Speak ya clout is a series of heart to heart conversations, exclusively found at BSTN Chronicles. From insiders of the fashion business to blazers of new trails and creative forces from other industries, topics vary for each conversation. This time, we sat down with the most successful black actor and producer in Germany, Tyron Ricketts.
Aside from also being known for hosting legendary hip hop TV show VIVA Word Cup in the 90s, and topping the charts with his band Mellowbag and the groundbreaking Brothers Keepers project, the multi-talented storyteller just set another milestone. He and his production company Panthertainment are celebrating the succesful premiere of the first German original production ever for Disney+: The series ‘Sam – Ein Sachse’, which tells the true story of Samuel ‘Sam’ Meffire, the first black cop in the GDR who after German reunification went from a media celebrity to an internationally wanted criminal.
How does it feel to have landed the first German original series on Disney+ with ‘Sam – Ein Sachse’, which you produced?
It feels great, to sum it up. Because of different reasons: First of all, it took well about 20 years to realize the project. Because I first met the real Samuel Meffire in 2001 when we were doing school tours in East Germany with Brothers Keepers. We tried to encourage the young people in the East to stand up against the right-wing tendencies. And before we went on that school tour, we had received death threats from Nazis, so we needed security. And it turned out that the real Sam, the real Samuel Meffire, was one of the security guys. And he told me his incredible and amazing story back then and it took such a long time to actually realize it. Because right then and there I knew the story had to be on the screen. So I tried the first time in 2006 when I was working as an actor for ‘SOKO Leipzig’ [a German thriller TV series]. I tried to realize the story as a feature film together with Jörg Winger, one of the other executive producers of ‘Sam – Ein Sachse’. But no one was interested. The whole German industry said “Yeah, it’s a great story. But who wants to see a black lead role?” So it wasn’t possible.
Then in 2018, I came back from the States where I had the honour to work with Harry Belafonte for a couple of years, I thought “Ok, now the market has changed. Even in Germany. Now it would be a good time to try again.” So I repackaged everything as a series. I got Christoph Silber on board, the other head author, then I got Jörg Winger on board again with his company Big Window and the UFA together with Panthertainment. Then we finally found the streamer that was interested. And to end up and work with Disney, of course that’s a great thing. For it to be the first original show out of Germany for Disney, that’s a great honour and made it very visible. Yeah, I’m very happy about it.
You mentioned that the German market had changed in between 2006 and 2018: What do you think changed for people to finally embrace the story of ‘Sam – Ein Sachse’?
I think it’s three major things that changed. First of all, I guess, it’s the demographic change in Germany. It changed a lot, because now we have 27,8 percent of people with migrant backgrounds in Germany. That’s almost a third. And if you look at younger people, the numbers just get bigger. So, I believe, if you look at the population below 30 years old, we’re probably at around 50 percent. And these stories haven’t been told in the past. And of course, they need to be told. Because if you have a society, then the story that that society tells about itself, of course it has to include all the people that make up the society. So I think that’s one major change.
The second change would be that communication, and that’s on a global scale, has changed as well. Because we used to communicate in pyramids, where only a few powerful people had the chance to actually say what’s the “truth”. I’m saying “truth” in quotation marks, because there’s no such thing as truth. And now through digitilization, and because of the fact that everybody is not only a receiver – as it used to be – but also has the possibility to send the stories and messages, I think the way we communicate has changed from a pyramid to a network. And hence we need a new narrative. Because there’s even people that didn’t have a voice in the past but now have a voice, of course you need a different narrative for society to function. And that’s on a global scale. That’s the second thing that changed.
And definitely, in terms of economic reasons, if you deal with streaming services in comparison to the linear TV program that we used to have in Germany before, the streaming services have the world as an audience. And if you look at the world, there’s way less white people in the world than there’s people of color. So i think these three changes made it possible to now tell such a story out of Germany. Like a truly German story, but from a different perspective.
Talking about that perspective, showing Germany explicitly from the point of view of a black German protagonist: How is ‘Sam – Eine Sachse’ perceived so far in Germany? And is it different in other countries, as the series is available worldwide?
From the feedback that I received so far, it’s perceived great. That goes for the POC community [People of Color], and that’s not just black people and not just BIPOC [Black, Indigeneous und People of Color]. We also received feedback from Asian people, who said “We experience exactly the same thing growing up in the East”. We got good feedback from the German-Turkish community and German-Arabic community. It’s just amazing because I think we found a way that everybody can relate, you know? Even if you’re not Afro-German. On the other hand, the feedback that we received from the white audience also has been amazing. Because a lot of people told us, like “Even though we heard so much from our friends how it feels to be discriminated, how it feels to make racist experiences, it’s a very different thing to actually kind of ‘live’ and really feel it.” Because if you connect with the main character, it opens up a possibility to actually really feel walking in someone else’s shoes for a while. And even if it’s just for seven or eight hours. I think that’s a different quality than just to rationally understand it.
