Rolling out caught up with actress Keesha Sharp to talk about her latest project for her directorial debut in the TBS series “Are We There Yet?” Sharp plays Gigi in the series, but wanted to explore her options behind the lens.
Check out our one-on-one interview with Sharp as she talks about her exciting new debut.
Talk about your foray into directing. What can viewers expect from the episode you direct?
I’m so excited that I’m getting to direct one of the episodes of “Are We There Yet?” Most people know we were picked up for 100 episodes and we’re actually almost done with that pickup, we have nine more to shoot. I’m directing one of them, it’s called “Concussion,” it’s hilarious and I can’t say what it’s about yet but I’m very excited about it.
It’s just a really funny episode and I feel blessed that they’ve given me such a great script to direct and also that they’re giving me this chance to direct. I’ve never directed before. In college I did and it’s something that I’m very passionate about, but I just haven’t done it because I’ve been acting for a long time.
What have you been doing to prepare for your first directing role?
I have a script, it’s been rewritten and rewritten and I’ve just received the final draft. I’m just going over it and seeing it in my head. Darrell Hammond is in it and he’s also one of the recurring characters on “Are We There Yet?” He’s a phenomenal actor and most people know him from “SNL” [“Saturday Night Live”]. But he’s in this particular episode and I’m just excited to be able to direct him [laughs].
How I prepare, is I see the action in my head and know what shots I want to get and how close I want to get them because there’s a lot of physical comedy in this particular episode.
… Somehow when you’re a director, you have the director’s cap on when you’re watching something … you see things from the shot point of view. You stop watching the particular actor and ask yourself, “Why did he go for that shot, or why is it so close? Did that make a difference? Would I have done something differently to capture [the humor] in that particular scene?” So, I just have my directors cap on right now and I’m excited about that.
