Adjani Salmon | Writer, Performer, Executive Producer

Adjani Salmon | Writer, Performer, Executive Producer

(He/Him)

Perhaps it should come as no surprise to learn that the multi-talented Adjani Salmon originally trained as an architect, such is the expert way his debut television comedy-drama, Dreaming Whilst Black (2023), is so meticulously and brilliantly constructed. What’s harder to believe is that the series, about a wannabe filmmaker trying to break into the industry, is not a video memoir of Adjani’s own journey. He insists it’s not, but it does capture that universal struggle to break through, with the experiences of Kwabena (played by Adjani) only heightened for comedic purposes. As he says, this story has happened to somebody, just not necessarily him.

Dreaming Whilst Black evolved from a 2018 web series, itself born out of Adjani and his friends posting comic skits on social media. An MA in Film taught him the language to match his already three-year deep experience, which was followed by several years dancing around the fringes of the industry. Now, he can call himself a BAFTA winner, having won Emerging Talent: Fiction in 2023, among several other accolades.

In their own words...

“When we made Dreaming Whilst Black we made it for our community. As much as I’m grateful that the critics and press loved it, I have to remind myself that we didn’t make it for them. If we get celebrated, thank you, we really appreciate it, but if we don’t, that’s fine because when I was writing it I was thinking ‘I hope my cousins like this’. I try to stay grounded in that, because it’s easy to get caught up in all the other stuff.”

“I’d like to make some meaningful connections with the people here, my cohort and those people I haven’t had access to before. I’ve never had a mentor, not for the lack of wanting one, I’ve just not had the means or access. So, hopefully, through [BAFTA Breakthrough] I can meet some people who have done it before me and can give guidance now that I’m here.”

Adjani currently has a film in development with Film4.

Adjani’s breakthrough credit is the scripted television series Dreaming Whilst Black

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