Emmanuel Itier

SURVIVING THE CARTEL

With the showrunner: Ely Bams

By Emmanuel Itier

Q: Where did this show come from, what were your intentions with it?

Ely: I have been working on this show for the past seven years. I wrote the first draft in 2015. I had a short film that helped me push my career forward with something else. I tried to sell that show, but they told me I couldn’t sell it without a big show runner. And, of course, all the big show runners are always busy on their own shows. My manager at that time recommended I write a feature film instead. And that this could open the door to, then, a series. After two more years of hard work, we showed it to all the big agencies, but they replied it was “trash”. So, this was a big waste of time. I decided then to write a pilot more in tune with what was going on in 2018 with the borders being closed and the tension in the USA. I was interested also with what was going on with the child separation at the border. The script was done and finished quite quickly. I went ahead and raised money myself. I wanted to shoot in a town closed to the border for more veracity. I wanted real actor who could play the role of “The Pope” and this is how I met the Mexican actor Gabriel Agüero. But he couldn’t come to the US to film, we couldn’t get a visa for him. This is when I decided to go and shoot in Mexico and shoot with a non-union crew. I think that shooting in Mexico helped us achieve a high level of reality.

Q: What the themes, the messages of your series?

Ely: I think the series shows that in life there is no black or white people, but everyone has some layers of grey in them. It’s not easy to figure out who are the good guys and the bad guys. Life is quite complex in that sense. You have good guys who sometimes make bad choices. And sometimes you also have bad guys doing good things. I’d like for people to understand the meaning behind the choices, the actions, that one makes. I also want to show the behind-the-scene of this universe, the one of the drug dealers, the cartels. I wanted to show things you don’t see in the news.

Q: Tell me about the various challenges you face making this series.

Ely: The main challenges was to complete this show and air it quite quickly. It took us, in fact, less than a year to achieve it. It’s quite unique for such a series. It was challenging to do something great but to film it and edit it quickly.

Q: Do you know where you’re going with this show?

Ely: Yes, I have in mind to do six seasons of this series. “Alejandro”, the main character of our show goes from being a good guy to being a bad guy and it will take some time to follow his evolution in this dark direction.

Q: Did making this show changed your views on the drug war and the cartels?

Ely: Well, for sure, to film in Mexico changed my view on that country. I think Mexico has a bad reputation. But in fact, it’s a great country and for the most part it’s quite safe. People are very warm and are welcoming and they work very hard. It’s funny how everybody I know was so afraid of me going to film in Mexico. Having said that I learned that business of drug will probably never end. Especially as long as people suffer and have pain and live in poverty. There is a sad saying: “it’s better to live five years as a king than fifty years as a loser”. So, this is the mentality among the cartels. They know they won’t have a long life but at least they have a “good” life.  It will take lots of time to educate people, to elevate people from poverty before we can see an end to the war on drugs.