That’s the feedback we got from a lot of white viewers in Germany. And even white people that grew up in East Germany told us that they’re happy that we told the whole East German experience when the [Berlin] Wall came down, a little more differentiated than it’s usually told. Because not everybody in our show is completely happy about what happened. We also show that some people thought the reunion of the two German countries would be different. You know, like ‘best of both worlds’ would be put together into a new world. And we tried to be a little more detailed about that and a little less clichée. That was the feedback from Germany, but also the internetional feedback has been great. We had great reviews in The Guardian, in The New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter. I think people like it.
For the plot of ‘Sam – Ein Sachse’, you had a very diverse writer’s room: The team included white people and black people. Some from the west, some from the east. And women and men. How often has it happened before that a writer’s room was that diverse in Germany?
Well, it’s the first time that I produced such a big show myself. So of course I haven’t been in all the other writer’s rooms. But I think our approach to actually make it truly diverse, and to include people that can speak from their own experiences and then weave it together into a story that really works, I think that’s a rather new approach in Germany. Because if you look at alot of other programs, even if you have people of color in front of the camera, very often you feel that the stories are still very stereotypical. Very one-dimensional.
And I think, to quote Denzel Washington who was asked why he wants the script writers of his films to be black, he said “It’s not about color. It’s about culture.” And I think only if you have different cultures, if you have different point of views already in the beginning of the production process, which the writer’s room would be, it allows you to end up with a story that has more dimensions than the usual German film or series has. So I’m hoping that this can be a first step in a new direction. Because, like I said in the beginning, we have so many different marginalized groups in Germany that haven’t been represented. And I think to use our model and have those voices already in the writer’s room, but also in positions that can make different decisions in terms of how and where the money is spend, and of course who directs the shows and also what does the crew look like behind the scenes, I think if we invite more perspectives, I think it can only be beneficial for the way we tell stories in Germany.
So with your company Panthertainment, you focus on films and series with a clear focus on BIPOC stories and you offer Diversity & Inclusion management. What does the work of Panthertainment look like?
It’s different approaches. So the most obvious is that we develop and produce shows from and with people of color. Like I said before, we’re trying to incorporate it in every step of the production. In order to do that, it’s necessary for us to also do lobby work, I guess you could call it that. So currently, we’re trying to influence the amendment of the German law for film funding. Because that law is being rethought. For example, we think that the German law for film funding should be constructed more like the way Britain is doing it. They have the BFI Film Standards, where in order for a producer to receive money, he or she has to make sure that a lot of marginalized groups are being part of the production. That goes for the areas before the camera, behind the camera, in business and also where the film is shown. We think that that could be a great model for Germany as well.
So we’re having talks with the Federal Culture Ministry of Germany, we’re having talks with politicians. So that would be lobby work, but we’re also doing workshops. For example, we did a workshop with four different government funding agencies: With the FFA, that’s Germany’s national film funding institution, with the media board Berlin-Brandenburg and with the film funding institutions of Hessen and Schleswig-Holstein. With them, for example, we did a POC film funding workshop, where we actually built the bridge between funding and POC film makers. Also, we did a POC screenwriting workshop together with Netflix, for example, and the German Film and Television Academy Berlin. So we’re just trying to bridge talents from the POC community with the existing industry. That’s the second thing we do. And the third thing will be, and that kind of connects, is that we consult other companies when it comes to D& I [Diversity & Inclusion] questions and storytelling.
That sounds like a tough job. At least talking about German bureaucracy, I imagine it to take a long time to implement changes. About the British role model for film standards, for example, which sounds great: Maybe that’s too early too ask, but how are things looking for law changes so far?
I don’t know, that’s hard to say. Talking to politicians, you never know what it looks like. But it’s clear to everybody that changes need to be done. Because so far, the system is not fair. It’s mainly white and male people who benefit from the system as it works right now. And because there are studies about it, it’s not just a sentiment or a feeling, but actual facts. And we have the numbers. So clearly that has to change. And if you have new laws, then this could be a good way to change it in a faster way. Because no one is going to give up their priviliged spot without having to, you know? So that’s clear. And also politicians know that that’s a fact.
Now the question is how willing the German government is to actually use quotas to level the playing field. We are convinced that this is necessary, but Germany doesn’t like quotas. But even in the fight for equal rights for women, it was proven that only at the point where certain quotas were introduced, we could see the change. So for me, if you ask me personally, unless they are introducing certain quotas, they’re not showing that they’re serious about it. And that’s pretty much the position that we have. And the outcome, we will see.
