How '13 Reasons Why' helped Felischa Marye hone her characters for 'Bigger', the hot new BET show
BET+ from BET Networks and Tyler Perry Studios launched on Thursday, September 19 with 'Bigger' from creator Felischa Marye at the vanguard. MEA Worldwide (MEAWW) spoke to Marye about 'Bigger' and her experience writing for Netflix's '13 Reasons Why'.
"Even though ['Bigger' and '13 Reasons Why'] are vastly different shows, the character development was approached in the same way," says Marye. She explored who the character is, where they are from, what they are saying and what they really look like versus what they really want, think, feel, and desire. Approaching a character from an emotional standpoint, Marye says she described the characters as nuanced as possible.
Since its first season, '13 Reasons Why' has come under a lot of criticism for its unflinching depiction of suicide and sexual assault. Initially, some mental health organizations raised concerns that the show was glamorizing suicide and season 2's plotline of the character Tyler's (played by Devin Druid) sexual assault by school bullies was called into question. For season 3, the non-profit organization 'One in Six' came on board as consultants. The show also had counselors come in for the cast and crew of the show.
Marye spoke about the process involved in the writing room for season 3 and undoubtedly, it starts with a lot of research, dealing with sensitive topics like sexual assault and suicide. The team had experts come in to talk about male sexual assault survivors and how they differed from women. The writers tried to provide a realistic and rounded journey for Tyler, given how men normally respond to sexual assault, trying to understand how and what Tyler might say or not say about what happened to him.
The show also tried to take what's happening in society today -- with the shooters and the marches that started after last year's shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. She spoke about how passionate Gen Z is, how cause-oriented they are, and the show wanted to tap into that. This is how Jessica's (Alisha Boe) storyline came about in season 3, with the writers wanting to explore the activism of high school students today.
In the first two seasons, Jessica's story was about the shame of what happened to her. In season 3, it was about Jessica wanting to find out who she was beyond being a sexual assault survivor, "and so this season, the showrunner really wanted to take a look at what's next for her and activism for that generation is so big, we thought this is the perfect opportunity now that she has owned her story". The writers wanted to explore what that could look like in the current climate of activism among teens.
When asked about whether '13 Reasons Why' deserves the criticism for the way it depicts controversial subject matter, Marye says that any show that takes risks like that is going to get criticized, but the central purpose of the show is to realize how to treat each other better. She spoke about the impact '13 Reasons Why' has had on the public, about schools that started to do things like '13 Reasons Why Not' like the high school in Michigan where all the students would broadcast their deepest secrets for the whole student body. Marye says, "When I see things like that, we can't say it did a bad thing when it was bringing kids together and showing their support".
Season 3 also sparked controversy over Bryce Walker's storyline. Many viewers were angered that the show tried to humanize a serial rapist, but this is one of the questions the writers were trying to answer, saying that "at the end of the day, the person who rapes is a hurt person, it's that person's story. Why can't that person, if they want to be redeemed and want to change, not get that chance".
Marye says the showrunner recently sent an email about all the mail they were getting about that aspect of the show. What Marye and the other writers wanted from the show was for people to watch it and walk away feeling enlightened, "we have to talk about it, it could be argued in what ways to talk about it. But I think the intent there, was just to say be aware of your comments to anyone, who can take that home for the night, and I think that's a powerful message," adding that she is proud of the show for doing that.