麻豆约拍

With the new series of Famalam on 麻豆约拍 iPlayer now, we caught up with writer, producer, actor and composer Akemnji Ndifornyen. He told us about how he feels coming into the third series and why it’s the best one yet.

You write, produce, act and compose the music for Famalam, is it difficult to juggle those different roles?

It’s really interesting. I love them all, I never see it as a difficult job. I’ve always wanted to make music and that brings up interesting challenges in the edit. I might have to start thinking like a producer and looking at getting a piece of music cleared or think about how we can make something similar.

It’s all about splitting my time, which can lead to some interesting conversations. It’s not easy trying to be a producer, telling people we’re running over budget when you’re wearing a clown costume! 

How do you feel about the success of Famalam?

Great! I’m really proud of the actors. Some of them keep getting recognised and stopped in the street. I think we could do more to get the show out there. I want everyone to be watching Famalam and not just because series three is the best one yet! 

You won a Bafta as a breakthrough talent last year, how has that affected your career?

Winning the Bafta for Breakthrough Talent last year was amazing. Bafta represents 50+ years of excellence in the TV and film industry. I’ve acted since I was 11 years old and never thought that I’d win a Bafta.

As far as my career goes, it’s paid dividends. Like I said, Bafta represents excellence in the TV and film industry and when you win an award like that people start taking notice and a lot of different conversations open up. 

Where do you get the ideas for sketches?

As a team, we enjoy the bigger characters with catchphrases. We also like to look at topical stuff and flip it in a Famalam way. We’ll chat about anything that’s happened during the day and see if there’s something that we can make from that and we also do a lot of writing workshops, which always helps. I got the idea for one of the sketches from episode two because I was watching Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory and decided that we’d do a sketch based on that.

We also love to do the song sketches. We might be listening to something and think, ‘Let’s do something as a homage to Hot Chocolate’ and we’ll think about that and write the sketch around that. Sometimes though, it’s already been done. I wanted to do a song with Lil Nas X, something to do with Old Kent Road. So I started looking into it and Radio 1 had got there first!

What can we expect from the new series of Famalam?

It’s the best one yet! The others are great, but we’ve been lucky and it’s got better and better with each new series. We did the pilot in 2017 and it’s grown from there. This series has the best music and the best sketches.

It’s the Trilogy Of Famalam. There hasn’t been a trilogy as good as this!

What was it like pitching Famalam for the first time?

It was interesting, they came to me. Chris Sussman (former 麻豆约拍 Studios Executive Producer) came to me and said he wanted to produce something. Before that, I was working with Javone Prince on The Javone Prince Show as a writer. Javone has always been really supportive and was happy for me, he told me that it was my turn to help someone else like he’d helped me.

Then we spoke to Shane Allen (麻豆约拍 Head of Comedy) and everyone was really supportive and kind of gave us free reign, they just wanted to see what we could deliver. And we delivered!

How did you get started in comedy?

I’ve been acting since I was 11, so I’ve had a lot of different roles as an actor, I sort of grew up in the business.

It’s a big business and there are a lot of different things that you can do. I think of it like tennis courts, Film is like a grass court, TV’s clay and Theatre is a hard court. You can still play the same game, but you just play it slightly differently depending on which court you’re playing on.

Through doing a lot of acting, I got the opportunity to write. Some people like to do one thing, like Jack Thorne, who’s an amazing writer. He’s brilliant at it and that’s what he does. I wanted to do more of a John Carpenter, he directed and scored his own films. I wanted to do something similar and be able to express myself in more than one way, which is how I got started writing, composing and producing.

What advice would you give someone looking to work in TV?

There’s no conventional route. The industry is changing so fast, not just because of YouTube and the DIY ethic, but even the technology is everywhere. You can film on your phone and people won’t notice the difference. Don’t wait for someone to give you permission, just do it. Companies are buying shows from YouTubers based on viewing potential. Get out there and be tenacious.

There’s going to be ups, downs and quiet times. Save a stash away what you can for the quiet times. Make it your love, not your job. I still wake up sometimes and realise, ‘Wait, this is my job? I’m going to work.’ If you can feel like that it makes all the downs and quiet times worth it.

Watch series three of Famalam on 麻豆约拍 Three and 麻豆约拍 iPlayer now and 麻豆约拍 One from 10.45pm on Monday 24 August.