A couple of months ago I saw the trailer for ‘Queenie’ and it instantly piqued my interest. The fact that a full-figured Caribbean woman’s love life and mental struggles were the plot of a high-end European production, was new to me. Being born and raised in the Netherlands, I’d never seen anything like this on Dutch television. Next to that, drama series about Black women are extremely rare in Europe, so Queenie felt like a breath of fresh air and when it finally dropped on Disneyplus, I binged it in one night. The authentic display of Black womanhood, Caribbean culture, and navigating a multicultural society in a predominantly white country, was so immensely inspiring, that it gave me a whole new level of drivenness as a Black filmmaker. Candice Carty-Williams showed me that as Black women in Europe, we can write bestseller books about us and turn them into successful TV shows. I know it couldn’t have been easy, but she DID THAT!

Less than three weeks later, ‘Supacell’ launched on Netflix and it completely blew me away. The fact that Netflix allowed Rapman to make a British sci-fi show with an all-Black cast was huge, but the way he delivered, is truly mind-blowing. Turning a mutation of sickle cell into a superpower, while creating awareness about it, is pure brilliance. The same goes for the authentic incorporation of gang violence in South London and making sure that it didn’t overshadow the versatile representation of Black Britons. If we add that to the subtle hints at racism and bias in healthcare, we have an incredibly layered piece of work that introduced the world to Black superheroes like never seen before! In an interview with Variety, Rapman stated that the success of Supacell could open a lot of doors and change British TV. With the show currently being No. 1 in Netflix's global top 10, we can all agree that it’s doing amazing and I believe this will not just affect British TV. This kind of success is going to open doors for Black representation worldwide and I can’t wait to experience it!

Now that I’ve praised the creatives that inspire me, it’s time to introduce myself. My name is Rasheida Adrianus and I'm a Dutch-based writer, director, and producer of Surinamese descent. I’m currently working on a drama series called Single A.F. The show has an all-Black cast and tells the story of a self-sabotaging millennial who keeps ending up in toxic situationships. With the help of hundreds of mostly Black women, I was able to record a mini-episode that I pitched to some producers with no success. One of them was very excited about the project and even offered to pitch it directly to a big network. The only thing that had to change was the cast. It could not be an all-Black cast and to me, that was reason enough not to do it. I very much understand that sometimes we have to make sacrifices to get ahead and I have no problem doing that, just not with this project. This show was created by a Black woman, backed by Black women, and will be a Black women-led TV show. After Queenie and Supacell, I think that Europe’s finally ready to embrace an authentic representation of Black lives and culture on television. What do you think?

I’ll keep you guys updated on my progress with the show and if you’re interested in collaborating, let me know!  If you want to know what the show is going to look like, you can check out the snippets on my profile. 

Instagram and Linkedin. @Rasheidaadrianus