I've written a screenplay based on true story which I'm afraid will be struck down as a white savior story. I'm not sure what to do. Or if there's anything I can do...Can anyone think of a successful film that managed not to come across as a white savior story despite portraying a white woman coming to the aid of black and white poor people. .rz
Screenwriting : White savior by Rosemary Zibart
Works at Z Productions ♦ Screenwriter, Playwright, Author, Film/Theatre Journalist
6 days ago
White savior
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Hey Rosemary, this is Suzanne from the Stage 32 team. I just wanted to let you know I moved your post from Acting to Screenwriting, as it fits much better there. Let me know if you have any questions, and all the best to you!
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What’s wrong with a ‘white saviour’ story? There have been saviours and some of them were white. It’s more important if the story/character is bad, good or fabulous.
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It would be very difficult to get such a movie made in the present climate, even if it is a true and even noble story. You would likely have to fictionalize some elements that make the African-American characters have more agency.
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It's certainly less common to see "white savior" stories these days and something many more execs are conscious about. There's nothing wrong with them and they do still get made. Look at Sound of Freedom, Dune, Green Book, The Red Sea Diving Resort, The Great Wall. All from the last decade.
David Taylor There should not be any problem with it.
Snehil Mishra agreed.
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Rosemary Zibart Well there you have it! Three white guys telling you it's no problem!
What if you reframe it slightly — a white girl, orphaned, found and raised by a Black family from childhood. She grows up as one of them, a true family member. When hardship comes, she fights alongside them — not as a savior from outside, but as someone who belongs. That's not a white savior story. That's loyalty. That's love. The Black family gave her everything — she's simply giving back. The savior dynamic disappears when the outsider was never an outsider to begin with.
Basha , in particular, there should be any problem in a white savior story. Why is it such a fuss, I do not understand?
Snehil, my point isn't that Black people are weak or white people are strong. My point is about balance. When you give both characters equal strength, equal voice, equal agency the story stops being about race and starts being about humanity. We are all one. A well-written script should make the audience feel that not 'who saved whom,' but 'they saved each other.' That's the difference between a white savior story and a human story.
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A story is a story told from the perspective of the invidual and If we only let it remain that, how simple things would be and I never doubted your intentions for minute.
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Thank you, Snehil. That means a lot. A story told with truth and humanity will always find its audience.
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Hello Rosemary Zibart if you change the script then its not a true story anymore. I think you have 2 options - keep to the original story and change the concept from white savior to woman protagonist even if some may still see it as such - or change the story and move away from the true element to a fictional one, this way you can change the characters even (imagine a total switch-up....black savior helping white poor people).
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There's nothing inherently wrong with it, and there's still a sizeable market for it.
Focus less on who likely won't want to collaborate and more on who possibly will.