This is the New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and the New Yorker.

Welcome to the New Yorker Radio Hour, I'm David Remnick.

When a director's first feature film is nominated for the big award at the Oscars,

Best Picture, that's always something to take note of.

And that is certainly the case with the movie American Fiction, which is written and directed

by Corre Jefferson.

It was nominated for four other Oscars as well.

Before making the film, Cor Court Jefferson had a real career as a TV

writer early on with Larry Wilmore's nightly show on Comedy Central, then working on

the Good Place and Success succession and many more.

He began though as a journalist he contributed to the Root, the New York Times magazine,

and particularly Galker.

And that's how he got to know the New Yorker staff writer,

Jellani Cobb.

Court Jefferson and I met almost 15 years ago

when we were both part of a list serve for black writers and we've

kept in touch over the years encouraging each other's work and keeping tabs on

what we were up to in 2019 he was a writer for Watchman, which was one of my all-time favorite television shows.

And even though I've known him for many years, I've kept a much closer watch on what he's doing professionally and artistically since then.

This year, his directorial debut American fiction was released,

and the film was garnered a great deal of attention and praise.

American fiction is based on a novel called Erasure, which is about a writer who's

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