“I’ve always been interested in immigrant family business dramas. I’m intrigued by the ways things change when money is added into the mix,” said TV writer Abby Ajayi (How To Get Away With Murder, The First Lady). “In real life, you think about The Kardashians as a Royal family.” Ajayi’s new salaciously splashy TV series Riches features the super successful black British Richards family selling hair products for black women. “The concept for the show all came together with black hair products because it’s exciting visually and glamorous, but it’s also highly politicized,” said Ajayi.
The Richards family falls into two camps – the New York and the London sides which arose when patriarch Stephen Richards dies and control of his empire is left to his children.
Although Riches is driven by sibling and matriarchal power plays, it is their approach to who deserves to run the company which is facing strong financial headwinds.
“The Richards families rationalised the way they made their money and discussed black beauty and ambition defined their entrepreneurship.” Patriarch Stephen Richards (Hugh Quarshie) abandoned his family in London, UK and establishes Flair and Glory, a wildly profitable cosmetics empire in New York, USA. When he abruptly dies, his British siblings Simon (Emmanuel Imani) and Nina (Deborah Ayorinde) travel to New York to sort out the will and decide the fate of the company with their American siblings.
Abby Ajayi. Photo by Charles Maceo
Abby Ajayi initially pitched Riches in terms of dynastic family conflict and the specific nature of the black cosmetics industry. She also pitched the tone and twists and turns that the show takes as each side battles the other to gain control of the company.
In terms of American counterparts, Abby Ajayi (who is British) the writer likened Riches to Empire, Dynasty and Brothers and Sisters for comparison. As she was in the thick of wiring the six episodes, Succession was released and quickly become a comparable show.
Beautiful rich people behaving badly – Abby Ajayi
The universality of the specificity of Riches lies in its exploration of family. “The roots of it lie a Shakespearean tragedy,” said Ajayi. “There’s a patriarch who dies and asks his siblings to battle it out for control of the company. The resulting rivalry is relatable to many families.
Hailing from London from Nigerian immigrant parents, Ajayi wanted the city to be a distinct character and Riches to be a Black British show. “I wanted to explore Black ambition, ownership and aspirational wish fulfilment.” She also wanted to contrast these with the corrosive elements of aggressive capitalism, money and power through her dynamic episodes.
“I also wanted to explore complex women who are professionally capable, but underestimated. They may have daddy issues, insecurities and grief, but they can run a business empire.” Despite this emotional baggage, the women need to find a way to protect the business in a way Stephen could not.
Stories about the struggles and racism experienced by immigrant families around the world are not new. “We are all global citizens. Setting the story in two cities allowed the audience to become part of the stories because we’re all connected regardless of where you or your parents were born.” Ajayi set out to explore the sprawling family saga from a uniquely Black British point of view which touched on elements of racism without being consumed by them. “I wanted to make this subtextual without overrunning the stories.” The Richards families were not victims of circumstance, but stewards of their destiny.
Character vs Plot
Riches works as a frothy soap where anything can happen at the next turn with gritty family drama filled with conflict. “I always wanted that propulsive energy, but wanted to keep it grounded in the characters. This anchoring allowed for the more outlandish moments in the series.”
The two Richards families are on a collision course as they battle it out for control and savior of Flair and Glory. “The British Richards have more grit because they never had so much money and the American ones have more of a killer instinct.” Both are essential traits in the cut throat business world, but there can only be one victor.
The universal emotional elements of this dynamic work regardless of whether the families were black or white – Ewings or Richards.
Riches is an ensemble show with two female leads sitting in the front seat. Two dominant matriarchs pit their wits against each other. “Riches is a matriarchal story, but also a patriarchal story,” said Ajayi. Stephen is credited with starting the business, but his first wife had a big hand in it. I wanted to explore what females in power and unsung heroes look like.”
Ajayi also explores black masculinity ranging from her queer brother Simon who’s arguably the most capable in navigating relationships, to the very alpha Andre (CJ Beckford). “Gus (Ola Orebiyi) is a beta male – a mommy’s boy. There’s much social commentary about the men in the show as there is about women,” Ajayi stated.
Nina (Deborah Ayorinde) and Simon (Emmanuel Imani) Photo courtesy of Amazon Studios
Nina and Alesha (Adeyinka Akinrinade) are half sisters, but get on really well. They are also the conciliatory bridge between the two sparring Richards factions. Both have viable ideas to grow the business.
Abby Ajayi conceived the idea Riches outside a traditional TV writers’ room. The pilot episode was already written in order to sell the show. Ajayi outlined additional episodes to ensure the series had legs. “The first three weeks were spent on ‘blue sky’ writing to explore who the characters were, where I wanted them to go, and a possible business story of the day.” This led to a rough story documents outlining each episode. “I also write three pages of “story area” to include things that were going to happen and broken down by character to create a road map for the season.”
Abby Ajayi came to television writing via a law degree and watching numerous shows like LA Law to define her tastes. “I’ve always liked plot to keep things moving. Anchoring character to plot allows it to mirror complex emotional conflicts. I don’t ever want plot to drive the story. Emotionally, we need to care about the characters.”
“Plot raises the temperature of the stakes to create a pressure cooker story so the characters need to act and make decisions as opposed to sleepwalking through a show. Plot is the hot water poured over characters.” Ajayi also likes to inject humor into her stories to round them out.
Nina says, “The thing I love about this country is there’s nothing you can’t feel if you have the right accent.”
