Anastacia Shako-Van Tull was in a creative rut when a friend said she would watch a Guyanese TV show. She had never thought about making one. The most she had done was produce short videos for YouTube and Facebook. Her friend’s words lingered with her and then 2020 came with the general and regional elections that dragged on for months. Supporters from both sides were fearful of a victory that was not their political party.
“Everybody was just talking and nobody was listening to the other side of the conversation. Both sides thought they were right, but nobody was trying to understand each other’s pain and figure out ways to move forward,” Van Tull said. This period was the main inspiration for her new TV show, “Shades of Brown”.
The show chronicles the lives of an interracial couple, who have to navigate their parents’ racism and prejudice. The show also tackles the nuances of prejudice. Van Tull’s character, Victoria, seems to be a good person who has grown beyond her family’s prejudice. To a great extent, she has. Yet, she makes fun of Jason’s Indian name. Jason is her fiance, played by Mark Kazim.
“No matter how much you think you are not racist, there is still a racist bone I believe in everybody. And it is something we all need to address. No matter how nice you might treat somebody there are certain mindsets that we have that can be hurtful to another race and we need to look at that too,” Van Tull said.
She explained that the show brings all of the issues that are not spoken about but are hidden within families. Familial relations is an area that Van Tull wanted to explore.
“I realise that I always have this thing about when I see families on TV. It always warms my heart that these characters are getting to experience that,” Van Tull said. “I really want people to take away that these characters can be your family. They are messed up. They can sometimes make decisions that you don’t like but at the end of the day I want it to be a family show and inspire people more along the lines about the importance of family.”
The show still has two episodes left. These are not very supportive families (in terms of the relationship) barring Victoria’s dad, Victor, who is played by Gerard Gilkes. Both Jason and Victoria are both conflict-avoidant and do not take adequate steps to address their parents’ racism. Victor also seems incapable of addressing the racism of his wife Shirley, played by Simone Dowding.
The characters’ inability to stand up for themselves creates a lot of conflict and tension. It shows that the home must where one points out harmful behaviours. It will be interesting to see how the writer tackles this. Given the amount of tension the show has created it will also be diverting to watch it unfold.
Familial relations might be of importance for Van Tull because hers has been extremely accommodating for the production of this show. “I used my parents’ house and an aunt and uncle’s house. My parents had people in their house every weekend for the three months,” she said. “My husband was also supportive and he was very gentle about it and didn’t quarrel too much because I was so busy. Some family members sponsored episodes and also put their resources into the show.”
There isn’t much support for creatives in Guyana to produce a television show. Family members giving up their personal spaces for another’s dream is to be commended. It helps to demonstrate how a communal approach can help creatives accomplish goals despite support not being readily available.
The lack of support was evident in some parts of the show. It was technically challenged, particularly the sound, which can be distracting. The cuts between edits were not always smooth. These challenges can be forgiven due to the continuous improvement of the show with each episode and the strong storytelling. The camera was used creatively to convey visual ideas and the acting felt more natural. This was reflected with positive feedback from viewers.
Van Tull was worried about people’s reactions first, especially because she knows Guyanese have an affinity for slapstick. Her aim is to show the public that there are other forms of entertainment for Guyanese who don’t relate to slapstick.
“The purpose of [Anniemated Productions] is to tell Guyanese stories but actually tell the stories that we can relate to. There are Guyanese people who want more than slapstick and it is always going to be about me creating content that people can relate to,” Van Tull said.
The show has developed an audience and people have begun to share the content and message her about the show and their feelings about the characters. This active engagement might not have occurred if Van Tull did not let go of the need to be perfect.
“When you want to create something that you see in your head, you don’t want to fall short and I got discouraged but thankfully my husband stepped in and helped me to sort out some of the audio on the film,” she said.
She believed the audio was not salvageable but her husband is a musician and audio engineer. He helped to address some of the imperfections in the audio. She released it even though she thought it was imperfect and that for her was a win. The experience taught her to prioritise story over perfection. It was not an easy choice but the importance of the story and her faith gave her motivation.
“The Lord has been the anchor of the storm. I will call this show the perfect storm, where literally anything that could have gone wrong on this show, went wrong. There were days when suddenly rain would fall; suddenly somebody doing construction… It was very stressful. There were a lot of tears,” Van Tull said. “But everytime I doubt and say maybe this show is not for me. I keep hearing a voice saying: keep going. It is not about what you think is right. It is not about how you think it should go. Keep going and whatever is the product, it’s going to be impactful. I had to humble myself and submit myself to the story and once God is glorified by the story I was okay.”
Her cast and crew she also described as blessings from God. Sonia Yarde, who has years of experience in the performance arts, directed all six episodes. Kazim, Dowding and Gilkes also have years of experience. Paul Budnah, another veteran actor, played Faheem, Jason’s father. There were fresh faces who also believed in the vision. Priya Heranandan played Jason’s mother Priti; Kezra Boyal played Zara, Victoria’s friend; Marlon Chetnarine played Amit and Michael, a former love interest of Victoria, was played by Kelwin Gittens. The show is on Facebook and YouTube. The links are: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100081861356783&mibextid=ZbWKwL and
https://www.youtube.com/@anniematedproductions7134. You can also catch Shades of Brown on TVG Channel 12/28 on Saturdays at 4 pm.
