Little America, an anthology series depicting the lives of immigrants, premiered on Apple+ last month and has already been renewed for a second season. Based on a collection of true stories from Epic Magazine, the show is produced by the talented husband and wife duo of Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon (The Big Sick)
Aside from executive producing, they also co-wrote episode 7, "The Rock", alongside fellow producer Lee Eisenberg. Nanjiani and Gordon chatted with Screen Rant about how they juggled both roles and how they maintain the appropriate work-life balance.
Guys, Little America is an amazing project. I think this is really a show for everybody. There's at least an episode for everybody. You guys wear many hats on the project, as producers and writers. Can you talk to me about the process of choosing which episodes you wanted to do? Because I know this came from Epic magazine, and I'm sure there's a lot of stories that got filtered down.
Emily V. Gordon: So many stories.
Kumail Nanjiani: Yeah. Basically, we wanted to do stories... There were some that were sort of our favorites; that were everyone's favorites. And then it was just finding stories that were different from each other. That was the main thing. We wanted to tell stories that were from people from different parts of the world, set in different parts of America, that encompass different tones. We wanted some to be funny, some to be thrilling, some to be sadder. So, it was basically finding eight stories where none of them really were -
Emily V. Gordon: Overlapping.
Kumail Nanjiani: Yeah. So, that was the big criteria.
Can you guys talk to me about the order? Because I feel like the way that the show starts, the very first episode, sets the tone for it. I think it's the perfect first episode. Because if you go to any of the other ones, it may change the tone of what you expect the show to be. Can you talk to me about how you guys chose the order?
Emily V. Gordon: We argued about that a lot. Quite a bit. The idea is that we want any one episode to be able to set a tone; any one episode. But we kind of loved that episode, because not only has it got some heart, it's funny, but it also is... I think it's a maybe our bleakest episode? It has the most kind of downbeat ending, which I think is a good way to be like, "Okay." And then right after that, you get an episode that's much funnier, that's kind of a bit lighter.
Kumail Nanjiani: That's a lot more uplifting at the end; the jaguar. In some ways, we started with our bleakest episode to sort of set the tone. And then from that, the second one is a total tonal shift.
Emily V. Gordon: What's super fun about an anthology show is that you can argue about the order of episodes forever.
Kumail Nanjiani: But I will say to people, I think people can watch it in any order they want. I think it's a very bingeable show. Because they're only half hour episodes, you can watch two or three in a row. And I think any combination of episodes work well together.
I never thought I would cry during a Kelly Clarkson song, but it actually happened.
Emily V. Gordon: Chi Chi DeVayne, amazing drag queen.
I have a question - this is more so directed for my girlfriend, as she wants to work with me on a podcast. Talk to me about working together and how you guys make it so successful, because I'm very hesitant about this idea.
Emily V. Gordon: We had a podcast together for years.
Kumail Nanjiani: We did, about video games.
Emily V. Gordon: You need rules. It's very important. You need to set up a structure where everybody feels safe and heard and understood. And also, you have to be aware that, when you're working together, that's your coworker. That's not your girlfriend. So, you're allowed to disagree with your coworker; you're allowed to think your coworker has a bad idea, and talk over your coworker. Whereas your girlfriend? I would not do that if I were you. That took us awhile to kind of figure out.
Kumail Nanjiani: Although, talking over coworkers is also bad. You shouldn't do that.
Emily V. Gordon: Sure, but in podcasts and stuff, you end up -
Kumail Nanjiani: Stakes are higher.
Emily V. Gordon: And also set up rules around when you can be working, and when you're not working. Very important, because you don't want to be working all the time. Don't talk about it in bed either.
