The “Black Pack” is back! The Best Man: The Final Chapters with Harper, Jordan, Quentin, Lance, Julian, Robin, Shelby, and Candace is like attending the coziest of family reunions. Morris Chestnut, Melissa De Sousa, Taye Diggs, Regina Hall, Terrence Howard, Sanaa Lathan, Nia Long and Harold Perrineau return to portray their much-loved personas. 

The original The Best Man came out in 1999, followed up by The Best Man Holiday in 2013. Both films have germane, soulful soundtracks, wickedly sharp dialogue, and very relatable metropolitan characters. The Best Man: The Final Chapters isn’t a reboot, but a furtherance of the endearing characters’ lives. 

Dayna Lynne North, former Insecure EP and writer, joins The Best Man family as co-showrunner, executive producer, and writer. Prior to Insecure, the Kansas City, MO native worked on numerous drama series, including Veronica Mars and Lincoln Heights. She recently spoke with us about adapting the popular Best Man film franchise for Peacock.

In one of your interviews, you mentioned that your father inspired you to be a storyteller with his bedtime stories. If you were to tell a kid a bedtime story, what would it be?

It would be a bedtime story about how you could make your wildest dreams come true and the power of your imagination. It would be a story about a little girl and she’s dreaming about something wild and fantastical. It starts out as a dream, and she manifests it.

Do you outline?

I do. I will admit, I don’t love outlining. However, I do think it’s helpful and makes your writing better when you do some form of it. I remember a writer on a Writer’s Guild panel talked about having a sandbox file. So, I do two things for the playful side of my mind that wants to go to recess. While I’m outlining, I go to the sandbox file, which has scenes and dialogue.

You’ve written features solo and collaborated. If you had the budget, which one would you do tomorrow?

It would probably be Under Construction. Jay Ellis and I wrote the story. It’s a romantic dramedy about a guy who is ready to settle down, but the girl is not. House hunting is a form of foreplay for them. It’s kind of a reboot of Money Pit, the 80s Tom Hanks movie, except there’s a reversal in the romcom element. 

What are the duties of an Executive Producer as opposed to being a Showrunner?

A showrunner is one of the executive producers and is also a person who keeps the train on the tracks for a TV series. It’s like the CEO and COO of a series combined. It’s a management position and the job of that person is to make sure the series goes from a mere idea to the screen.

I was the person managing the TV writers’ room and that process, but Malcolm D. Lee and I developed the story together. Malcolm, as the director of the franchise, is the originator of this whole thing. Once you go into production, you work with a line producer. A thing that’s often not talked about enough is how there’s the writing and creative side and then there’s the managerial side. That’s what a showrunner does.

Is there a difference in the rhythm of writing a comedy like Insecure and one with more dramatic notes like The Best Man?

Yes, I would say there is. The Best Man is a one-hour format, which means the scenes are going to be a little bit longer. In a half-hour show like Insecure, the scenes are going to go by faster. They’re going to be a little tighter. Except for the occasion where there’s a really big scene, which might be one and a half or two pages. Whereas in a show like The Best Man, the scenes are going to be a little longer from scene to scene. And then, the structure. There are literally just more acts. A show like Insecure flows for thirty minutes. The Best Man is going to have more of an act-by-act feel. You’re building them a little differently in the outline phase and in the writing phase.

Did you get your start as a writer’s assistant?

I did, I consider that to be my grad school. I went to USC for undergrad with my own Best Man crew, like Prentice Penny of Insecure. I mention that because my Best Man crew has been integral to my entire career. My friend Nichelle Protho, who’s my executive at Loud Sis Productions, called me when they needed a writers’ assistant for Any Day Now. I did a freelance episode and ended up on staff at that show. Nancy Miller was one of my mentors. What’s great about that is that it’s very much like an apprentice position. You get to watch writers building story. I got to watch showrunners and co-EP Dee Johnson. They were all my mentors, they’re still my friends, and they’re still women that I very much look up to. Some of my showrunning styles and skills are patterned after them in terms of maintaining structure while remaining open to ideas.

In one of your interviews, you said there was a secret sauce in the writer’s room of Insecure. What was it?

The thing about shows like that and magic like that is that it’s not like you know it at the time. You look back and realize that it’s alchemy. I was there for three seasons, and we had such a fascinating mix, the chemistry we had in the writers’ room. The secret sauce is in who you’re hiring to create that alchemy and the balance of the different styles of humor.

The Best Man: The Final Chapters really maintains the essence of the movies. What did you have to focus on to maintain that?

That wasn’t difficult because the movies are so good. I was such a fan of the franchise, which I told Malcolm when we met. I would say humbly, if you’re a good writer who understands tone and dialogue and those things, the goal was these are characters that are very well established. We’ve been listening to them for two films. We hear how they sound and see their dynamic. Really, it was just bringing them forward ten years after we last saw them in The Best Man Holiday and catching up to them. I was drawn to adapting this franchise with Malcolm because it fits my genre.

What’s the difference in doing a show the first season as opposed to if it’s been on a long time?

When you’re on the first season of a show, you’re getting to establish a world, you’re creating a world. Whereas, with a show that’s been on for a while, you have guardrails. It’s fun to build a world from a blank slate. There’s the pressure of building something from nothing. We had a little bit of both with The Best Man. I know what Quentin sounds like, I know what Jordan sounds like. But we are bringing them forward. This isn’t a reboot, it’s a continuation.

What do you look for in writers you hire?

The ability to play well with others is really important because it’s a communal experience. I enjoy collaborating. It’s important that you have strong dialogue and that you know how to craft story, and that you understand structure. But it’s also important that you be able to be flexible with story. You have to understand that everything you throw out isn’t going to end up in the story. It’s important to understand where the room dynamic is going.

How would you say this writers’ room differs from others you’ve worked in?

We wanted to make sure that the demographics of the eight characters were covered, so our hiring was very intentional. We wanted to tell a Black story from a Black experience. And we knew we wanted to find that dramedy balance. We hired a friend of mine from Ghana, which is the one upside of a virtual writers’ room – that someone from Ghana can dial in. One day we’ll physically have six to twelve people at the table again. In the meantime, it was great to have an international room. 

What is a “runner” in a story?

It’s a mini-story thread. You know how typically an episode of television might have an A and a B and a C storyline and maybe a D storyline? The D storyline is going to be the smallest of course. The D storyline might also be considered the runner. Basically, a runner is the smallest thread that you may only touch on a couple of times. It’s often comedic, though it doesn’t always have to be.

What are the duties of a writers’ assistant on this show?

Essentially, it’s to be the support to the entire writing staff and make sure that the stories that are being broken in the room are having notes captured. Also, to make sure the specific beats on the board are captured as thoroughly as possible to prepare writers to go off and write their scripts.

 Do you have a favorite character in The Best Man?

No. It was cool to get to know each of them in a different way. My relationship with the characters definitely shifted from watching them in the movies to getting to write for these characters in the series. There are things about all of them that intrigue me and that I’m drawn to.