Emory Professor's TV Work Moves Into HBO's Writers Room

Erica Dunbar has spent years advising HBO's The Gilded Age on 1880s New York. Now she is one of the people making it. The chair of Emory University's African American Studies Department was promoted to co-executive producer by the time the show's first season aired.

Dunbar has worked on the series since its start as a historical consultant, helping build storylines set in the period and expanding the parts played by African American characters. She was among the first Black creatives to serve as a producer on the production.

The show is written to entertain, not to instruct. Dunbar said she wants viewers to leave an episode "maybe a bit smarter" about the history behind it.

Her work on the series has also fed back into her classroom at Emory. This spring she will teach "Lights, Camera, Action: Black Life and Culture in HBO's The Gilded Age." She said she wants students to take from her experience reaching an audience through television writing and production.

Season 4 of The Gilded Age is set to premiere, and Dunbar continues as co-executive producer on the episodes.