Rapman On ‘Supacell’ Season Two, His Writing Routine & Filmmaking Heroes

In the last six years, Rapman has gone from making breakout YouTube project Shiro’s Story, to helming his first feature, Blue Story, and then creating one of Netflix’s most successful UK series this year with superhero sci-fi drama Supacell.

With each milestone, Rapman has continued to flip the entertainment industry’s script on its head.

“I didn’t go to film school. I didn’t even go to university, but I lived a lot of life before I was in this film world, so I use that as my storytelling style,” Rapman told Deadline.

Rapman appeared on a panel with American rapper LL Cool J, as part of Paramount’s “Content For Change” program, running alongside the MTV Europe Music Awards in Manchester.

“There are always going to be budget restraints, but the industry still wants people with good ideas and people who are willing to work, so you just have to use your background and experience to make yourself unique,” said Rapman, who is also known as Andrew Onwubolu.

“Now, as someone who knows many commissioners, I know that they are always looking for something fresh and new. It’s not always going to be easy to get in front of them, but you have to use the platforms that you have access to. I didn’t know how to get into studios, Hollywood or Netflix, but I knew how to upload on YouTube,” added Rapman.

In 2018, Rapman created and posted a three-part rap action drama titled Shiro’s Story via Link Up TV’s YouTube channel. Shiro’s Story has since racked up over 34 million views.

“You’d be surprised how much the commissioners are watching, because when I first met Netflix in 2018, they said that they loved Shiro’s Story,” said Rapman. “They were watching everything. Everything that made noise in narrative, it was their job to keep an eye on it.”

BBC Films and Paramount Pictures soon came knocking after the online success of Shiro’s Story, signing Rapman to write and direct feature film Blue Story. Paramount Pictures acquired the worldwide distribution rights, while BBC Films developed and co-financed the project.

Season Two of Supacell

Rapman’s debut TV series Supacell became a hit for Netflix this year, rising to the number one spot on the streamer’s global series list and remaining in the global top 10 list for six weeks. The series has been renewed for a second season.

He cannot say much about the second season of Supacell yet, but emphasized that he is pushing for it to come out as soon as possible. “What I can tell you is that season two is crazy,” said Rapman. “The writers’ room is all done, this season is just crazy.”

With Supacell, Rapman wanted to rewrite the script for what creators of color can be commissioned to do in the UK’s TV industry.

“Supacell was the first time we saw a black cast of people in the UK as superheroes,” said Rapman. “In the UK, we would always pigeonhole such stories. People would be scared to do sci-fi or won’t commission a sci-fi because it’s not popular in the UK. I feel happy that I’m a face for change, because I really think that now the doors are open.”

Set in modern day South London, Supacell follows a group of five Black people unified by a family history of sickle cell disease. They unexpectedly develop superpowers and are pursued by a secret organization that intends to control them.

“We aim for diversity and I look for black creators, like Sheila Nortley [also part of another Content For Change panel]. I hired Sheila,” said Rapman. “I wanted as many people of color to get opportunities, because I know how hard it is for them to get into TV in the UK. The UK TV industry is so much smaller, especially compared to the U.S., that the jobs for black people are so much fewer.

“I think, ‘How do they get onto the ladder for me to even find out who they are, to get them a job?’ I remember I had someone from the U.S. on my set, and she said that she had never seen so many black people behind the camera before. I always try to give everyone their credit, so after my project, they can go on and get a job here and there because they’ve worked on a show with Netflix,” added Rapman.

From YouTube to Supacell

Rapman said that he harbored the idea for Supacell for a long time, but only “vocalized” it in November 2019.

While doing press for Blue Story, he was asked questions about what he wanted to do next, and he started sharing a story idea about “people with superpowers in London.”

A few weeks later, Netflix contacted him for a dinner meeting.

“I didn’t know that it was a pitch meeting, because I had met them a few times and thought it was just a catch up,” said Rapman.

They asked Rapman if he had any ideas for a TV show, so he shared several ideas.

“After sharing a few ideas, they asked if I had anything else. I said another one, but they didn’t look bothered. Just as I was thinking, ‘You don’t like my ideas, it’s cool, maybe we can find something in future,’ I pitched a show about people that look and sound like me, but with superpowers.

“Then I carried on eating and they weren’t saying anything. But when I looked up, I saw that their eyes were like, flashing, so they knew that was the one, and they were interested in that idea,” said Rapman.

Rapman felt no nerves jumping from directing videos for YouTube, to helming bigger-budget titles for the likes of Paramount, BBC Films and Netflix.

“I was directing so many YouTube shorts — I think I did 50 by the time I got to do my first feature, so it just felt like I was doing YouTube again. If anything, it felt more intense because we had to fit so much in the few days,” said Rapman. “I’ve been doing it for so long, just not with such a big budget.”

He pointed out that VFX and stunts were the two areas that were newer to him, while working on Supacell.

Rapman’s role models

Rapman named his father as his biggest role model.

“He just drilled in me that you have to work twice as hard,” said Rapman. “I think my work rate is what got me into this position.”

Accompanying his rapid ascent across the film, television and music industries is Rapman’s steely discipline to writing’s craft and graft, putting in long shifts of writing, week in and week out.

“I get up around 6am, go to the gym and get back about 9.30am and then write from 9.30am to about 9.30pm. That’s my Monday to Friday. I don’t do Sunday and Sundays,” said Rapman. “I work my body, then I work my mind. With writing, I have to be at home. I have to be by myself. I’ve only got a TV show playing in the background, but nothing that I’m paying attention to, just something that I can hear.”

“I’m in the stressful process now, the part which you don’t see,” said Rapman. “No one really knows, unless you’re in the industry, how much work goes into making a TV show. There’s so much that you have to align and so many things that have to get signed off by different voices before you can even start rolling the camera.”

Rapman counts Spike Lee and John Singleton among his filmmaking heroes.

He also particularly admires the work that Jordan Peele, Ryan Coogler and Jeymes Samuel are doing in the industry.

“I look at these filmmakers of color who are really putting black stories in a different space, into the cowboy space, into the horror space. I like that because it always looked like we can only do one thing, so this inspires me knowing that for all my next projects, I got to push the barrier now,” said Rapman.

“Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Nolan are also what I aspire to — I want my name next to their names when this is all said and done,” added Rapman. “I want a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I want people to come to a point, where they will just go and watch if it’s a Rapman movie, because that’s the power that you get when you hear about a Spike Lee film or John Singleton movie, or Coogler and Peele films now. I just want to get to that.”