Misan Sagay
| Misan Sagay | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Writer, producer |
| Years active | 1999–present |
Misan Sagay is an Anglo-Nigerian screenwriter and producer.
Biography
Sagay graduated from St Andrews University with a First Class Honours degree in biochemistry then trained as a doctor at St Mary's Hospital Medical School, London.
After qualifying as a doctor, she specialised in Paediatric Hamematology and Critical Care and at the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at Westminster Children's Hospital.
Career
A former emergency room doctor, Sagay made her writing debut with the 1999 film The Secret Laughter of Women which she also produced.[1] She wrote the teleplay for the Oprah-produced television movie Their Eyes Were Watching God, based on the book by the same name. Sagay is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Sagay wrote the 2013 British drama Belle after visiting Scone Palace, where she saw a unique portraiture of two women, Dido Elizabeth Belle Lindsay and her cousin Lady Elizabeth Murray.[2] This painting, and the women within, acted as the inspiration for her screenplay.[3] The film tells the Story of Belle, the daughter of an enslaved African and a British admiral. The film discusses the prominence of African decedents and women in British society in the late 1700s.[3]
In 2013, the authorship of the film was in dispute. The director of the film, Amma Asante, contested that she dismissed Sagay's writing and instead wrote her own adaptation of the story seeking writing credit. Asante's claim caused the Writers Guild of America to automatically investigate per their regulations.[4] The guild took the case through arbitration and ruled in favour of Sagay as the sole writer. Asante appealed but lost.[5][6]
As of July 2016, Sagay is working on a six-part TV series called Guerrilla of which she is a co-writer alongside award winning Writer and producer John Ridley know by many as the screenwriter of 12 years A Slave. The series which stars award winning actor Idris Elba OBE, known to many as the actor that plays the central character in the hit TV series Luther. Idris features in Guerrilla, a six-part limited series, which has been given the green light by Showtime and Sky Atlantic.
Away from screenwriting, Misan is creating a programme with the Tisch School of Fine Arts in Florence, which will help established connections between aspiring black screenwriters and established ones. The end goal is to help provide guidance to the next generation of talent.
Sagay is also a member of the Wolfe pack, a guild of 50 leading female Screenwriters working in Hollywood that aims to encourage more women to enter the film business.[7] Misan hopes also to be a catalyst for African descendants to take charge of their own narratives. Sagan said in an interview with The Guardian, "Black women need to be in control of their own stories and that means hiring more black talent across all aspects of film and television".[7]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | The Secret Laughter of Women | Writer & Producer |
| 2005 | Their Eyes Were Watching God | Writer |
| 2013 | Belle | Writer |
| 2017 | Guerrilla | Co-writer |
Awards, honors and nominations
Misan Sagay was nominated for a 2005 Black Reel Awards for Best Screenplay, Original or Adapted – Television for Their Eyes Were Watching God
Sagay was nominated for a 2015 Black Reel Awards for Best Screenplay for Belle.[8]
Sagay received the 2015 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture for Belle.[9]
References
- ↑ "BFI | Sight & Sound | The Secret Laughter of Women (1998)". old.bfi.org.uk. Retrieved 2016-06-30.
- ↑ Shaina411. "Her Source I Writer Misan Sagay Talks 'Belle'". The Source. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
- 1 2 Rickey, Carrie (25 April 2014). "'Belle' and Slavery's End in Britain". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
- ↑ Times, Los Angeles. "Writing dispute for film 'Belle' bubbles up again". latimes.com. Retrieved 2016-06-30.
- ↑ Mumin, Nijla (2014-05-19). "Understanding Screenwriting Credit and WGA Arbitration in 'Belle' and '12 Years A Slave'". Retrieved 2016-06-30.
- ↑ "Belle authors in bitter feud over writing credit". Retrieved 2016-06-30.
- 1 2 Brewer, Kirstie (16 June 2016). "'If diversity means giving white men more work writing about black women, we've failed'". the Guardian. Retrieved 2016-07-16.
- ↑ "And the Nominees Are . . .". 17 December 2014. Retrieved 2016-06-30.
- ↑ "Winners of the '46th NAACP Image Awards' | Press Room". www.naacp.org. Retrieved 2016-06-30.