Featured Image Credit: Netflix
Topics: Netflix, London, Film and TV
Joe Yates
The mind behind Netflix's biggest series of 2024 has revealed that he doesn't own any of the show.
Andrew Onwubolu, who is more commonly known as Rapman, is the creator of Supacell - the TV show that grossed 25 million views in its first four weeks.
It hit number one of Netflix's global TV series list when it came out in June, and sat among the top 10 for six weeks - while also boasting of a perfect 100 percent Rotten Tomatoes score, and a 7.0 rating on IMDb.
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The storyline follows a group of ordinary people from South London who unexpectedly develop superpowers with no clear connection between them other than them all being Black.
One man attempts to unite them all while nefarious agents begin chasing them once they notice their abilities.
Well, the show's writer, who is a British rapper and record producer turned screenwriter and director, has opened up about the deal he made with the giant streaming platform.
While on the music podcast Drink Champs, Rapman was asked whether there was a way he could once again own the show.
He replied: "I own zero percent of Supacell. If one day Netflix wake up and say, 'you know what, we’re giving shows to people, do you want your show that you’ve created and written', and that’s not going to happen.
"But that’s just Netflix’s model, I’m not here to complain about it, I knew what I was walking into.
"People have walked away from deals."
The 35-year-old cited Michaela Coel, a writer from the UK and creator of the hit TV series I May Destroy You, who decided against selling the show to Netflix for $1 million so that she could retain full ownership of it.
She had previously sold her first TV series Chewing Gum to Netflix.
Rapman continued: "And I admire her for that.
"That was her second TV show, she probably saw what it was like on her second TV show and probably told herself, 'second time around I’m not doing that', and she walked away from the deal, and then the show became a massive success where it went anyway."
Justifying why he decided to sell his show to Netflix, Rapman said: "I wasn’t walking away from the deal because that was my first TV show, and I was like, 'I’ll take this money, and if you lot keep that one, that’s fine'. I’ll make another one."
Adding: "I know enough to know that without me this show wouldn’t be the same, so it’s cool, but in general, even if that show is theirs, I can make another show, and now I know how it goes."
While season two of Supacell is yet to have a release date, Rapman confirmed on the podcast that he already knows how season two ends.