Reflections on the Television Screenwriting Lab for Black Muslim Writers
Earlier this year Smashcut hosted the first-ever cohort of the Television Screenwriting Lab for Black Muslim Writers, a partnership between The Blackhouse Foundation and MPAC Hollywood Bureau, in an effort to elevate the voices of Black Muslim screenwriters. The lab was led by experienced industry professionals Qasim Basir, Fanshen Cox, DMA and Hanelle Culpepper, who worked with the screenwriters to embrace their unique voices and hone their craft.
The Lab’s inaugural cohort are Maram Ahmed, Desha Dauchan, Aiman Mimiko, Thembisa S. Mshaka, Malikah A. Shabazz, Maria Warith Wade, Nadra Widatalla, and Sekinat Jumai Yusuf.
The Director of MPAC’s Hollywood Bureau, Sue Obeidi, shared with us how the lab was created:
Our work toward inclusion and representation of Muslims on television must be fully inclusive, and more than anyone else, Black Muslims have been glaringly absent on screen. For those characters to be authentic they would absolutely have to be written by writers with that firsthand experience. We already knew a few Black Muslim writers but wanted to find out if there were more out there looking for opportunities to break into the industry and tell those stories.
In 2019, MPAC’s Hollywood Bureau held a panel, Black Muslim Narratives in Entertainment, in partnership with the Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative (MuslimARC) and the WGAW. The conversation was deep and the room was packed, so we partnered with the production company MACRO to hold a panel at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, A New Narrative: Championing Authentic Black Muslim Stories. From those experiences we knew it was time to hold a lab specifically for these writers.
Brickson Diamond, the board chairman of The Blackhouse, a participating foundation for Black voices in film, added: “The Institute does a great job of bringing its diverse partners together to think about changing the entertainment business and even the world. Sue identified an opportunity to support Black Muslim screenwriters with television pilots. The collaboration sprang forward from there.”
The lab was designed in the midst of the pandemic, and was free of charge — a fact made possible by the generous support of Participant, who sponsored the lab, and Smashcut, providing their digital education platform. “We took that potential obstacle and made it a feature.” said Diamond. “Our lab participants joined from around the US, with one joining from the UK. The depth of remote engagement offered by the Smashcut platform was a key element of our success.” As part of the application process, writers submitted a selection of essays and a draft of a feature screenplay.
During the Lab, which lasted for three weeks, writers received focused instructions, group engagement and interactive advice from the industry executives. They were also challenged by instructors to enhance their pilots and make their pitch materials competitive for the Hollywood marketplace. “I wanted to help guide the participants around their pitching skills — especially in thinking about bringing their own personal stories and strengths into their pitches,” said Fanshen Cox.
“The lab was transformational for my development as a writer,” said Maria Warith-Wade, one of the selected writers, a multi-hyphenate filmmaker and politics nerd from Richmond, Virginia, “because it’s the first time in my life to be in a creative space among other Black Muslims. It was beautiful in essence as we all come from various backgrounds, countries, and sects of Islam, yet we shared common experiences.”
Warith-Wade’s career in television began when she was 9, operating cameras for televised services at her local church. She is the youngest out of thirteen siblings, raised in a multi-faith home — Islam and Christianity, and graduated from college at nineteen. “I’m the daughter of a sharecropper, but I came of age post-9/11, and was labeled ‘at-risk’ youth. Writing became my escape — storytelling was my tool to masquerade personal details about my life.”
Initially, Warith-Wade started in Hollywood at Viacom (ViacomCBS), producing linear and digital branded content for the MTV Video Music Awards, VH1's Dear Mama, and many other tentpole events for the networks. While working in the live-TV space, she realized she had a deep desire to beproducing and showrunning, so she took a leap and attended USC’s Peter Stark Producing MFA program. While Warith-Wade’s background and interests are varied, her passion is rooted, she said, “in creating stories that highlight narratives from marginalized people and uncover Black experiences.”
Hanelle Culpepper made it her goal to help writers feel inspired by their writing and not be discouraged by rejections. “It was great to talk to them because it opened my eyes to the experience of Black female Muslims in particular, and how much they feel not seen. When you think of Muslims, you think of a brown skin, you don’t think of black skin necessarily or you right away think of the Black men. You don’t often think of Black women.”
Culpepper said that “hearing their stories really inspired me to think more about the experience of Black Muslims, see these different perspectives and keep them in mind for my own work.” Her main advice was to focus on honing your craft, creating more work, even if it’s low budget films or webseries, and approach opportunities with graciousness.
When asked about the amount of opportunities for Black Muslims in education and entertainment industry, Obeidi emphasized that it is “sorely lacking Black Voices, let alone Black Muslim voices.” Black Muslims make up over 20% of the American Muslim population, yet their narratives remain virtually unknown and are in need of a greater support and effort to be pushed to the forefront. Obeidi expressed that “other creatives, executives, showrunners, and decision-makers could be more aware of their presence and talent in seeking out their scripts, having meetings with them, and staffing their writers’ rooms. Awareness must be raised before changing the narrative is possible.”
Cox agreed with Obeidi about the importance of other creatives appreciating the talent of Black Muslims: “The truth is — there are plenty of qualified Black Muslim creatives already — HIRE them! I can’t wait to see all the ways the really talented participants of this Lab help to shape the industry in the future.”
After the completion of the Lab, the screenwriters presented their projects to Participant television executives.
You can find out more about the Lab participants’ screenplays, as well as The Blackhouse and Smashcut, by visiting the Muslim Public Affairs Council.
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