Coel walked away from Netflix after the broadcaster refused to allow him to retain any percentage of the show’s copyright.
Michaela Coel’s huge success in the United States is largely attributed to Netflix. The serpentine was the national distributor for her acclaimed comedy series “Chewing Gum,” for which Coel won a BAFTA for Best Female Performance in a Comedy Show, and then appeared in an Emmy-winning episode of “Black Mirror.” and led the 2018 Netflix Music Movie “Been So Long”. Netflix also released the Coel drama series “Black Earth Rising” outside the UK in 2019. Coel’s history with Netflix made the streamer a natural destination for his latest project, “I May Destroy You”, but the creator walked away. of a mega-deal to maintain ownership of the series.
In a new profile released by Vulture, Coel reveals that Netflix made him an offer for “I May Destroy You” in the spring of 2017 worth $ 1 million. The series is based on Coel’s personal experience of being sexually assaulted during the making of “Chewing Gum”. Coel, who wrote all 12 episodes of the series and co-directed nine, plays a young writer struggling to reach a deal and prosecute a recent assault. Coel rejected Netflix’s $ 1 million offer because he would not be allowed to retain any percentage of the copyright. The creator even ended his relationship with CAA after he “tried to push her to take the deal” with Netflix since CAA “would be doing an undisclosed amount in the back end.”
Coel told Vulture that he tried to negotiate with “a senior development executive on Netflix” to retain “at least 5 percent of the copyright.” According to Coel, “There was only silence on the phone. And she said, ‘This is not how we do things here. Nobody does that, it’s not a big deal. ‘ I said, ‘If it’s not a big deal, I would like to have 5 percent of my rights.’ “
When Coel negotiated and asked him to own just 0.5 percent of the copyright, the Netflix executive said he would have to run it on the chain while adding, “Michaela? I just want you to know that I am really proud of you. You’re doing the right thing.
“I remember thinking, I’ve been going through rabbit holes in my head, like people who think I’m paranoid, I’m acting shallow, I’m killing all my agents,” said Coel. “And then she said those words to me, and I finally realized that I’m not crazy. This is crazy.”
Coel finally released “I May Destroy You” to the BBC in the fall of 2017 and the network offered him everything he wanted, from “a seat on the table on the production side” to “full creative control and rights to job”. “HBO would join the BBC as a co-producer on the project. The show debuted in June with some of the best television reviews of 2020. Tambie Obenson of IndieWire gave the series a perfect A rating in his review. Read the new profile on Coel in its entirety on the Vulture website.
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