Q&A with Marlon James, Simon Maxwell, Jami O’brien

Why did you want to write this story? 

Marlon: I want people to have a more complicated view of what Jamaica is. It is certainly more than sun and sand and sea. There is a dark undercurrent, but at the same time, the forces of good are also Jamaican. There is stuff going on, but there are really talented and dedicated people who go about protecting people and saving lives and solving mysteries.

When people think of a Caribbean crime, they might think of Death in Paradise. But it’s more than that. It’s complicated, it’s dark, it’s sexy, it’s mysterious. You get the entire cross section of Jamaican society, but it is set in Kingston. It is a city noir. It is what LA is to Chinatown. 

In Scandinavia, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is called Men Who Hate Women. That story put Scandinavia as this place where really complicated and exciting mysteries happen. No one is saying they are not going to Sweden because of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but people want to watch Scandinavian noir. This is Jamaican noir. 

Simon: There is a middle-class aspect to Jamaica that has never made it onto the screen before. The crime takes us through the full sweep of Jamaican society and culture. You notice the contrast within the first episodes of the show when you see the slums and gulleys. Then you move into the hills and the world of the Sommervilles, the former elite who used to run the plantations. We are going into so many different worlds that have not been portrayed before. Part of the reason the show feels so fresh is because it gives the full sweep of Jamaican society.

Was this your experience of Jamaica? Did you see a lot of this growing up? 

Marlon: My mom was good at saving us from all of the underworld stuff and not bringing the that home. Jamaica is a small country. There is not much that is going to happen that you won't know about. I don’t have to do a lot of research about the stuff I write about Jamaica. You are never far away from the possibility of crime. Jamaica is a British colony in a lot of ways. Because so much is swept under the rug and so much is about keeping up appearances, there will always be these undergrounds and secrets. There is a lot of Jamaica under the Jamaica you see. 

Why did you want to write for TV? 

Marlon: TV gives the opportunity to unfold a story in a different way and to explore the side stories more than a film would. You can follow a character down different twists and turns and believe them with this format. You sit down with these people. You are stuck with them for the rest of the night and you wonder what the hell is going to happen to them in the next episode. TV makes you go from audience to eavesdropper. 

How did you cast Tamara for the role? 

Marlon: I fell in love with her from the first reel I saw. I saw this reel of someone in a wig and I said, “That is not Millie’s wig. She wouldn’t wear that.” She was doing the scene where she has a fight with her sister, and it was the first time I saw someone do it the way I saw it in my head. The thing that amazed me was that she knew when to switch to Jamaican and when to stay in British, without any direction. 

And in filming the show, she never had to be directed in that distinction. That blew my mind. She had a natural feel for the character that was there before any direction was given. 

What was it like working with other writers? 

Marlon: It was different and it was interesting. I am so used to writing alone and the only people who see my work when I am writing are my editor and my agent. But when writing for fiction, I don’t have to worry about every character in the same way. You have to make space for characters in a way that you don’t always do when writing a book. When people are bringing their own experiences into it, you realize that as wide as their point of view can be, it can be limiting in a way. When people bring you different perspectives and interests and preferences, you end up with something that feels more like life. I am not sure Hibiscus would have been the same character if I wrote her alone, or any of the characters. Collaborative writing is different, and it works for drama. 

How did this project come to be? 

Simon: I was the head of international drama at Channel 4. Marlon had written an amazing short story called Immaculate which was part of Kingston Noir. Those two works became a massive guiding light for us through the process. I loved the short story and loved talking to Marlon. I commissioned the script and we started to develop it form that point onwards. When I set up Motive Pictures, it was a project I brought with me, with Channel 4. We brought it to the US and had various conversations. HBO came on board and we all went into developing the show in a writer’s room. From the point of having the pilot, we were in a co-development and co-commissioning situation. 

Jami: I came on very late in the process, in post. It was a world I had never seen before, full of characters I had never seen. I was struck by the language. This was my introduction to Marlon’s work. I fell in love with Millie and Hibiscus. You don’t see this kind of family relationship explored much in TV or film. I love Tamara and I love Chyna and I love the dynamic between their characters. I was really excited to come on board. 

What do you want audiences to take from the show? 

Simon: Get Millie Black is a completely unique way of approaching a crime series. It uses that genre as a means of exploring a really important cultural and thematic landscape. It should be provocative and thought provoking in all the right ways, as well as being propulsive and entertaining and gripping as a crime story. We want people to be engaging with everything we are talking about. It is bold and born out of passion and meticulous research. Marlon writes truth. We hope this series feels progressive. 

Jami: I hope it reminds people to pay attention to the people around you. The heart and soul of the show is Millie’s relationship with Hibiscus and Millie’s relationship with Curtis. The ways in which she takes those relationships for granted, for good and ill. The ways in which she betrays those relationships. The ways in which she comes back to those relationships. 

Marlon: It is a detective story. They are seeing Jamaica and Jamaicans in a way they have never seen before. I want these characters to live on in them and haunt them. I want them to worry and fuss about what they will do next. There is more to Jamaica than tourist boats and Mai Tais on the beach.