Kate Hudson and Mindy Kaling’s friendship began in classic Hollywood fashion: while being snubbed at an Oscar party.
“We were in line to get our portraits taken by the great Mark Seliger, and a very famous celebrity, who we won’t mention, cut in front of us in line,” recalled Kaling. “I remember looking at Kate, who I didn’t know that well, and asked, ‘Is this normal?’ And she’s like, ‘Not really.’”
“It was a bad move,” added Hudson. “And by the way, he wasn’t as famous as he should’ve been if he was going to do that.”
“I’ve held it against him ever since,” continued Kaling. “I’m glad we gave a gender too, because I want people to know that it was a man and not a woman.”
The pair’s lasting bond has now spawned a hit Netflix series, “Running Point,” loosely based on the life of L.A. Lakers President Jeanie Buss. The first season — the show’s already been renewed for a second — follows Isla Gordon (Hudson), who’s chosen to run her family’s legendary basketball franchise after a scandal forces her brother (Justin Theroux) to resign.
Hudson and Kaling, who created the series along with Elaine Ko, Ike Barinholtz and showrunner David Stassen, recently joined The Envelope to discuss the strength of their partnership, the show’s enthusiastic endorsement by Hudson’s parents, Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn, and what to expect in Season 2.
Can you talk about the specifics of your partnership and creative strengths? How’s Kate as an executive producer?
Kaling: She’s really good at pacing. I come from the sitcom world and “The Office,” where you have 21½ minutes to jam in as much comedy and story as possible. And I think what was great about having her in the editing room in post-[production], she is so good about saying, “We need to let things breathe here more.” And music. She literally launched a music career while we were shooting this, but music is not my strong suit, the score and finding great new songs, so she was extremely helpful with that.
Hudson: Let me go back to our first meeting. A lot of times, in my experience, you read a script, you get involved, and then the next thing you know, because it’s female-led, it gets dumbed down. It’s like, “You can’t curse, you can’t do this, you can’t do that because we’re going for a more female audience.” And I’ve always felt like, for me, I wouldn’t compromise the comedy for the sake of some idea that women can’t handle a harder comedy.
I think a lot of times when you sign up to do something, it does change a lot. You’re sort of brought in and then it shifts. And that never happened once in this process.
Loaded question, but has there been one especially magical or memorable moment with the show so far?
Hudson: My magic moment was when I realized I was the only girl surrounded by really hot guys. And I was like, “Mindy knew I’d be the right girl for this job.”
Kaling: [Laughs] When you’re creating a show, I would say there’s probably 40 of these moments where you’re like, “Ooh, we’re marching in the right direction.” This show looks expensive, but Kate and I can fill you in: It’s done on a very tight budget. We are making very modest things look amazing.
How have loved ones responded? What feedback have you received?
Hudson: From my 13-year-old son to my friend’s 96-year-old grandmother, it hit every demographic, which to me is so exciting because it’s so rare that it’s something everyone can sit and enjoy. Even though it might be inappropriate for some teenagers, not mine — I let them watch things like this.
The biggest compliment I got was from my dad, who is a big sports guy. His big thing is the believability factor. Do you believe that this person could actually run a sports team and at the same time deal with all the dynamics of the family and love, and have it be funny and have it be light on its feet? That is actually a very complicated execution. And my dad, that was one of the things he never compliments. We’re not that kind of family. We don’t really talk about each other’s work. But when they got excited about it, and because he loves sports, it was like a big one. He really loved it.
Kaling: By the way, I asked the same thing. Literally like, “What do Goldie and Kurt think?” I think I asked once in person, and then she was on an international press tour for this, and then I thought, “I won’t follow up in a text because she’ll be like, ‘Hey, don’t be a loser. Stop asking what my famous parents think of the show. I’ll tell you when I see you.’” I was sensitive to that, but I’m really happy to hear it now. I think this is what I’m hearing. This would be a funny place for you to be like, “They didn’t care for it,” which is fine.
Hudson: [Laughs] Look, we’re a critical family. You know what I mean? If it’s not great, it wasn’t great. But that was exciting [to hear from them]. They binged it in one night.
Kaling: Really? Oh, that’s nice. What’s telling for me is, I have my friends from suburban Boston that I grew up with, I have my L.A. mom friends, and then I have professors from college. And just universally, out of everything that I’ve ever done, this has been the one that I’ve gotten the most instantaneous feedback about. The writers came out to Malibu to do a little writers’ retreat, and when we were having lunch in the yard, my stepmom came out. She’s never done this on any show that she’s ever met the writing staff of, and she came over and she’s like, “I just have to tell you, ‘Running Point’ is my favorite show. All of my friends are watching it.”
How are you both feeling about the industry now, about what you get to make now versus earlier in your careers?
Hudson: This is the hardest industry to get anything made in the world. Does the landscape change? Does it move, do the conversations shift all the time into different important areas that we need to be focused on? Yes, but I don’t think it’s ever easy. Even when you think someone has such success, that’s just a subjective outside-looking-in perspective. When you get success, then they want you to do the things that you didn’t sign up to do as an actor or as an artist. But they’re going to end up paying you. You’ll pay some bills, you’re going to make a good living doing the things that now maybe people want you to do, but that’s not why you got into the business.
Kaling: I think in the past, since I came off of “The Office,” I have been someone that gets things on the air, which is nice, but it’s not like any of it is easy. Even in the most delightful of shooting circumstances, it’s still hard. But I feel so lucky. I did the show about an Indian American family, “Never Have I Ever.” Then I do a show about girls in college [“The Sex Lives of College Girls”]. Now I’m doing this show that Kate is the star of. So I feel like it has gotten easier for me, Mindy Kaling, to launch a show, which I hoped would be the case. But as a producer who wants to get other writers’ shows about Indian families or Pakistani families or other things made, that’s still challenging. So it’s, like, how do I, as someone who thinks of myself as an effective producer and a mentor, try to help other people and produce other things for them? So just because things are easier for me, I don’t necessarily think it’s become easier. You hope that when you open the door, it kicks it open for other people.
Hudson: No matter how much you prove yourself, you’re always still reproving yourself. It’s where art and commerce don’t mix well, because it doesn’t matter how much you try to convince someone that it’s going to be beautiful or great. They’re not looking at it the way that we’re looking at it.
Any specific hopes and dreams for Season 2, or hints of what’s to come?
Kaling: We’re in the room right now for it. And honestly, some of [the hopes and dreams] are sort of boringly administrative and logistical, which is, like, Kate really did work 60, 16-hour days in a row, so that’s not healthy, we would like to change that. But unlike other shows where it’s like, “Ooh, we hope to get this big guest star,” I love how cozy the show is. This is boring but more of the same [next season].
Hudson: More nudity [laughs].
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