Arab television's risk-averse culture has stifled its capacity to tell more thought-provoking stories, according to Tima Shomali.
Speaking to The National from Amman, the Jordanian director and co-creator of Netflix’s high-school drama AlRawabi School for Girls calls it a “creeping atrophy” in the industry.
This is particularly evident among state and mainstream broadcasters, she notes, where dramas and comedies have long been preferred, while emerging genres such as psychological thrillers and horror – especially favoured by younger audiences – are left behind.
“I used to watch TV growing up and couldn’t find anything I could relate to as a teenager,” she says of Arabic television. “It was always the same love stories. I had to go and watch western content to see variety and diversity of genres.”
Another reason for the drift, she continues, is the shortage of female creatives in studios and writers' rooms – from screenwriters and producers to directors. It is a point she plans to drive home during a panel at the Congress of Arabic and Creative Industries, at Abu Dhabi's Etihad Arena on September 14 and 15.
Joined by Egyptian-Tunisian actress Hend Sabry and Cinema Akil founder Butheina Kazim, Shomali will reflect on the daily battles women still face in the industry, including her own.
Despite two successful seasons of AlRawabi School for Girls and earlier projects such as the web series Bath Bayakha, she says success hasn’t eased some of the structural roadblocks encountered along the way.
“If I say I want something done a certain way, I have to explain myself. If it’s a male director, he’s instantly praised as creative. For a woman, it’s always, ‘She doesn’t know what she’s doing,’ until the result comes right and they realise, eventually” she says.
After earning a finance degree – a fallback to reassure her parents about the risks of the entertainment industry – Shomali graduated in screenwriting and producing from the Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts. She credits that training with grounding her craft in storytelling rather than overt advocacy.
“We are in the entertainment business and we need to entertain. We don't want to preach and we don't want to tell people this is right and this is wrong,” she says. “The beauty of art is that you can tell stories that need to be told, but in a way that entertains people, engages people, and creates characters that people can connect with. If a character opens someone's mind or changes their perspective even slightly, that's enough for me.”
Shomali captured her audience’s anxieties by spending time among them.
For AlRawabi School for Girls, which she directed and co-wrote across two seasons, she drew partly on encounters with students in cafes during her time in Amman and other regional travels. Those exchanges, she says, revealed the constant pressures facing today's teenagers – from bullying that follows them home through social media to the insecurities she wove into her script.
“Before writing I observe a lot. I sit with teenagers, I listen, I hang out where they hang out. Sometimes I go to the cafes they go to and just watch,” she says. “What struck me most was how social media made everything constant. When I was at school, if you were bullied it ended when you went home. Now it never ends. Teenagers today are more aware, but their insecurities are the same – only more exposed, and the pressure on their mental health is much harder.”
That casual field research yielded breakthroughs on screen and beyond. AlRawabi School for Girls was viewed as one of the first Arabic series to seriously address bullying, its devastating consequences resonating with audiences more accustomed to such messages coming from civic or school campaigns. What began as a quest to entertain through characters, Shomali says, grew into a responsibility to the viewers.
“I had young men, now in university or already working, come to me and open up about what happened to them at school. Even though the show focused on girls, many connected with the characters because they had gone through the same things,” she recalls. “That's why there is so much responsibility with this kind of content. A lot of these stories are not popular, but they matter.”
While relishing the productions, Shomali says they were occasionally marked with micro-creative battles born from her gender. “The fight for trust takes energy every day. People don’t realise how much mental energy it takes to constantly prove yourself worthy of the same trust given automatically to men.”
Shomali has built her own network of women collaborators, including AlRawabi School for Girls co-creator and fellow Jordanian Shirin Kamal, many of whom have worked with her for over a decade.
“I call my team my angels,” she says. “My co-writer, production designer, costume designer, director of photography – they are all women I trust and believe in. Creating this support system is very important. Of course, it's not always easy, but surrounding yourself with people who share your vision makes all the difference.”
Through her company Filmizion – which will have a booth at the congress – Shomali is in discussions with broadcasters on television and film concepts that push beyond convention.
She confirms there are currently no plans yet for a third season of AlRawabi School for Girls, as she searches for new ideas. “There are so many untapped stories,” she says. “We can do horror, suspense, crime. These genres are all available to us, and we can add our own unique spin to them directly from our culture. We are still just scratching the surface, and it will be through this variety of content that Arab audiences will feel more represented and find a way to showcase our culture to the world.”
International Congress of Arabic & Creative Industries runs on September 14 and 15 at Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi. Entry is free upon registration
