AFI sat down with creator, showrunner, writer and executive producer Shaye Ogbonna (AFI Class of 2011) to learn more about his new limited series FIGHT NIGHT: THE MILLION DOLLAR HEIST. Premiering September 5 on Peacock, the show explores the aftermath of an infamous armed robbery set against the backdrop of Muhammad Ali’s comeback fight and features an all-star cast including Kevin Hart, Don Cheadle, Taraji P. Henson and Samuel L. Jackson. Throughout his career, Shaye has made his mark across genres and formats, from the gritty feature LOWLIFE, to the hit Showtime drama THE CHI, to the thought-provoking indie western GOD’S COUNTRY, which starred Thandiwe Newton, was co-written with AFI Alum Julian Higgins (AFI Class of 2010) and premiered at Sundance. We spoke with Shaye about finding his filmmaking community at the AFI Conservatory, what he learned as a first-time showrunner, telling FIGHT NIGHT through the lens of the American dream and more.
AFI: Tell me a little bit about your background and what led you to the AFI Conservatory?
Shaye: I was born and raised in Atlanta, and it wasn’t until undergrad at Howard University that I decided I wanted to have a career in film and TV. After graduation, I interned for Richard Linklater in Austin, Texas, but ultimately decided that I needed to go to New York or LA, which led me to apply to AFI. I’ve always been a fan. I worked in Admissions and for the AFI Silver when I lived in DC, so I had a relationship with AFI before I even got to school. I knew if I was ever going to do a graduate film program, it was going to be there because I felt like the Conservatory model was built for people like me. The directing program was extremely difficult to get into. I made it to the interview phase, but ultimately didn’t get selected. Three years later, I decided to apply to the screenwriting program and got in. My plan when I went to AFI was to find my creative tribe. I remember day one, our dean said, “you guys are going to be running the industry in 10, 20 years, so now is the time to make those connections and those relationships,” and I really took that to heart.
AFI: For GOD’S COUNTRY, can you talk about your experience making it with AFI Alum Julian Higgins?
Shaye: Honestly, I think it came from a place of just really wanting to work with him. We ended up meeting after AFI at an event for LOWLIFE and were just trying to find something to work together on. He had made WINTER LIGHT as a really beautiful short film that was more of a direct adaptation and then once we started talking, he had the idea of making it into a feature and changing the protagonist from an older white gentleman to an older Black gentleman, and then ultimately to a middle aged Black woman, which blew my socks off because my goal as a storyteller has always been to center marginalized voices in genre storytelling, and the idea of doing that in a modern western was really cool.
AFI: What were the benefits of adapting FIGHT NIGHT into a limited series rather than a feature film?
Shaye: They had been trying to make it as a film for about 20 years when the limited series wasn’t really an option. Ultimately, it just needed to find the right format and the right storytellers. Having it as a limited series gave us the opportunity to explore the breadth of the characters that are involved, not just “Chicken Man,” J. D. and Frank Moten. This is a big American stylistic crime story centering Black folk in Atlanta in 1970 and no matter what walk of life you come from, I think it’s something people will connect with because everybody is aspirational. It’s not about trauma. It’s not about pain. The characters see this moment as their chance to level up and connect. It was all those elements that really connected with me and made me want to tell this story.
AFI: How did you balance portraying “Chicken Man” as both a hustler and a victim of a robbery?
Shaye: For me, I don’t judge my characters. If you’re going to write really compelling and complicated and complex characters, they’re going to do some things that sometimes you don’t like and you don’t agree with. I remember Thandiwe Newton saying early on when we were shooting GOD’S COUNTRY that she loves characters that make bad choices. I love that. Sometimes people make bad choices for the right reasons. That’s storytelling. That’s drama. I grew up with people like “Chicken Man.” One might argue he’s a hustler and a criminal, but he’s also a community man. It’s essential in the show that you see him hustling in this shadow world, but you also see him with his family and at church.
AFI: What did it to mean to you to tell this story set in your hometown and depict the social and political atmosphere of 1970s Atlanta?
Shaye: I’m an Atlantan. Although I moved away when I was 12, I’ve always gone back, my family is in Atlanta, and I’ve always had a connection with the city. When I was growing up, Atlanta was rebranding itself from a city that’s associated with Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Movement to a cosmopolitan city in the vein of New York, Chicago and LA. To be able to tell Atlanta’s origin story in terms of the contemporary city that we see today was such a gift. I have a deep love for this city and these characters who come from all walks of life. It was a great opportunity for me to tell this story like any creator that loves where they’re from.
AFI: Can you talk about the collaborating with Samuel L. Jackson who not only starred in FIGHT NIGHT but also happened to live in the area at the time of the heist?
Shaye: Sam was in Atlanta when the robbery happened. We shot all of the exteriors at “Chicken Man’s” real party house in Collier Heights and Sam just shows up. He wasn’t even working that day, but he happened to have gotten married at a church in that neighborhood 30 years earlier and had a deep connection to the neighborhood. Sam is like an historian and knows a lot about Atlanta, especially during that time. He knew all about the history in terms of Black cops not being able to arrest white people and Black cops having to dress and shower in different locations. Sam was very much involved, so you couldn’t slip anything past him because he literally lived it, and he knew people who were at the robbery.
AFI: How is the theme of “the American dream” woven into the narrative and characters?
Shaye: As we look at America, it’s just a bunch of people that came here and were trying to build better lives. And sometimes in building that better life, your only avenue because of social, racial and political pressures is to dip into the shadow world. It was important for me to explore the idea of aspiration, which I feel very much is an American trait. “Chicken Man” is the embodiment of that. Here’s a guy that was honestly born too early and with the wrong color skin and, if he wasn’t, maybe he would be the head of a Fortune 500 business. He knows this is all he has to work with and he’s going to make it work. Even from the perspective of the robbers, the assailants, I just wanted everybody to be painted with a broad brush and to be seen as human.
AFI: As a first-time showrunner on FIGHT NIGHT, what were some of your biggest takeaways?
Shaye: I think for any first-time showrunner, the job is going to be tough. The one thing I learned is to give myself grace because this is not a typical first showrunner job. It’s a massive show that a lot of people have a lot of investment in with a massive cast of movie stars. There were times where you didn’t know which way was up, but in those moments, you rely on your training. You just have to lace up your shoes and adapt to the situation. My co-showrunner Jason Horwitch came in having experience, so I could lean on him, as well as the other executive producers who helped to shepherd me and mentor me along the way.
AFI: Do you have any new projects you want to share or advice you would offer to emerging writers?
Shaye: I was in the writers’ room for THE PENGUIN and the JJ Abrams show DUSTER which are both dropping this fall. I loved the people I worked with and am super excited and proud to be involved. I think the best advice to up-and-coming screenwriters is to make those connections with people that are coming up with you. I joined a collective and found my people because I don’t have a lot of money, and it takes a village to make these things. Find people that have similar interests, and even if they don’t, but you really dig them, just try to connect, collaborate and make stuff. Everything is far more accessible now. We have TikTok, iPhones and social media. The barrier for entry to make something and get it out there is much lower.
