Ambitions: Revitalizing Soaps One Sexcapade at a Time!

Suleikha: At the core, Ambitions is about two incredibly badass women—Stephanie Carlisle Lancaster and Amara Hughes, played by Robin Givens and Essence Atkins, respectively. What were your inspirations for building a woman-centric soap, and these two women in particular?

Jamey Giddens: Stephanie and Amara definitely recall classic primetime and daytime soap rivalries that saw the amoral vixen pitted against a more virtuous heroine. Dynasty had Alexis versus Krystle. All My Children had Erica Kane always sniping at Brooke English. Melrose Place really took off when Heather Locklear joined as vicious Amanda, who was constantly at odds with true-blue Allison (Courtney Thorne-Smith). After establishing that template, my writers and I wanted to really hone in on Stephanie’s desire to break the glass ceiling her own father encased her in. This is a woman who is more than capable of running the family law firm, but her father won’t retire and give her the keys to the kingdom because she’s a woman. With Amara, I flipped the stereotypical script of a female struggling to get over a man’s infidelity and made her the one who strayed on her husband, Titus. That truly added layers to the character. Amara is very much a good person but she did a bad thing. She and her husband are still reeling from her past decisions. 

There is a whole lot of bed-hopping on this show. Everybody’s sleeping with everybody! But the root-for love story seems to be that of Amara and Titus (Kendrick Cross). I almost feel like they’re the innocent couple in a horror movie who’ve stumbled into things beyond their control! Was that intentional on your part? 

Jamey Giddens: Absolutely. Amara and Titus moved back to Atlanta, where they attended college some 20-odd years ago, hoping for a fresh start personally and professionally. There was an infidelity on Amara’s part. But as in real-life relationships, these things don’t happen in a vacuum. Titus and Amara are both attorneys. Back in Birmingham, he was working 80 hours a week trying to build his private practice, leaving Amara feeling neglected. Enter Damian Collins (Alexander Mulzac), a drop-dead gorgeous colleague of Amara’s at the Department of Justice. Amara and Damian worked together on an intense case busting a meth ring and ended up having an affair. Amara regrets her indiscretion and is doing everything in her power to make it up to Titus. However, she might not get the chance. Titus’s old flame Stephanie, who also happens to be Amara’s former best friend and sorority sister, is determined to destroy their marriage. Titus goes up against Stephanie in an opioid class-action lawsuit. Meanwhile, Amara is assigned to investigate corruption in the Atlanta Mayor’s Office. Did I mention Stephanie is married to Mayor Evan Lancaster? [Laughs] The Hugheses should tread lightly. The Lancasters aren’t about to let anyone come between them and their insatiable quest for power.     

Just a few episodes in, Ambitions has had some real jaw-dropping “OMG” moments—from the racy love scenes to the reveal that Evan (Brian White) is into BDSM. Was there ever a point where someone said “Jamey, you can’t do that!”? What was it like to navigate that?

Jamey Giddens: Oh yeah. There were a lot of times where I heard phrases like “I believe that’s a bridge too far.” [Laughs] I just backed my car up, punched in new coordinates on the GPS and tried to jump those bridges as much as I could, because I get soap opera. I know what soap fans are shocked and intrigued by, because I actually watch and love the genre. Luckily, I have an amazing collaboration with Hollywood producer Will Packer, who encourages me to let my freak flag fly.