Club Friday Q&A: Actor and Writer Sarah DeSouza-Coelho on The Caribbean Stories We *Don't* See
By STACY LEE KONG
Image: Courtesy of Sarah DeSouza-Coelho
When I first saw a clip of Back to One, Sarah DeSouza-Coelho’s indie web series, I laughed out loud. A Caribbean mom yelling at her kid to get up and stop wasting the whole day in bed? Too real. But that wasn’t the only true-to-life facet of the storytelling. The series follows a young actress who’s trying to pursue her dreams, navigate love and still meet her family obligations, and it all felt very familiar—which was DeSouza-Coelho’s goal. The actor, writer and creator wrote Back to One because there are so few shows featuring Caribbean characters, and even fewer featuring Indo-Caribbean people. In this week’s Q&A, we chatted about balancing your own ambition with your family’s dreams for you, telling multi-dimensional stories and why sometimes, you just have to make the things you need to see.
A still from Back to One (Image: Courtesy of Sarah DeSouza-Coelho)
What drew you to acting?
Since I was a kid, it's something that I've always wanted to do. I originally wanted to be a singer, actually, but I can't sing for the life of me, so it had to be acting. As a kid I loved doing presentations and Christmas concerts, and then in high school, I got really involved in plays, drama club and improv club. When I graduated high school in 2012, I got accepted into York’s theatre program, but the way that program works is you have to audition to get in, and then if you want to have acting as your major, you have to audition again. They only take 16 out of 100 or so students, so naturally, I didn't get in. But at the end of the day, I knew I wanted to do film and TV, so while I got a degree in communications, I started getting an agent and going on auditions and building up my résumé. Fast forward to now, 10 years later, I'm still doing it and I love it. I kind of fell into writing during the pandemic, just because the whole industry shut down. That’s when I started thinking about the kinds of roles that I had been going out for, because when I first started, I felt very typecast as the Indian girl. I swear to God, in the 10 years I've been doing this, I've had one audition where I actually got to play an Indo-Caribbean character. In communications, I'm writing all the time, so I thought, ‘Why not just write a story for myself, where I'm the lead?’ I felt like it was my time. So, I just started pulling different experiences that I've had in my acting career and with my family life, my relationships and friendships, and that bloomed into Back to One.
In the first episode of Back to One, the actor who plays your mom is not really on board with your character’s plan to become an actor. How much of that is drawn from real life?
I remember when I didn't get into the conservatory, I wanted to just drop out of school. But for my parents, that was a very big deal, because they didn't get to go to college or university. So, I continued and got my degree. Over the years, they've really seen how hard I work and the passion that I have for it, so I think at the end of the day, they just want to make sure I'm financially okay. As long as they see that I have some sort of income coming in, they know they can sleep at night.
How did you actually go about making this series?
Looking at what’s on TV, I didn’t see stories about Indo-Caribbean characters. When you think of a Caribbean person on TV, it's very one-dimensional, but the Caribbean is so diverse. My dad is half-Portuguese Guyanese, and no one knows about that. So I thought, I’ll just write about different experiences I've had with auditions, and interactions I've had with my family. I've never produced anything on my own before. So once I had something written, I was like, ‘Okay, what’s next?’ I started reaching out to different directors and photographers that I've worked with in the past and got a lot of no’s, until finally, a director I'd worked with seven years prior was really interested in the story. We’re both emerging, and he was like, “Yeah, let's do this.” Through him, I met our cinematographer and producer, who knew someone who knew someone else. We eventually put a network of people together, and raised some money about $5,000 on Indiegogo.
The rest of the cost was covered by myself, the director, and then some of the executive producers that were willing to put money in—which to this day, I'm so forever grateful for. The original plan was to shoot the pilot and then pitch it. But we realized that we wanted to get an audience of our own before moving onto next steps. We hosted auditions, found an amazing Caribbean cast and from there, we decided to slice it up into three parts and put it out on TikTok and Instagram. It seems to do really well, so right now we're working on getting development funding so that we can actually shoot season one, which has been a huge challenge.
