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'It Is An Unapologetically Black Show': Diarra From Detroit Creator On Dramedy Series Inspired From Her Life
Diarra Kilpatrick opened up about her culturally driven show! The actress and creator wants to represent the raw vulnerability of colored women on her unapologetically Black show!
Diarra Kilpatrick is a proud Black woman from Detroit! The actress’s ongoing BET+ show, Diarra From Detroit, is loosely inspired by her life and intimately close to her. Kilpatrick started out to make herself feel happy and keep from “surfing channels,” but later believed that she was going to create something interesting!
Diarra Kilpatrick on her show Diarra From Detroit
Kilpatrick was not sorry about the representation and specifically wanted the main character to feel like “a culturally specific Black woman.” The show is about Diarra (Kilpatrick), who returned to her childhood home after a heated confrontation with her husband.
In an attempt to distract herself from her deteriorating marriage, she goes on a Tinder date in her hometown. But when the boy ghosts her, rage and insomnia-driven Diarra goes on a quest to find the missing boy.
With an all-consuming case and her personal life in shambles, the character goes on an emotional rollercoaster throughout the series.
Kilpatrick wanted to represent the vulnerability of a Black woman
The Nash Bridges actress found it “complicated” to do justice to Diarra’s emotional state. Everything around her was in disarray, leaving her emotionally drained! Kilpatrick felt that the writers must know a Black woman “intimately” to represent the intense emotions of the character.
“I think a lot of working writers don’t know Black women intimately,” she said. “They see the one side — the person that they work with or the woman that maybe works for them or works with them.” But they don’t know the vulnerability of that woman.
Talking about the character, Kilpatrick explained that the thing she “held on to for dear life” was the clue chain. “We really focused on what clue was leading to the next clue, and that really helped,” she added.
The show is wittily layered with multiple genres following Diarra's journey as she learns to trust her gut. Kilpatrick made the show as a viewer, “I’m trying to entertain myself, make myself happy, and keep myself from changing the channel — keep myself locked into the story,” she said. And that seems to be working for the show!
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