Dreaming Whilst Black

Adjani Salmon interview

Following an Emmy-nominated and BAFTA and MIPCOM award-winning pilot, Dreaming Whilst Black is back on BBC Three for a full series. We took a few minutes out with creator and star Adjani Salmon to chat about the show and its origins as a self-produced web series.

Please can you introduce what Dreaming Whilst Black is about?

Dreaming Whilst Black is a comedy-drama about Kwabena, a young black British aspiring filmmaker who tries to fulfil his professional and romantic ambitions against the harsh realities of life, love and a family who'd prefer he had a stable job. Despite these hardships, Kwabena remains determined to achieve his dreams.

You've been working on this project for a long time, it having started out as a web series over half a decade ago. It must be amazing to finally have a series with big broadcaster backing ready?

There are so many feelings, I cannot boil it down to just one word. It feels amazing; to set a goal in 2016 and finally achieve it in 2023. Other times it feels surreal that we actually achieved it, knowing the odds that were against us in doing so. To be honest, I feel relief. Because a lot of energy was put into this, so I would've been pretty gutted otherwise.

At what point in life did you decide you wanted to become a writer and actor?

I decided I wanted to be a writer during film school when I realised that scripts wouldn't fall in my lap to direct, so I started reading screenplay books to learn. Equally I decided to become an actor while making the web series and realised that I couldn't afford actors. So, I started going to improv classes to learn how to act.

When you were making the web series, was that a time of personal struggles and encountering adversity in real life? How much of the TV series is autobiographical?

Not much of the series is autobiographical; for a long time I existed outside the realm of the industry. Kwabena's experiences are a combination of my friends and myself.

What was it like to film the series? Do you have any favourite moments? The scene where Kwabena is at the restaurant and tries to avoid expensive menu items as he can't really afford the bill is full of delicious awkwardness...

Filming the series was challenging, however we had a great cast and crew, so they made it enjoyable. Ironically, my favourite moments are some of the more dramatic ones, because it really forced us to stretch ourselves. The dramatic moments in Episode 4 were some of my favourites.

The series highlights how hard it is for creatives. What could the TV and film industries do to increase opportunities and access to those who are from minority backgrounds, or simply not independently wealthy enough to work for free to build up skills?

To be honest it's not my job to have these answers and people are paid a lot of money to answer these questions. However, what I will say is that more needs to be done to educate young people on the breadth of opportunities within the industry, outside of the classic actor-writer-director-producer roles. I.e., locations, art department, even accounting.

Finally, any thoughts about a second series?

We all hope to get a second series, but that hasn't been confirmed yet.

See also: Crafting Dreaming Whilst Black