Daniel Fajemisin-Duncan and Marlon Smith are South London screenwriters whose work includes RUN, SAVE ME and now the major new crime thriller Fightland.
Created with 50 Cent and G Unit, Fightland follows ex-boxer Maduka ‘The Duke’ Kilroy as he is pulled into a world of revenge, family loyalty and criminal power. Set against the high-stakes world of professional boxing, the series allowed Fajemisin-Duncan and Smith to tell a Black British story with real scale, from shooting at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to bringing real boxers on screen and taking the campaign to audiences internationally.
As writers and executive producers, they explore the long road from pitch to screen, protecting the authenticity of Black British voices, writing morally complicated characters, and what it means to create ambitious British television without shrinking the world around them.
Please introduce yourself …
We’re Daniel Fajemisin-Duncan and Marlon Smith, screenwriters from South London. We don’t follow horoscopes, but since you ask, we’re Libra and Pisces. We’ll let you work out who’s who.
Describe your life currently, in one word or a sentence.
Busy, challenging, spinning all the plates and solving good problems.
Why are we here?
Why are any of us here? Chance? Fate? A vast and unknowable universe? In our case, we wrote a TV show people seem to like, so we’ve decided not to question it too closely.
Tell us about Fightland in your own words.
Fightland is a propulsive, brutal crime thriller about an ex-boxer out for revenge, but underneath it’s about the extreme lengths we’ll go to for the people we love and what that does to you.
Take us right back to the beginning. Where did the idea for Fightland come from, and what was the first version of the story you wanted to tell?
We’d always wanted to make a boxing show. Years ago, we tried to get one off the ground with the BBC, but it didn’t happen. Then in 2021 we were asked to pitch a TV series to 50 Cent and G Unit. He was looking for a British crime drama set in the world of boxing. He’s a fan of both British crime thrillers and the sport, and felt his audience would respond to a show that brought the two worlds together. So we pitched what would become Fightland. At the centre of it was always Maduka ‘The Duke’ Kilroy, an ex-boxer who journeys into the criminal world.
Boxing is obviously the world of the show, but underneath it you’re dealing with family, loyalty, betrayal, revenge and legacy. What did boxing allow you to explore that another setting wouldn’t have?
Boxing and the business around it are inherently dramatic, cinematic and full of stakes. One week you can be a poor kid from a South London council estate, and the next you can be fighting in Vegas, earning more money and experiencing more glitz and glamour than you ever dreamed. And you can do all of that with just your two fists. Boxing is also as psychological as it is physical. You have to outthink your opponent, anticipate what they are going to do and adapt in the moment. That mindset is perfect for the criminal world.
When Fightland was first announced back in 2022, the story centred on a disgraced former champion searching for his missing childhood friend. The series we’re watching now has Duke returning from prison to avenge his brother’s death. What happened during development that led you to rethink the story so significantly?
In short, the WGA writers’ strike. When it ended, the business contracted, and fewer shows were being made, so channels and streamers needed to feel more certain that anything they greenlit could really cut through. Starz felt Fightland needed to become a more propulsive thriller, and we agreed. We needed to hit the ground running, so we rebuilt the story. The characters largely stayed the same, especially Duke.
This is unmistakably a London story, and it looks and feels big. We make big budget drama in the UK, of course, but what often goes unsaid is that British stories with predominantly Black casts haven’t always been afforded that same scale or investment. Fightland feels expansive and ambitious. What did having the resources and backing behind this series allow you to do creatively that you might not otherwise have been able to do?
We could do things like set the opening scenes in Vegas. Go to the Tottenham stadium and shoot scenes on the pitch. Get real boxers to play themselves on screen. Get 50 Cent to write a track for the theme tune. And we got a marketing budget that really put the show out there: billboards in Times Square, NYC and on Sunset Blvd in LA.
You created the series together, and you are the dynamic writing duo. What does writing as a duo actually look like? Where do you agree instinctively, and where do you tend to challenge each other?
We have different tastes when it comes to fashion, but we’re definitely on the same page when it comes to TV and films. We have similar instincts when it comes to what we like and what we think works on the page. That’s been the case since we were in college and wrote scripts with biro pens in crumpled notebooks. We break the story together, then write sections independently before giving notes and rewriting. We tend to challenge each other in terms of how much to reveal or hold back when it comes to certain character or story details. The fine line between subtlety and ambiguity.
You’re also executive producers, so your involvement goes beyond handing over scripts. What was the thing you were most protective of once Fightland moved from the page into production?
The way people spoke. It had to feel authentic. It was a challenge because this was made for an American audience first and a British one second, despite it being a UK show. There were times we couldn’t go full throttle into Black British slang or London slang, but we tried to ensure the way people spoke felt as real as possible.
50 Cent comes with a very established history in this genre. What did that partnership bring to Fightland, and what conversations did you have about making sure this remained your world rather than simply a British version of something audiences had seen before?
50 always wanted this to feel different from Power. He wanted the Power audience to watch it, but he was very clear they had to be distinct. He also brought a lot of up-close and personal experience from the fight game. He’d tell us stories that had us on the edge of our seats. He has a very strong sense of what his audience responds to and is very much in touch with them, so he knows what’ll work and not work. And the world of boxing is still relatively unexplored on television, so that immediately helped the show feel different.
There are a lot of complicated Black characters here. Nobody is being asked to represent the entire community or be morally perfect. Was there something liberating about being able to write Black British characters with that much mess, contradiction and darkness?
Definitely, because that’s real life. Underneath the fights and action, Fightland is really a family drama, and who doesn’t have a messy family? We wrote them as characters first and built from there. We strongly believe that, whatever you’re writing about, the most important thing is that it feels emotionally truthful.
What did you want Fightland to say about the different ways fathers pass things down to their sons, whether that’s love, ambition, violence, trauma or expectation?
When you’re a child, your father can feel almost godlike. Everything he does carries weight, whether he means it to or not. The way he loves you, the way he speaks to you, even the things he fails to do, all of it can shape the person you become. And with that kind of influence comes a huge responsibility to try and put your children on the right path. But fathers are human too. They make mistakes, they get things wrong, and sometimes they pass on their own flaws. Hopefully the show explores the tension between that responsibility and that fallibility.
Who were the people you leaned on during this process …
The pathway from idea to screen is never easy; we are lucky we have each other to catch a little joke every now and again. We also have our wives and close friends.
How did you prepare for the role or approach your work?
Discipline and relentlessness. You have to aim to hit a target every day when writing. If you fail, keep trying until you’re successful. At the same time, you have to know when to cut your losses.
What did you find most challenging?
Finding the right balance between writing and a personal life can be tough. There are only so many hours in the day.
What did you enjoy or connect with most easily?
Seeing the show come to life. Seeing characters and ideas we created brought to reality by such a talented team across all of the departments is always so inspiring.
Is there a scene or section that best captures what the project meant to you?
The finale is epic and was also the last day of filming, so that sequence is particularly special as it was the culmination of all the years we’d put into the show. It’s so difficult to get anything made, and so many different factors have to align to make it happen, so it’s moments like that which really resonate and get banked in the memory box.
GETTING TO KNOW YOU …
If not this, then what? If not Fightland, watch the other shows we’ve written, for example, RUN on Channel 4 or SAVE ME on Sky Atlantic.
What’s made you sad, mad, and glad this week? Sad: Unnecessary war and death. Mad: Unnecessary war and death. Glad: Our wives and children.
What are you watching? Lanterns.
What are you reading?
Daniel: The Art of Opposition: On Hope, Resilience and Creative Expression Beyond the Mainstream by Courttia Newland.
Marlon: Black and British: A Forgotten History by David Olusoga.
The last film you watched?
Daniel: Obsession.
Marlon: The Odyssey.
The last play you saw?
Daniel: Bluey’s Big Play.
Marlon: Hoping to see The Story!
The last live music event you attended?
Daniel: Diaspora Calling.
Marlon: Jay-Z at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
What’s currently on your music playlist? Slendamentalz.
Which song are you listening to on repeat at the moment? Blood In Blood Out by Slendamentalz.
Which podcast(s) are you currently listening to?
Daniel: The Town with Matt Belloni.
Marlon: The Filthy Fellas Football Podcast.
What’s on your bucket list?
Daniel: To live long and prosper.
Marlon: To visit Brazil with my son (he loves Brazil!).
Where’s your happy place? With family.
Celebrate someone?
Marlon: I was blown away by Gabriel Moses’ visual displays at the Jay-Z concert.
Daniel: The Scouse Oracle and @Kaynan06. Their form of journalism is always on point and thought-provoking.
Celebrate yourself? We’re two lads from the back of beyond, fighting the fight in a very tough arena after all these years; it’s not an easy thing.
What’s next? Hopefully a feature film, written by us. Watch this space.
Where can we find you? On Insta at @marlo_smit and @dan_e._boy.
Where can we see your work? Fightland can be seen in the UK on BBC iPlayer, Channel 4 and Sky Atlantic. In the US – Starz.