Abby Ajayi - Creator of “Riches” Writer/Producer “Inventing Anna” “The First Lady”

Abby Ajayi is a British Nigerian writer and director who serves as a show creator, executive producer, and writer on the Amazon Series Riches, which is currently on Amazon Prime and premiers on ITVX in the UK on December 22. She has previously worked on the shows Four Weddings and a Funeral, How to Get Away with Murder, Inventing Anna, The First Lady, and Eastenders. As a result, she had the opportunity to learn under the likes of Shonda Rhimes, Pete Nowalk, and Tracey Wigfield. Abby’s next project is the Onyx Collective on Hulu’s limited series The Plot with Mahershala Ali. She is adapting the eight-episode series from Jean Hanff Korelitz’s novel of the same name.

"I think Riches has all the hallmarks of the things I've worked on before in terms of complex, slightly subversive women. At the heart of it, it is negotiating power dynamics. And at the heart of it, there are two very complex and yet vulnerable black women, but I've always loved family drama shows and particularly family businesses, whether it's fictional ones or in real life. I think whether you're talking about the Hiltons, the Kardashians, or the Royal Family, the dynamics of how, where power and money and blood merge is just such a potent and combustible mix that I've always been intrigued by them. I watched them growing up, whether it was Dallas or Dynasty or Six Feet Under, so it was a space which I was really interested in, and wanted to write a black family business show."

"So, in terms of going into the UK as a first-time showrunner. Of course, the UK and the US systems are quite different. Really the showrunner model is very much the American system. While the UK historically has a much more lead writer who then hands over the scripts to the producer who then hands them over to the director.

But I was clear that I do feel that if one has the desire and the ability to be a much more big-picture showrunner, I think that's to the best. That benefits the show because there's a creative voice running all the way through. This isn't a movie, where it's a director's medium. It is the writer's medium, so I think the writer should be across producing and also empowering the director, but there is a clear vision."

www.imdb.com/name/nm2184926

www.amazon.com/Riches-Season-1/dp/B0B8MTCYVM

www.creativeprocess.info
www.oneplanetpodcast.org
Instagram @creativeprocesspodcast