I didn’t realize how boostrapped this was! It's really hard to find the money when you're not in that world.
Yes. We have a platform on YouTube that's willing to house our season, so they're essentially solving the platform issue, but not the monetary issue. It's good to know that if we get the money, we're good to go, but we've gotten some rejection from [grant organizations like] Ontario Creates because it's a web series. The requirements are very specific, and there's not a lot of funding in that realm, so right now, we're trying to get brand sponsorships and we’re approaching different people that might invest in it.
Why do you want to see these stories? I obviously have a personal understanding of this, but I’d love for you to articulate why it matters that we aren’t seeing Indo-Caribbean stories anywhere.
I know we hear this a lot, but representation is so important. I think about little Sarah and what I used to watch as a kid. If I saw somebody on TV that looked like me and represented my culture and understood what it was like to grow up in that environment, I think I would’ve started my career a lot earlier. I would have done things differently, because I would have seen that it is possible.
I grew up around a lot of South Asian kids and Afro-Caribbean kids, but I always just felt like I was a bit of both. I think when people see themselves reflected, it makes them feel a sense of belonging, and that's so important—we all deserve to see ourselves. Even when we were casting, that was really important. I wanted to make sure that my mom was someone who was Guyanese and could do the accent, and that she had that spice and flair.
The Caribbean community in Canada isn't the biggest group in terms of numbers, but in terms of impact on culture, it's very influential, especially in Toronto. So going back to that idea of not seeing that many Caribbean stories and the fact that the ones we do see are kind of on one note, why do you think there are so few Caribbean stories being told?
I think it has a lot to do with the people that are in those big chairs. When you look at the stories that are out there—and the shows that seem to do well, but then they get cancelled—those are the stories that we need. I think that's why I've fallen in love so much with being a creative producer and being a writer. I feel like I have more control. Because as an actor, I kind of just have to wait around for an audition and to see if I'll get cast in something. But being a writer, I'm controlling the narrative.
What do you want to see happen in the Canadian TV and film industry in general?
I think that we need more opportunities. There are lots of mentorship programs that are available and networking opportunities, which is amazing. But I think it needs to work top-down—the people that are [in really senior positions] really need to lend a hand to the people that are down here. I feel like that's the only way that things are going to change.
I remember I had an audition and the character description was an Indian Canadian. Someone asked me if I felt guilty about taking the role away from someone who is Indian. And I was like, I have to kind of pick and choose right now. I have to take what I can get, so that I can get there and be the one to say, let's change this. Even though when I do audition for those kinds of roles, there's like this part of me that's like, I don't feel Indian enough. I think that's also what I want to see change: what does it mean to be Caribbean, and specifically Indo-Caribbean?
When you think about how Back to One has been received so far, do you feel like this is proof there’s an audience for this type of story?
Yeah, absolutely. In addition to the view count, so many people messaged me to tell me how long they have waited for something like this, that they've never seen themselves on TV and that they want to see more.
What is next for you? You said you're trying to get funding to shoot the full season, are you also developing other projects?
I think Back to One is where my focus is right now. But I did also write a feature film, and I'm writing a TV pilot. I like to have things on the go for myself, so that if the opportunity comes in I have something ready. I hope to have a table read next month for my feature film and get a producer attached to it. It's also about a Guyanese-Canadian woman trying to navigate love—kind of like an older version of Sarah from Back to One.
Follow Sarah on Instagram and Twitter, and find out more about Back to One on Instagram.
Thank you for reading this week’s Club Friday Q&A! Still looking for intersectional pop culture analysis? Here are a few ways to get more Friday:
💫 Subscribe to the (free) weekly newsletter, or join Club Friday, our paid membership program. Members get early access to Q&As with pop culture experts and Friday merch, as well as other fun perks.
💫 If you’d like to make a one-time donation toward the cost of creating Friday Things, you can donate through Ko-Fi.
💫 Follow Friday on social media. We’re on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and (occasionally) TikTok.