Post by anansi on Jul 24, 2017 23:14:13 GMT -5
The Producers of HBO’s Confederate Respond to the Backlash
and Explain Why They Wanted to Tell This Story
Now here we have the producers of the Games Of Thrones , with an opportunity and the means to make a series about any of the civilizations on Africa and they gave us Confederate these guys seemed to misread their audience by ignoring the miserable responses to such flicks as the New Roots,and Turner, they are now into Alt-time line of the civil war where slavery still exist with a north south divide, no one asked what if they made a flick where black folks were not struggling heroically for freedom and justice, instead of being masters of their perceived universe.. where others feared and respected their power, politically , militarily and economically.
This could be done both in fiction or fact based perhaps a combination between the two, and black Hollywood have not stepped up to the plate either but go along to get along, yes I enjoyed Alt--time line flicks like the Man In the High Castle, but none have made a flick where black ppl were not the underdog or objects of pity or concern, the stories are there , they almost write themselves.
sigh!!
and Explain Why They Wanted to Tell This Story
Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are no strangers to controversy, be it serious (questions about the show’s handling of sexual violence) or trivial (Ed Sheeran cameos). Whatever experience they’ve mustered over the years dealing with backlash probably came in handy Wednesday when online outrage erupted over the announcement of their first big post-Thrones project. A sci-fi tinged, alternative-history drama called Confederate, the mere idea of the GoT braintrust tackling such a sensitive subject provoked a negative response from a number of critics. “Give me the confidence of white showrunners telling HBO they wanna write slavery fanfic,” tweeted journalist Pilot Viruet. Author Roxane Gay was similarly scornful (“It is exhausting to think of how many people at HBO said yes to letting two white men envision modern day slavery. And offensive”), while actor David Harewood was quick to predict a boycott of the show among fellow thespians.
So, before we get into the reaction to the announcement, let me start by asking something more basic. What was the genesis of Confederate?
David Benioff: We’ve been talking about this as a feature because we had an idea for a two-hour story. The more we talked, the more it evolved. And with the success we’ve had on Thrones, and how happy we’ve been with HBO, it’s really opened up storytelling possibilities and world-building possibilities, especially in a story like this, which we imagined being an ensemble with dozens of characters and multiple story lines, which frankly I think TV has done better with over the last ten-to-15 years. And once we realized it was going to be a bigger story, we knew we didn’t wanna do it by ourselves because we’re … lazy. [Laughs.] And they’re two great writers. We’ve known Malcolm and Nichelle a long time, socially, and always talked about doing something together at some point. And this felt like a good thing. Now we’re bonding under fire.
David Benioff: We’ve been talking about this as a feature because we had an idea for a two-hour story. The more we talked, the more it evolved. And with the success we’ve had on Thrones, and how happy we’ve been with HBO, it’s really opened up storytelling possibilities and world-building possibilities, especially in a story like this, which we imagined being an ensemble with dozens of characters and multiple story lines, which frankly I think TV has done better with over the last ten-to-15 years. And once we realized it was going to be a bigger story, we knew we didn’t wanna do it by ourselves because we’re … lazy. [Laughs.] And they’re two great writers. We’ve known Malcolm and Nichelle a long time, socially, and always talked about doing something together at some point. And this felt like a good thing. Now we’re bonding under fire.
Did you anticipate any of the reaction that came yesterday?
DB: Oh, yeah. We all knew it was coming in one form or another. I remember the very first time we talked about this, one of the first things that came up was …
DW: Malcolm said, what was it?
Malcolm Spellman: “You’re dealing with weapons-grade material here.”
So Malcolm and Nichelle, take me back to how David and D.B. first came to you with this. How did you decide to get involved?
MS: They first called me and said they wanted to take us to lunch and talk about a project they had. They took me and Nichelle out to a restaurant and told us the history of it: They had this script, the movie version, but they felt taking it to TV would be better. And they knew they needed black voices on it. There was already a comfort level between all of us. I feel like me and Nichelle, both separately, have a great pedigree — her particularly — and so it made sense.
For me and Nichelle, it’s deeply personal because we are the offspring of this history. We deal with it directly and have for our entire lives. We deal with it in Hollywood, we deal with it in the real world when we’re dealing with friends and family members. And I think Nichelle and I both felt a sense of urgency in trying to find a way to support a discussion that is percolating but isn’t happening enough. As people of color and minorities in general are starting to get a voice, I think there’s a duty to force this discussion.
Nichelle Tramble Spellman: When we initially sat down, we made the joke, “Oh, this is going to be a black Game of Thrones spin-off! This is gonna be awesome.” And then [Benioff and Weiss] got into what the story was about, and I just remember being so excited — and absolutely terrified at the same time. I can’t remember the last time I approached any story like that. So Malcolm and I left the lunch and couldn’t stop talking about it the entire way home. And immediately that night, this chain of emails just started. Like, “Have you read this? Have you read that? What about this piece of history? How can we bring this all into a present-day story line.”
www.vulture.com/2017/07/hbo-confederate-producers-exclusive-interview.html
DB: Oh, yeah. We all knew it was coming in one form or another. I remember the very first time we talked about this, one of the first things that came up was …
DW: Malcolm said, what was it?
Malcolm Spellman: “You’re dealing with weapons-grade material here.”
So Malcolm and Nichelle, take me back to how David and D.B. first came to you with this. How did you decide to get involved?
MS: They first called me and said they wanted to take us to lunch and talk about a project they had. They took me and Nichelle out to a restaurant and told us the history of it: They had this script, the movie version, but they felt taking it to TV would be better. And they knew they needed black voices on it. There was already a comfort level between all of us. I feel like me and Nichelle, both separately, have a great pedigree — her particularly — and so it made sense.
For me and Nichelle, it’s deeply personal because we are the offspring of this history. We deal with it directly and have for our entire lives. We deal with it in Hollywood, we deal with it in the real world when we’re dealing with friends and family members. And I think Nichelle and I both felt a sense of urgency in trying to find a way to support a discussion that is percolating but isn’t happening enough. As people of color and minorities in general are starting to get a voice, I think there’s a duty to force this discussion.
Nichelle Tramble Spellman: When we initially sat down, we made the joke, “Oh, this is going to be a black Game of Thrones spin-off! This is gonna be awesome.” And then [Benioff and Weiss] got into what the story was about, and I just remember being so excited — and absolutely terrified at the same time. I can’t remember the last time I approached any story like that. So Malcolm and I left the lunch and couldn’t stop talking about it the entire way home. And immediately that night, this chain of emails just started. Like, “Have you read this? Have you read that? What about this piece of history? How can we bring this all into a present-day story line.”
www.vulture.com/2017/07/hbo-confederate-producers-exclusive-interview.html
Now here we have the producers of the Games Of Thrones , with an opportunity and the means to make a series about any of the civilizations on Africa and they gave us Confederate these guys seemed to misread their audience by ignoring the miserable responses to such flicks as the New Roots,and Turner, they are now into Alt-time line of the civil war where slavery still exist with a north south divide, no one asked what if they made a flick where black folks were not struggling heroically for freedom and justice, instead of being masters of their perceived universe.. where others feared and respected their power, politically , militarily and economically.
This could be done both in fiction or fact based perhaps a combination between the two, and black Hollywood have not stepped up to the plate either but go along to get along, yes I enjoyed Alt--time line flicks like the Man In the High Castle, but none have made a flick where black ppl were not the underdog or objects of pity or concern, the stories are there , they almost write themselves.
sigh!!