Janet Mock has stepped into the director’s chair and history books. The trailblazer co-wrote and directed a recent episode of “Pose,” making her the first trans woman of color to write and direct a TV ep. (As Teen Vogue notes, “Hollywood, you have a lot of catching up to do.) Ryan Murphy’s ’80s-set FX show chronicling the social and literary scene in New York features the largest transgender cast in history.
Transgender rights activist Mock took to Instagram to write about her behind-the-scenes experience. Admitting that she was “nervous af,” the TV host observed that the job of director “seemed to be reserved for white men, a position in the industry that rarely invited women and/or people of color to sit in the director’s chair. I doubted whether I had the skills and experience to be a director,” she admitted.
Mock credited “Pose” co-creator Ryan Murphy with helping to give her confidence to take on the gig. In 2016 Murphy launched a foundation within his 20th Century Fox-based production company aiming to diversify Hollywood. Half was created with the aim of having 50 percent of all director slots on his shows filled by women, people of color, and members of the LGBT community.
As valuable as Murphy’s support was, Mock was ultimately her own biggest cheerleader. Revisiting the pep talk she gave herself to work through her self-doubt, Mock writes, “You know these characters. You helped shape them, make them, move them. You got this, and your whole life as a black trans girl with all your experiences have prepared you for so many unknowns — from being the first in your family to go to college, to get a masters, to work as a journalist, to leave the safety of telling others stories to actually tell your own story, to write two memoirs that centered #girlslikeus, to be the first trans woman of color to be hired in a writer’s room…and yes, the first to write and direct an episode of television. You can do this, will do this, and are deserving.”
Check out Mock’s complete Instagram post below. “Pose” airs Sundays on FX.
