I May Destroy You’s Michaela Coel Rejected Netflix’s $1 Million Offer In Favor Of The BBC Because Of Ownership

I May Destroy You’s Michaela Coel Rejected Netflix’s $1 Million Offer In Favor Of The BBC Because Of Ownership

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND - AUGUST 22: Michaela Coel, actress, writer, singer, and poet, at a photocall ... [+] before giving the annual MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, on August 22, 2018 in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo by Ken Jack - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images,)



Corbis via Getty Images,



Forbes 30 under 30 alumni Michaela Coel, the creator and star of popular BBC hit series I May Destroy You, in an interview with Vulture has divulged how and why she turned down a $1 million (£800,000) offer from Netflix for the show.



The creative, who stars as Arabella and wrote all 12 episodes, started pitching the programme in the spring of 2017 with one of her first ports of call being Netflix who picked up her prior series Chewing Gum. 



Though Netflix offered a generous upfront fee of $1 million (£800,000), the sum had strings attached, including full rights ownership away from the creator, something Coel pushed back against. 



Coel recalls a moment during the interview where she is speaking with a Netflix development executive on the phone, asking if she could retain even a very small 0.5% of the copyright to her show.



"There was just silence