Abby Ajay, Creator and Director of Riches for Prime Video talks about the idea and inspiration behind the hit series.

I spoke with Abby Ajay, creator and director of Riches for Prime Video. Riches follows the exploits of the stylish, privileged, super-successful Richards family. When Stephen Richards (Hugh Quarshie) passes suddenly, the family’s world comes crashing down. As his business hangs in the balance, his different sets of children are about to collide as they vie for control. 

Cox: Welcome, Abby Ajayi! I would like to first congratulate you on your fantastic new series, Riches on Amazing Prime. Then, please tell me why this show is and how you came up with it.  
Ajayi: Two great questions! Why this show? I’m my first audience. I was looking for something fun, entertaining, and juicy. I have always loved family dramas and business shows. I great up watching shows like Dynasty and Six Feet Under. I love how these shows demonstrate the power of family being able to do everything, but when you add money into the mix, it corrupts things. So, those were so interesting with the high stakes involved.   

Plus, I’ve always wanted to create a family business show with a Black family and a Black British family. So, the business premise of the show came after me, and my producers circled the idea of the family business for the show being centered around oil and such. But we landed on hair and cosmetics because those are such lucrative industry’s which economic profits don’t usually flow back into the Black community.   

Cox: You brought so many Black diaspora elements into the show, with the siblings Black American and the others Black British. You know how to spice things up.  
Ajayi: I try to be as authentic as possible with a show like this. Many Black Brits, like my parents, came to England in the 60s, but my mother’s sister went to the USA. So, it’s natural for me to mirror that in this work because I have cousins who were born and raised in the states, while I was born and raised in London. So, this Black Atlantic notion is very real. Having these lived experiences made it something that wouldn’t be a show that would be a British niche, which I didn’t want.   

Cox: Speaking of adding juicy elements. What’s your method for adding these types of layers for character development?  
Ajayi: You start with the carrots. The trick is you never really know what will hit and work. So you go into the pre-planning stages, where you sit with each character and think about who this person is. You aim to make them as human as possible and discover things like their desires. With this series, I start with what creates family drama and tension. Like in real life, we pull from our experiences. So I question how I would react or respond to someone in my family in a particular situation. For example, how would you be at the age of seven if you had father issues?   

But then I always wanted to explore competent women who are also incredibly vulnerable. They are grappling with life and have these emotional issues. In addition, I wanted to tackle issues such as not being the Alpha male in the family but the mommy’s boy. So the team and I used this mix of things to develop these characters and their stories.   

Growing up, we didn’t get that much Black Brit representation on the screen. And often, when you saw Black British men on the screen, they would be either a cop or robbers. So that made me want to give these characters, especially the men, as much humanity and vulnerability as possible. I wanted you to see the multitudes and the importance of us exploring them.  

Cox: One thing you can do so well in this show and your other is show Black women being powerful and fearless vixens. Why is that something we see a lot of in your writing?  
Ajayi: Well, thank you for saying that. I think it’s a lot of wishful thinking because when you see men write themselves in these characters, you see them jumping out of cars and shooting up banks. As women writers, we can see ourselves in incredibly strong characters focused on the job at hand. They can move through the world and embrace their sexuality and sex life. Adding those interpersonal relationships is important because it adds a layer of confidence and focus that explores how women can be seen. You see that with Nina and Claudia in the show, who are both focused. They are concentrated in a way where the audience looks and thinks they wish they had more of that in their own life.   

Cox: You also see elements of LGBT representation and interracial dating. Why was that important and necessary to include?  
Ajayi: It’s that one thing that shows how diverse and complex reality is. In this day and age, none of these things are new or fresh to us anymore. They are just as much a part of Black life as everything else.   

Cox: What type of impact do you hope this show has?  
Ajayi: It’s all about seeing more projects like this on the screen. It helps get other projects greenlit so people can tell more authentic stories from their perspective. I want other Black and Brown creatives to be given more opportunities in this increasingly globalized nature of streaming. The response we are getting reflects people wanting to see more of themselves on the screen. I hope this show encourages the gatekeepers to see the benefit of greenlighting more projects like this.   

Cox: Was it hard getting Riches greenlit?  
Ajayi: It was a straightforward process for me. It’s because, by the time I initially pitched it in the UK, I had already developed my craft and worked on tons of shows in the US. The difficult part was COVID hit right in the production stage. It became a juggernaut of a production challenge in London for us.   

Cox: Last question, regarding Black and Brown writers, what advice do you have when they struggle to pick up their scripts?   
Ajayi: That’s hard because this is just a tough industry to break into. It’s different than becoming a doctor, where you have a set path with exams. This business has many ways, and everyone you talk to has a different story. So, I would say keep doing the work. Because of the nature of this business, you have to find your way of creating value and success. And keep producing crucial work.   

All photography credit for images from the series: David Hindley/Prime Video

  
More about Abby Ajayi 

Abby Ajayi is a British Nigerian writer, producer, and director based in Los Angeles and London. She began her career in the UK writing on shows including EASTENDERS and HOLLYOAKS. In the US, she has worked as a writer-producer on shows including the Emmy-nominated INVENTING ANNA (Netflix/ Shondaland), HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER (ABC/ Shondaland), and THE FIRST LADY (Showtime). 

In addition, Abby is adapting the New York Times best-selling novel THE PLOT by Jean Hanff Korelitz for Onyx/ Disney. The eight-part, limited series will star Mahershala Ali. Abby graduated with a law degree from Oxford University and was a Fulbright Scholar at the New York Film Academy.