Invicta News

Read all about it

Entertainment Feature

“It is important that we have diversity behind the scenes”

Enterprice follows two young entrepreneurs who are trying to start their own business together in South London. Under the direction of young writer and actor, Kayode Ewumi, Enterprice has an entirely new perspective which has been praised by British audiences.

“It’s so great to see representation for artforms representing communities often misrepresented and mixing it with light-hearted humour, as well as a special drive to build a business,” says Maxine, a blogger, wrote about the series.

Kayode Ewumi, the creator of the show explained that he wanted to create a show which showed a different perspective of the lives of British black people than what he saw in the media.

He said: “I just wanted to show there are other kinds of experiences of black people. I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to tell this story.”

He was taken completely by surprise when his producer texted him that the show was being brought to Netflix.

Since the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter, there has been a greater focus on content such as Enterprice that have been created or include black people.

Since June, the BBC has announced that it is committing £100 million of its TV budget to produce “diverse and inclusive content” over the next three years.

Adesola Akrerele is a young screenwriter from Hartfordshire. She declared: “What’s happened with George Floyd and the spark of the Black Lives Matter Movement has definitely woken the industry up that they need to bring change.”

She pointed out that Neal Street Productions also created a new BAME screenwriter bursary aimed at supporting and training new Black, Asian and ethnic minority screenwriters. They were the production company behind Oscar and BAFTA-winning 1917.

While the industry has opened up for acting and writing roles for black people, it has not so much for behind the scene roles.

Leon Lopez is a Manchester-based TV director.

He has directed episodes of soaps such as Hollyoaks, Emmerdale and Coronation Streets as well as his own films. He believes that there is too much of a push for black people to be in front of the camera leaving a lack of diversity in decision making roles and filming crews.

Independent filmmaker Leon Lopez

Over the summer, he decided to start up the blog ‘Blackandcreative’ to create a database of black experienced directors, production staff as well as many other behind the scene roles.

He said: “It is equally important, if not more important, that we have diversity behind the scenes. There needs to be more of a push for these job roles.”

Mr Lopez added that successful black showrunners, such as Kayode Ewumi, empower black people and other people of colour by showing that these roles are achievable and are a valid job.

At the end of the day, Kayode Ewumi’s main hope is that Enterprice opens the doors for black creators to create new stories.

He added: “I hope that young black writers will watch it and say to themselves it’s possible to make a show that is fun and has nothing to do with the ends. I can do that because Kayode has done it.”

LEAVE A RESPONSE

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *