The Making of Chewing Gum: Minty Fresh

***The Making of Chewing Gum: Minty Fresh*** is a behind the scenes video. It is 4 minutes and 15 seconds long.

## Official Description

"Writer and star of *Chewing Gum*, Michaela Coel, on her inspiration and the impact of religion on her writing"

## Transcript

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/chewing-gum/on-demand/62263-001

1. If ever you're in doubt
2. Just get your rings out
3. It's all trying to get you either or
4. La-la-la
5. Somewhere. #

Tracey Gordon: My mum was going to name me Alyssa, which means sweet angel in Indian but when I came out, she looked at me and she called me Tracey. Tracey.

Michaela Coel: My name is Michaela Coel and I am the writer and I play Tracey in Chewing Gum. I wrote this ten-minute play called Chewing Gum Dreams. I had a poem about this tall, like, estate. I kind of describe the residents as angels in hoods, and on their wings they've got the clothes that they want and, like, the new weave that they want and the make-up, but then they also have love and things like friendship and desires and matters of the heart and they've gotta decide with ones to balance cos they can't carry it all. So they sacrifice their dreams and they chuck them off the estate. And they splatter onto the floor and they step on them with their new trainers and they squash them to the floor like chewing gum. And I went off and I did my play. So I brought my set, did my flyers, designed everything and then a guy came who ran the Bush Theatre. Then it went to the Bush and then it went to the National Theatre and in between that, I met Kelly McGolpin. She read my script and thought I'd be able to write a TV show. I said, "All right, then, I'll give it a go."

Tracey Gordon: My mind is bare agile and fast, do you know what I mean? Yeah, I've got my ear to the ground, so I'm alert at all times.

Michaela Coel: I guess loads of my influences from my real life are in Chewing Gum. A lot of the people are sort of inspired by people that I have met. Definitely people that I've grown up with.

Danielle Walters: The quality of her writing is just like something out of this world. I've never read anything like this.

Robert Lonsdale: The scripts are an original concept and they are original in the essence of the exchanges in the dialogue.

John Macmillan: If you put Spike Lee and Lena Dunham in like a blender... ..you might get Michaela Coel.

Pharmacist: But you didn't have sexual intercourse?

Tracey Gordon: No, no, I wanked him. We was like rubbing up and that and then I wanked him, I started to wank him so... I'm a Christian.

Michaela Coel: I met a girl who I sort of latched onto a little bit, wasn't really doing anything with my life, didn't really know what I wanted to do and she ended up bringing me to a church and I went a couple of times and then had a massive religious conversion. I became quite a strong Pentecostal Christian. I started reading the Bible. And reading that inspired me to start writing.

Tracey Gordon: I need the courage you had to tell them you were the son of God. And I need the strenght that you had to make the switch from R&B to hip-hop when they doubted you.

Michaela Coel: Being the type of Christian I was, I'd shut out a lot of the world because it was just about a particular kind of Christian that I wanted to be around. And then I guess going to drama school and being around these people, I was a bit like... I'm kind of like learning a lot from them actually and I want to go and sit in the pub and just hang out with them a little bit, and the more I sort of did that, the less I found I was fitting in to that kind of church.

Susan Wokoma: It's been quite nice to look at religion from a different viewpoint that isn't mocking it. It's very important to her. I think it will continue to be important to her and to the show.

John Macmillan: I think Ronald's own personal brand of religion is... ..extreme, I would say.

Ronald: We're... We're Christian.

Tracey Gordon: We're going to get married anyway so you might as well to show me now, just show me that you want me. Just rub your private parts on my private parts, OK. Nobody has to know, God won't even care, it's just a little thing. I'm going to give you a kiss. We could have just one little kiss. I'm coming towards you, I just want one kiss, please. Ow, man!

Michaela Coel: If I didn't become a Christian, I wouldn't be an artist. I wouldn't be a writer, I wouldn't be an actor, I wouldn't be an anything. So it is extremely important to me, yeah.

1. It's all trying to get you either or
2. La-la-la
3. Somewhere. #