BAIT
Section: Episodic (Sundance)
Creator: Riz Ahmed
Logline: Struggling actor Shah Latif auditions for the role of a lifetime, only to see his life spiral out of control over four frenetic days.
Panelists: Riz Ahmed and Guz Khan
Key Quote: Ahmed on the James Bond element of the show, “I started making notes in my little notepad 10 years ago now, about that crazy distance between our public and our private selves. On the outside, it’s like, ‘Wow, you’re killing it man. You’re doing great!’ And the waiter comes up, it’s time to tip. ‘Oh, they think I’m really successful right now, I gotta send a big tip.’ You’re broke. These things happen, these contradictions between how we’re perceived, how we want to be perceived, and how we are. That’s what the show is really about. It was through discussing with my co-showrunner Ben Karlin, we were talking about our lives, our experiences, funny anecdotes, and the Bond thing came up. And I was like, ‘Actually, that’s the perfect aspirational symbol that can help drive the story of someone who aspires to be someone else.’ But that’s not where the show grew out of, but it was a conversation with Barbara Broccoli, who understood that and understood the show’s not really about that. And yet, gave her blessing, she really loved the script.”
Distributors: Amazon MGM Studios
Watch the full conversation in the video above.
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Deadline Studio at Sundance presented by Casamigos.