How ‘Winning Time’ Director Salli Richardson-Whitfield’s Historic Emmy Nod Caps a Bittersweet Final Season

variety.com:

Todd Gilchrist editor When the Emmy nominations were announced, “Winning Time” helmer and executive producer Salli Richardson-Whitfield made history as the first Black woman to be recognized in the drama directing category.

Such a tremendous achievement might be tempered by the September 2023 cancellation of the show (on the same day of its Season 2 finale, which she also directed).

But over the 10 months since then, Richardson-Whitfield says she’s been too busy with other opportunities to pause and consider which accolades she may have deserved for her work on the HBO series — much less the fact that they would make history. “This wasn’t even on my radar,” she tells Variety. “Our show had been canceled, so when I got the call, I was on the set of ‘Task,’ my show that I’m shooting now.” As an actress, Richardson-Whitfield worked for 20 years on film and in TV before stepping behind the camera.

Since 2011, she’s steadily built a resume tackling comedy, drama, action, fantasy and more. The series’ fact-based, metatextual dramatization of the rise of the Los Angeles Lakers not only leveraged almost all aspects of that ever-expanding skill set, but also established her as that most valuable collaborator on whatever project in which she works: in the parlance of “Winning Time,” a utility player. “Early on in my career, I thought I had to find that one lane, and I said, no, I’m not doing that,” Richardson-Whitfield says.