Grand Crew creator Phil Augusta Jackson is elevating Black winemakers and honoring Black friendship

EW Game Changers is a series profiling the people and projects making an impact in diversity, equity, and inclusion in entertainment.

When Phil Augusta Jackson moved to Los Angeles more than a decade ago for his first writing job on Key & Peele, he expected to learn a lot about comedy. What he didn't expect was to cultivate a community in a place he never would have expected — a wine bar.

"My first writing job was Key & Peele and I met up with a handful of the writers the day before starting that job," Jackson recalls while talking to EW via Zoom. "I had had wine before, but I never went out of my way to drink wine. It was a new experience for me and the [wine bar] didn't have a menu, you kind of just tell them what you like, and I didn't really know anything. But that was my introduction, essentially, to the wine world. That place where I met those writers for the first time ended up becoming home base for me and my friends to just hang out and kind of unpack things."

When Brooklyn Nine-Nine co-creator Dan Goor asked Jackson if he wanted to develop something together, Jackson thought of "high-premise" ideas like "people stuck in Antarctica." Then, he says, "we just kind of realized that something related to my real life probably made more sense." That led him back to his home base. "It happened very organically," he says. "Basically, the show is based on my real-life hanging out, discovering wine at a wine bar, and having close bonds with my group of friends."

Jackson's IRL crew might be full of comedy writers, but the show's crew consists of some of the best comedic actors on television: Nicole Byer, Echo Kellum, Aaron Jennings, Carl Tart, Justin Cunningham, and Gracie Mercedes.

Below, Jackson speaks to EW about Black male vulnerability, highlighting Black-owned wineries, writing for Nicole Byer, and more.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: For me, one of the biggest takeaways from the show is how vulnerable we get to see this group of friends be with each other. Particularly the men — it's very rare to see Black men being so open with each other while also dating and talking about love and life. How important was that for you to highlight?

PHIL AUGUSTA JACKSON: In the first season, each episode we kind of had a theme that related to the Black community, but also spoke to a greater kind of human insight as well. Whether it's like episode 3 where they talk about being insecure about not being the breadwinner or episode 4 where the crew is dealing with therapy. These are Black issues, but these are also human issues. In season 2, it felt to me like there was an opportunity to explore more of the friendships and the interpersonal dynamics of the group and explore more of the fun of the world.

But, to answer your question, that's how it is with my friend group. I think that coming from New York, moving here, and then finding a really solid group of friends that I could share my insecurities with and what's stressing me out [and] what's really getting me excited and feeling like I can do that without judgment was something that felt really good. [It was] almost like a turning point in my life as far as the interpersonal dynamics that I had with my friends. Really, it's just staying honest to the premise, which came from my real life.

You also worked on Insecure, which was about Black women and their relationships in L.A. What did you learn from working with co-creators Issa Rae and Prentice Penny and how did you take that with you into Grand Crew?

Working on Insecure was awesome. Incredible job, incredible show. I felt so fortunate to work on the last two seasons. But every job that I've had, I feel like I've taken nuggets and applied it to what Grand Crew is and how I manage Grand Crew. As far as the creative process, I think what I admired the most about what Issa and Prentice did is just being honest to the stories that you want to tell. Trusting that if you find it interesting and you find it provocative and it causes a conversation in the room that everybody's excited about, you can follow that instinct.

You could start with something small and it could lead to a bigger conversation and a bigger storyline. Also, Insecure was a very flat room. And when I say flat, I mean anybody could share what was on their mind and have an opinion in the room. And I think that was a very powerful thing to see in a room full of people that look like me.

I know that for the first season, you hired a Black sommelier to teach your cast some wine language. Do you know how else this show may have helped Black vintners, Black winemakers, or how the wine industry views wine lovers from the Black community?

Devin Reed, our sommelier, yeah. We had him for a couple of episodes that were leaning more into wine just to make sure that we were doing things right. The hope is that as the show grows, the crew's knowledge of wine grows as well. As far as helping… I don't know at what magnitude it's helped. I don't know how to quantify that, but I will say that I haven't seen a network show that is super wine-centric, as far as like the backdrop to the show. We make it a point to highlight Black-owned wineries on the show. To me, that just felt like a very exciting opportunity to show that this space that I think is seen as inherently white does have a lot of people of color that really enjoy the experience as well. I've gotten some messages. I've had some interviews with folks, and some talks with Black-owned wineries. I think any exposure is helpful.

Speaking a little bit about season 2, I love Nicole Byer. She's amazing. I love her character so much because she is who she is. She not only gets to have sexy, casual relationships, but this season she's getting into an actual relationship. Media is still very fatphobic, and we usually don't get to see bigger-sized women, especially if they are Black or women of color, get into relationships, casual and otherwise. So how did you approach that for her character and did you talk to Nicole at all for feedback?

I've been friends with Nicole for over a decade, so I'm just writing for my friend, you know what I mean? We don't even really have conversations in the room about what she looks like — we're writing for Nicole. We're writing for one of the funniest people on the planet, so for me, it's that simple. The character's name, Nikki, you know, I called her as soon as our pilot got ordered and asked her if she was available. In a lot of ways, this role was handcrafted for her. I definitely check in with her to see what types of stories she wants in the show. But as far as how she's represented, I'm just representing a person that I've known for so long and have so much love for. So for me, it's just how do we make her as interesting and fully formed and dynamic as possible?

What else will the crew be up to this season?

For Noah, who loves love, love is the goal, and finding his person is the objective. And I think for it to be interesting, it has to be difficult, so we make it complicated. Sherm owns a business now. I mean, I think in season 1 we set the table, and then in season 2 we eat — more fun, more shenanigans, more interpersonal dynamics. We get to actually play now that you know who these characters are and where they're coming from.

As for the group arc for the season, it really is the thirst for more. It's being at a point in your life where you want to fill out the pieces that feel like they're missing and fill in the gaps that feel like they're empty. And a lot of that is figuring out where those gaps are and what those gaps are for you personally. So it's a lot of self-discovery, which I think is a natural thing that people experience in their 30s. You can feel the maturation a little bit more than you do when you're in your 20s.

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