Yes, hopefully that works out. You once stated that throughout your own acting career, only 10% of the times you’ve been casted, you could play “normal” characters. That would be, for instance, a mayor – and it doesn’t play a role for the storyline which skin color that mayor has. How often throughout your past career, before there was Panthertainment, had you wished for a company like Panthertainment?
That would have been nice. Like I said in the Denzel Washington quote, you know, it’s not about color. It’s about the experiences that you make. If there would have been more production companies that tell stories from different perspectives, I think the whole question about representation in Germany would have been way different. And it would have been nice, but if something’s not there and you want it to change, then you need to be the change that you want to see.
I think probably if I would have had better roles as an actor, I probably would have never thought about becoming a producer. Because I see myself more as like a storyteller and a creative person. And the whole producing part has quite a lot to do with the business side of things. And my passion definitely is the creative part and the storytelling. But what can you do, you know? I’ve still been priviliged to have a voice and I think if you have that, I think it makes a lot of sense to use that voice. And right now, if that means to start a production company and do the work that we’re doing right now, then that’s what I have to do right now.
It’s a rather rhetorical question, but how hard is it – as a person that experienced racism, be it institutional or otherwise – to tell stories about exclusion and discrimination like in „Sam – Ein Sachse“, going through that again and again?
I don’t know. I think in an ideal world, we wouldn’t have to tell these stories anymore. And I think one of the goals that we have with Panthertainment, and also one of my personal goals would be that we just have diversity as normality and that means that we could be part of stories without even addressing the negative sides, you know, like being discriminated or to experience racism, but we’re not at that point yet. If you look at political surveys right now, you see that it’s actually getting more severe. You see that even more and more people are voting for right-wing parties. More and more people look for security in old structures. So evidently, we’re not at that point yet.
The question of if it’s re-traumatizing, I don’t know. I think for people that live with discrimination and racism (pauses). Let me speak from my own point of view: I don’t have the luxury to not be confronted with it. If I watch the news, if I see what Europe has just decided how to treat refugees on the outside borders of Europe. If you look at political surveys right now, if you look at what even parties that are not even considered right-wing, but ‘middle-to-right‘, sometimes talk about… I can not help, but to be confronted about it every day. So I’d rather become active about it and tell stories that maybe help to bridge the gap, rather than just sit at home and be frustrated. But in an ideal world, diversity would be normality and we’d just be humang beings without even having to address color or sex or sexual preferences or all the other marginalized things that are being under-represented. But we’re not there yet, so we have to walk in that direction step by step.
20 years ago, you had a notable meeting with Spike Lee that you shared via Instagram recently: Back then, you and fellow black film makers from Germany met up with him at the Berlinale. After he listened to your stories, you asked him for advice. And he told all of you that he can’t help you. But he encouraged you to go out there and tell you own black, German stories. Nowadays, that’s exactly what you do. So which advice would you give black film makers these days?
It’s the same thing, you know? I think you can’t wait for the world to change. And there haven’t been better times for film makers and storytellers to actually tell their own story. Because technology has made it rather easy in terms of recording, of filming, but also in terms of distributing. If you have a huge reach on your Instagram, on your social media or wherever you show your content, you can be seen, you can be heard and you can tell your story. Without having a big studio backing you.
From my point of view, there haven’t been better times to become a film maker, storyteller, an actor, an actress, even a musician. My experience is, if that’s what you want to do, you just really have to keep doing it. Because if you just think about it, and if it’s in your head, then no one else has a chance to see it. And chances are being multiplied if you use them. And right now, we have a chance to be heard. Right now, we have a chance to be seen. And if you have something to say, say it. Put in the work, put in the passion. And I guarantee if you dare to put in the passion and if you make yourself heard or seen, then other people are going to feel the same thing too. And you give your story and your point of view the chance to travel, to be heard, and to multiply. And then from that, new chances are going to arrive.
You know, I wouldn’t have met Spike Lee if I wouldn’t have made ‘Afrodeutsch’. That’s a short film that I produced in 2001. If I wouldn’t have made that film, Spike Lee wouldn’t have seen it and we wouldn’t have the meeting. If we wouldn’t have done Brothers Keepers with Adé Bantu, and everyone from Afrob to Samy Deluxe, Denyo, Torch, D-Flame, Chima, Ebony Prince, Germ, Sékou and all the others involved, then I wouldn’t have met Sam. If we wouldn’t have done Brothers Keepers, I wouldn’t have met Harry Belafonte and I wouldn’t have had the chance to work with Harry in New York for a couple of years. Without that, I probably wouldn’t have come back and restart Panthertainment as a production company. So it’s like, if you have something to say, say it and use all your skill and all your passion to say it as beautiful and creative as possible. And then, it will have an effect.
