Nigerian-American Taofik Kolade has been nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for comedy for his work on US series Atlanta.

Kolade, who started his career as a writer’s production assistant, is a screenwriter on the Donald Glover-created show, which airs on US cablenet FX.

Coming from a background in engineering, Kolade’s love for filmmaking led him to engage in various classes with professional screenwriters and technicians and enrol in several internships, during which he wrote, filmed and edited short promotional films.

He later made his own short film The Binding of Ishmael, which won the Directors Guild of America Jury Prize in 2011.

Kolade also currently writes for HBO’s Emmy-winning show Barry. In addition, he works as an executive story editor at HBO and is a coproducer at Amazon Studios.

According to reports, he is also developing a semi-autobiographical series inspired by his misadventures as a prep-school student in Washington D.C.

Speaking about Atlanta’s success, Kolade said: “A lot of people try to analyse the show, but we’re just telling stories that feel true to us and make us laugh. When we’re writing the show, we try to come up with funnier jokes, and that kind of fun gets shaped into stories that we talk about, but don’t see on TV, and try to bring them into the light.”

The comedy drama has been confirmed for a third season on FX.

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