Michaela Coel’s striking of the series I Can Destroy it is a must-see on BBC One and HBO this summer, but did you know that almost ended up on Netflix? During a recent interview with Vulture, Coel explained that she was in talks to create his stunning show in the streaming service of $1 million, but ran into a disagreement on the property. Despite being the creator, writer, director and main actress, Netflix balked when she asked for a percentage of the copyright.
“She said, ‘Is not the way we do things around here. No one does that, it is not a big thing.’ I said, ‘If it is not a big deal, then I’d really like to have five percent of my rights.'”
I Can Destroy it is not only thought, to reflection, is personal to Coel. The main character, Arabella, is drugged and raped after a night out with friends — loosely based on Coel’s own sexual assault experience in 2016. She launched the idea of the series to Netflix in the spring of 2017, after she had worked with the company in their program Chewing Gum, as well as The Black Mirror and Black Earth Increased. After it rejected his request for partial ownership of the copyright, however, she walked away. She fired his agency of the united states, CAA, once she learned that they were pushing her to make a deal for their own monetary gain.
She went back to Netflix to ask senior-level executives for the five percent of the property. “There was just silence on the phone,” he said. “And she said, ‘Is not the way we do things around here. No one does that, it is not a big thing.’ I said, ‘If it is not a big deal, then I’d really like to have five percent of my rights.'” Five percent became a two per cent, which became one percent, which became a half percent. His persistence was noticed by a Netflix employee, who told him, “‘Michaela? I just want you to know that I am very proud of you. You are doing the right thing.'”
“I remember thinking, I’ve been going down rabbit holes in my head, as the people to think that I’m paranoid, I’m acting sketchy, I’m killing all my agents,” Coel said. “And then she said those words to me, and I finally realized — I’m not crazy. This is crazy.”
By the fall, she was ready to try out your pitch with the BBC (and by default, HBO), and I was pleasantly surprised with the result: full creative control, the rights of his work, and an executive producer of the title. The moral of the story? Know your value and show their worth. Thanks to Coel’s adamance, fans have the opportunity to catch his daughter of 12 episode of the show Mondays at 9 pm ET.
