Christian Keyes Speaks Out on All The Queen’s Men, Creative Credit, and BET’s Future
Christian Keyes, the creator and writer of All The Queen’s Men, has opened up about his frustrations with the handling of his show, issues around creative credit, and the challenges of working with network leadership.
Keyes revealed that his creative credit had been removed from the show, prompting him to call the union to have it restored. “I’m not sad that my show isn’t there anymore,” he said. “After season five, it won’t be there, and I won’t have to deal with that shady, corny kind of leadership that would dare… Why try to steal my credit? My contract says I get credit. I wrote the book, I wrote the show, I wrote the pilot, I created the show, I wrote the first season.”
He detailed the original structure of All The Queen’s Men, which was intended to be eight half-hour episodes. “Unbeknownst to me, the boss went in there, added 10 or 15 minutes to each episode, and wrote the 10th episode himself,” Keyes said. By the second and third seasons, he explained, he was completely sidelined. “He just showed up and said, ‘Here’s the next 20 episodes, and here’s the next 16 after that.’ I didn’t get a chance to contribute. That’s when it got real weird.”
Keyes also criticized the creative direction the show took without his input. “Season two and season three is when All The Queen’s Men got weird. Dudes started getting raped with dildos and all that weird stuff. Nobody wants to see that. Put that on your show. I’m glad I don’t have to deal with it anymore.”
Despite the challenges, Keyes praised the cast. “Most of the cast, if they’re available, will still have a space to do great work because they were amazing. They just showed up and kicked ass.” However, some characters will not return after season five, including Amp. “Amp won’t be back at all on anything I write,” he confirmed.
Addressing workplace misconduct and false claims, Keyes emphasized that with the show back under his control, he can remove problematic elements and focus on working with talented collaborators. “I can work with amazing people who care about the word on the page. I believe all 16 episodes should be dropping this year.”
On the show’s uncertain future, Keyes admitted he isn’t sure why it’s ending. “I don’t think BET has a definitive direction of what they want to do. I love BET—I’ve been with them since Video Soul and 106 & Park—but somewhere up the chain, they don’t know what they’re doing.”
He compared BET’s trajectory to MTV, which he said suffered when it stopped prioritizing original content. “I don’t want to see BET go that way, but I’d love for them to figure out what they want to do. I could leave the entire universe of All The Queen’s Men with them, or I could shop it elsewhere.”
Finally, Keyes outlined his vision for the network. “BET would need a morning and evening news station, original unscripted shows, original scripted shows. I’ve written good stuff for all of that. Real good stuff. We’ll see what happens.”
Leave a Reply