Feedback with Sylvia L. Jones and Aadip Desai
FOXTOWN by Evan Manning (drama/fantasy pilot)
When the demolition of a reviled piece of urban blight triggers the formation of a dangerous fissure, the residents of a gentrifying Baltimore neighborhood must find a way to survive, navigating ideological battles and shifting power dynamics that threaten to put everyone at risk – all as an even greater threat brews beneath their feet.
Featuring Rickey Junior, Shirley Jordan, Jerome Beck, Christopher Mychael Watson, Katrina Nelson, Alyse Moné, Chris Trovador, Dennis Pearson, Alex Ubokudom, Lee Sherman, Maurice Demus, and Tamika Simpkins
Originally from the (too) quiet streets of Bowie, Maryland, Evan Manning is the son of a thirty-year CIA veteran father and a Maryland public school system teacher mother. He grew up in a household where creativity was fostered and buoyed. While majoring in film editing at Morgan State University, he landed the first of several editing internships with the CIA’s video division where, two years later, he realized that his passion for storytelling lay not in editing, but in writing for the screen. This led Evan to leave Maryland for Los Angeles where he earned his MFA in Television, Film & Theatre from Cal State Los Angeles, and started his professional career as a writer’s PA on season two of Greenleaf and was a 2016 Associate Artist with the New York Television Festival. Other credits include Brat TV’s Youtube series The Four Of Them and Junior’s. Currently working under writer Niceole Levy, Evan now has one feature under his belt as well as several drama specs and original pilots. He’s a tennis junkie as well as an avid gamer, finding creative inspiration both on the court and in virtual reality, proving time and again that ideas can often come from just about anywhere.
STRIP TEASE by E.J. Tanner (dramedy pilot)
You don’t choose the thug life, the thug life chooses you. That’s what happens to Vaughntrey Tillman, a 25-year-old misfit whose thirsty ways get him thrown into the deep end of a drug ring run out of a local gentlemen’s club in Long Beach. Can this young man escape the trap of the streets, or will his new life swallow him up along with everyone he loves?
Featuring Leonard A. Thomas, Lakisha May, Torie Tyson, Tamika Simpkins, LaNora Terraé Hayden, Alex Ubokudom, Phil Idrissi, Chris Trovador, Andrew Elvis Miller, and James Tang
Early on, E. J. became very aware that he… stands out. Born and raised in the non-fictional city of Kalamazoo, with a Black father and White mother, his racial ambiguity puzzled most, even himself. Mix in a healthy diet of nerdy comic book, sci-fi, fantasy, video game, and anime subcultures, and you have the recipe for one perfectly confused young man. Struggling to find belonging, E.J. grew to embrace his place at the intersection of his many worlds. He writes coming-of-age stories about outcasts and in-betweeners fighting to define themselves. His previous experiences include world building for Dreamscape Immersive. Currently, he is writing a comic, The Natural, for Noir Caesar.
