Two recipients of the Guyana Fund for Cultural and Creative Industries (GFCCI), Leon Saul and Martin Massiah, are both planning on revealing Guyanese talent to the world via a television series and short documentary series respectively with their share of the project funding.
When the Department of Culture announced the names of the sixteen artistes who are to benefit from the Guyana Fund for Cultural and Creative Industry programme, writer and director Leon Saul, immediately felt relieved that a part of his financial burden for his television series titled “The Tenement Yard’, was lifted, as he needed assistance with the funding of the series.
The 13-episode series, according to Saul, will cost more than US$20,000, which is why he is grateful that he is among the sixteen recipients. However, he disclosed that the money he is slated to receive will not be enough. He stated that he is currently in Canada trying to secure more funding. Upon his return he is hoping that companies here will show an interest in his creation and assist him with additional funds.
He explained that the series will focus primarily on residents of Georgetown, who are living in a tenement yard owned by a 60-year-old Canadian based Guyanese, named Tariq Iqubal Mohamed, who returns to Guyana with the intention of selling the property, which his “deceased father” left him, to an oil company for warehousing. Meanwhile, with the advent of oil money, the lives of the residents of the tenement yard, who have been living on the property for years without paying rent, are disrupted with the announcement of their impending eviction. Despite that, they try to continue living life as normally as possible until one of them is robbed while another is murdered and another kidnapped, only to discover their new landlord’s terrible secret. The action-packed story also highlights the plight of the “down-pressed and disadvantaged” tenants in the tenement yard.
The characters are: Tariq Iqbal Mohamed, 60, re-migrant tenement yard landlord, from Toronto; Ras Haile I, a Rasta man in his late 50s, who runs the “Organic Ital” Shop; Queen Baba, an attractive, petite, feisty Rasta woman in her early 50s; Cuti, the “Ghetto Princess”, 25, Queen Baba’s and Ras Haile I’s “deportee” daughter; Bonny Bundaru, 25-year old LGBT transgender activist resident of the tenement yard; Prophet Sallawalla aka Salz, a legal-minded sprightly “conman” in his 60s; Dr Maana Kanga, university professor, 50, and reparations/human rights advocate; Sister Esther, university professor and reparations/human rights advocate in her 30s; Mrs Brandy Lall, attractive, rich and widowed, transgender LGBT supporter in her 40s; Yankee, psychotic ex-marine deportee, 30, from Brooklyn; Limey, misguided deportee, 25, from Brixton, England; Peggy Simpson, single mother, fashionable manager of a hair salon in her early 40s; Bobbi Simpson, Peggy’s 18-year old daughter, who is a salon assistant and aspiring singer and four transgender court litigants: Gulliver “Quincy” McEwan, Seon “Angel” Clarke, Joseph “Peaches” Fraser and Seyon “Isabella” Persaud.
In addition, Saul said that he intends to make full use of local talented artistes and emphasised that the entire cast and crew will be made up of Guyanese. However, he will be bringing on board a number of technical personnel from Canada to train locals and to hold workshops so as to exchange expertise. Saul, who is the writer and will be directing the series, mentioned that he will also be taking on local assistant directors and fully intends to produce a high quality series. He acknowledged that this will be his first venture into the TV series world and hopes to air it internationally after it is aired in Guyana next year May.
Saul disclosed that auditions are set to begin in October while filming will commence in early November.
The playwright stated that he was happy not only for himself but for other awardees as well. “Finally, the government is getting something right. Guyanese are creative, innovative, talented and gifted,” he stated. He further said that if Guyana had proper funding and showed support for the Arts, Guyanese artistes in the creative field would be successful. “Guyana has to come alive, see the potential in its human resource and know that we can produce world class cultural products,” he added.
Another recipient of the grant, Martin Massiah, 25, echoed similar sentiments saying, “I definitely believe that they [the government] are headed in a right direction. There is a diverse pool of creative people in Guyana that is ready to launch Guyanese culture on the international stage. Additionally, he stated that competing globally with other artistes can increase their skills and talent. “If we compete internationally, it will help us, we will meet other people and maybe we can even exceed international standards,” Massiah stated. Like Saul, he is happy for other recipients of the grant as well as himself and notes that the world needs to see the talents of the Guyanese people.
Massiahs’s faith in the industry clearly shows as he revealed that his project, which he calls a “Media Accelerator,” will be an incubator for artistes who are focussed on developing their capacity to reach, retain and develop an international audience.
In addition to connecting artists to international digital markets so they can distribute and commercialise their content, he will be producing a 10-minute per episode documentary series which is designed for social media by creating engaging content about Guyanese creatives and culture namely music, food, film and craft. He hopes that the series will promote Guyanese artistes and give them the recognition they need and also highlight the unique nature of Guyanese culture by differentiating it from more developed Caribbean cultures. The media accelerator will also offer copywriting services and will actively manage the image of artists on social media platforms
He related that priority will be placed on the production of the series and the digital commercialisation of Guyanese content by showcasing them in a wide range of global digital marketplaces in addition to developing press packages for a group of Guyanese artists.
The project is expected to be launched after the finalisation of the details with the Department of Culture.
A total of $20 million has been allocated under the GFCCI for the projects to be undertaken by the inaugural beneficiaries. In addition to Saul and Martin, those benefitting from the project are: Trevon Monroe, Michael Jordan, Carlene Gill-Kerr, Shunette Jonas, Keith Easton, Gavin Mendonca, Barrington Braithwaite, Lynn Ronnkvist, Leonard Colvin Marks, Ivor Marslow, Mohamed Handi, Errol Chan, and Melissa Roberts.
