ADJANI SALMON 'WE HAD A RULE: DON'T INVENT RACIAL JOKES'

The writer of the BAFTA-winning Dreaming Whilst Black on what viewers can expect from the second series, plus his new sitcom project

- KANUNE MORRISSEY

Humble and deeply knowledgeable, actor and writer Adjani Salmon is a champion of today's Black filmmakers, whether they're breaking new ground on YouTube or the BBC. As his BAFTA-winning series Dreaming Whilst Black returns for its second season, he speaks to Rolling Stone UK about how the show is very much rooted in lived experience.

How did you find your way into filmmaking?

When I was 13, my mum bought me a likkle four-megapixel camera for Christmas. My cousin and I, obsessed with kung fu films, shot clips inspired by Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - even playing them backwards so stick fights looked like magic. Man was jumpin' offa rooftops - all sorts!

Years later, I'd graduated and was working as an architect, but I wasn't feeling the corporate life. My cousin, studying film in England, came home for the summer. I drove him to sets, and we started making sketches with my uni friends, posting them on Facebook.

After he left, Smirnoff Jamaica saw our work and hired us for an ad. That's when I realised creativity could actually pay. My cousin taught me [video-editing software] Final Cut over Skype ina week, and I never looked back.

How much of Dreaming Whilst Black comes from your own life?

We joke it's a documentary. Every character is rooted in someone I know. Writing with Ali Hughes, I'd say, "I wouldn't do that," and he'd remind me that it's [my character] Kwabena, not me. From early on, we gave him traits to separate us, so he could be freer, get into funnier situations. We also had a rule: don't invent racial jokes. Anything in Dreaming Whilst Black really happened - to me or someone else.