Kareem Rahma found out about his Emmy nomination while in the New York subway recording his popular YouTube programme SubwayTakes. "I was interviewing a man called The Rizzler, one of my favourite characters in the world," Rahma said in Deadline's Contenders Television studio. "On the platform, I received an email from my team saying we had been nominated for an Emmy, and I couldn't believe it."
Rahma explained that he has always taken the programme seriously, but the nomination intensified his commitment. "Now I'm taking it even more seriously and I'm very excited about the future, about growing the programme and expanding it," he said. He recalled that his first celebrity guest was Olivia Wilde, who according to Rahma was a huge fan of the programme and personally commented on every episode.
The programme arose out of financial necessity. Rahma and co-creator Andrew Kuo wanted to make a show but had a small budget. "I would have made the programme in the subway because technically it costs $2.90 and we can be there as long as we want," Rahma explained. "It was really based on the need to get cheap studio space."
Rahma had worked on bringing Keep the Meter Running to CNN, but the project stalled in development for months. "The traditional television system was a disaster," he told Deadline. "I already knew the programme was good. It was a proven concept. Why did I have to keep proving myself?" He walked away from the deal and decided to do it independently on YouTube.
When asked if anything could make him reconsider traditional television, Rahma noted that his bad experience drove him away from the medium. "But if someone makes it easy for me in the future, I would be happy to work in the traditional industry," he said.
