 'How's this gonna go?'" she recalled. "'What's this thing that's trying to compete with Vine?'" One particular snippet from the series, in which Brunson reacts to her date's costly snack order at a movie theater, went so viral in 2014 that it managed to cross platforms, permeating Facebook and Twitter. This was an especially noteworthy feat, Brunson pointed out, considering the measures internet users had to go to back then to spread visual media. Long before scoring her first TV credit, Brunson found an outlet in Instagram as an independent digital creator. "There wasn't even a share button when I first put a video online," she said. By today's marketing standards, a share (or retweet, or reblog) button is one of the most effective digital tools in measuring a creator's engagement. But chasing massive share metrics or social algorithms wasn't an option during Brunson's indie days. In order to cultivate a faithful following, she explained, "It was very much word-of-mouth." Brunson continued to build her audience until she gained access to an even bigger platform: BuzzFeed—first as a freelancer, then as a full-time video producer. Before long, she was crafting and starring in some of the outlet's most-viewed videos between 2014 and 2017, when it was leading the way in digital creation. "I was working at BuzzFeed and, at that time, digital content was all the rage," she said. "In my time at BuzzFeed alone, Vine had gone away. Facebook Video kind of took over and became a bigger power player in long-form content sharing. YouTube started YouTube Red and ended YouTube Red. Twitter got video. … So many things have changed." For some celebrity hopefuls, gaining a foothold on any one of those platforms might have satisfied their thirst for visibility. For Brunson, who was also doing improv and stand-up around Los Angeles at the time, it was just one avenue on a much longer journey as an artist. "I remember going to VidCon and being like, 'This is not my scene,'" she said. "Because ultimately, I'm a writer and a comedian. I happen to be in this digital space, but I'm not obsessed with this digital space. I don't want to become a personality or an influencer. I am a writer, and that's what I do." Network TV gets schooled Outside of her artistry, Brunson is also a millennial who's had a front-row seat to the ever-evolving viewing habits impacting today's television industry. Just a year before the launch of Brunson's digital career, Netflix debuted its first original series, House of Cards, kicking off a new era in streaming and irrevocably changing the TV landscape as we knew it. Fast forward to 2021, and a report by Nielsen found that streaming accounted for 26% of all viewing, beating out broadcast TV by 1%. While this certainly doesn't mark the demise of network television, it does challenge the industry to devise strategies that account for streaming's immovable impact on our viewing habits. For Abbott, ABC took an unconventional approach with its pilot episode by premiering it on Dec. 7, 2021, after the Facts of Life and Diff’rent Strokes live special. While viewers could stream the episode on Hulu the day after, they'd have to wait a month for the second episode to air. Brunson has had a front-row seat to the ever-evolving viewing habits impacting today's television industry. That lengthy wait perplexed many early fans of the show, but as both Brunson and the network noted, it allowed people enough time to discover the show on Hulu and want more. The gambit worked: After 35 days of viewing across ABC’s linear and digital platforms, the freshman comedy quadrupled its ratings since the pilot's original airing. The second episode became the network’s highest-rated comedy telecast among 18- to 49-year-olds in the two years since the series finale of Modern Family. "I attribute it to a really smart plan that ABC had," Brunson said. "I thought that was such a smart model that really set us up for success." Another contributing factor to Abbott's success, fans and critics would agree, is that it's a well-crafted show that bears Brunson's unique comedic stamp. "Quinta Brunson is a generational talent and one of the most straight-up hilarious people that I’ve ever met," Channing Dungey, chairman of Warner Bros. Television Group, told Adweek. "Her observations are rapier-sharp, but never anything less than emotional and real. She combines smart and fresh social commentary with hilarious and heartwarming stories that have connected with a wide audience on network television." Craig Erwich, president at ABC Entertainment and Hulu Originals, added: "We knew immediately that Quinta’s star power was enormous, and we’re thrilled about how quickly fans caught on and welcomed Abbott into their homes. Her smart, comedic choices have succeeded in bringing laughter to homes across the country while simultaneously starting conversations about public education." And while Brunson said she's surprised by the speed at which Abbott has achieved its success, she isn't surprised by its impressive ratings. "When we were making it, we felt like we were making something very good," she said of the show's cast and creative team. "It was really Sheryl [Lee Ralph] and Tyler James Williams who reaffirmed me because they had done so many different TV shows. It's the 'build it and they will come' thing, you know? That's what we felt like we had." Making the Grade Before Abbott Elementary, Brunson was already pretty much everywhere. Clockwise, from top left: Girl Who Has Never Been on a Nice Date (Instagram/YouTube), 2014; "If Everyone Acted Like Reality Television Stars" (BuzzFeed Video on YouTube), 2014; Quinta vs. Everything (Facebook Watch), 2017; and Broke (BuzzFeed Motion Pictures/YouTube Red), 2016. Clockwise, from top left: iZombie (CW), 2019; Magical Girl Friendship Squad (SyFy), 2020; Abbott Elementary (ABC), 2021; and Black Lady Sketch Show (HBO, Season 1), 2019. The ever-evolving creator pipeline With Abbott, Brunson joins a class of former digital creators who have found TV stardom, including Issa Rae, Lilly Singh and Donald Glover. Her ascension to Hollywood, she said, is in part tied to her ability to stand out in a digital space that wasn't quite as crowded when she began, compared to today's online landscape. "The ways are endless," she said of social media today. "You have TikTok, which is dominating, and now other companies like Instagram and YouTube are also making short-form content. It's ever-changing." TikTok's popularity sparked a particularly swift boom in short-form video as Instagram launched Reels in 2020. A year later, YouTube officially launched Shorts in the U.S. The wide acceptance of short-form media also spoke to a change in how the public responded to certain kinds of content. Where more linear web series like Rae's Awkward Black Girl on YouTube and Brunson's Broke for YouTube Red had no problem securing audiences during their time, today's internet user is more likely to engage with TikTok than a web series, especially when streaming platforms are just as accessible. "I think that the stuff I made back then definitely wouldn't hack it today," Brunson said. "I notice that different content goes viral." But, she explained, there's also a greater challenge for today's creators looking to take a similar path to Hollywood through the current digital landscape: "I sometimes wonder if someone today can have the same success that I did with Instagram. Maybe they have to use TikTok and that success might look different, but it's also way more oversaturated. There's so many people, so many videos. It's just a lot." Still, Brunson doesn’t want to discourage burgeoning creators from trying their hand at digital media. Actually, it's quite the opposite: She wants them to consider social media as one of many useful tools that can help grow and nurture talent. "I've always said that these digital platforms are just another stage," she said. "And it's a good stage for marginalized people because you don't have anyone telling you what to do. But when you think about it, who knows if TikTok will be around next year? That's kind of why I always think people should hone in on their craft first, and all these digital platforms second, because they can be here today and gone tomorrow."

Programming & Performance

Why Abbott Elementary Creator Quinta Brunson Is in a Class of Her Own

From being deeply embedded in internet culture to creating the most successful network comedy in years, the writer and comedian is setting a new standard

Shannon Miller

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Shannon Miller