Categories
First Fifteen

February 4, 2024

Feedback from Rochée Jeffrey and Ben Smith

SWITCH written and directed by Jonterri Gadson (comedy pilot)

A half-hour, dark comedy about a wealthy Black woman who fulfills her revenge fantasies by using a mysterious switch in her house to control her ignorant neighbor’s luck.

Featuring Toccarra Cash, LaNisa Frederick, Jonathan Grey, Kimberly Hollkamp-Dinon, Janson Lalich, Amy Scribner, Tamika Simpkins, Tyee Tilghman, and Jamila Webb    

Jonterri Gadson is a former creative writing professor who chose TV over tenure. She is currently a writer on Viacom’s EVERYBODY STILL HATES CHRIS and before that was a writer on Netflix’s THE UPSHAWS. She has been a staff writer on HBO’S A BLACK LADY SKETCH SHOW, NBC’s MAKING IT with Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman, THE KELLY CLARKSON SHOW and Adult Swim’s half-hour comedy BIRDGIRL. Additionally, she was a Comedy Consulting Producer on 12 DATES OF CHRISTMAS (Max) writing comedic host copy for Natasha Rothwell and a writer for NBC’s ULTIMATE SLIP ‘N SLIDE, writing comedic host copy for Bobby Moynihan and Ron Funches. She won Kevin Hart’s LOL Film Fellowship for a short she wrote and directed which premiered at the American Black Film Festival.

Rochée Jeffrey is a graduate of Howard University and a writer/director who hails from Jamaica and lives in Los Angeles. As a television writer, her credits include Golden Globe-nominated comedy series SMILF (Showtime), Woke (Hulu), Bigger (BET+), and co-executive producer of grown-ish (freeform). As a Film Independent Project Involve Fellow, she wrote the award-winning and Oscar-qualifying short film Suitable, which was a finalist in the American Black Film Festival HBO Competition and premiered on HBO in February 2019. Rochée also wrote and directed Mr. Talented, a short film which screened at the Austin Film Festival and competed for the HBO Award at the Martha’s Vineyard African-American Film Festival. She recently directed an independent television pilot starring David Arquette. In 2018, she was selected for the Viacom Emerging Directors Program.

Her feature directorial debut Not Your Average Queen was selected for the 2021 Film Independent Screenwriting Lab and the 2021 WIF/Sundance Financing Intensive. The film is executive produced by legendary feminist author and icon Roxane Gay, Killer Films, and Valerie Steinberg. She has an adult animated series executive produced by Lizzo set up at Tomorrow Studios. She’s also the creator/executive producer of a half-hour series for Netflix executive produced by Megan Thee Stallion, Jay-Z, and Imagine. She also co-created, co-wrote, and directed an upcoming narrative podcast series for Audible that is produced by Broadway Video and stars Sam Richardson, Method Man, Rachel Dratch, Tichina Arnold, and Richard Kind. Rochée is a graduate of the 2022 WGA Showrunner Training Program. She’s represented by APA and Tantrum Management.

Ben Smith grew up in a small Massachusetts town, where he lived with his parents, his sister, his grandfather, and their barn-full of farm animals. Evenings were spent watching Boston sports, not scripted television. Hollywood wasn’t on anyone’s mind. He wanted to be a professional basketball player or a Supreme Court Justice. Maybe it’s not so surprising he ended up a writer — he clearly had quite the imagination. Since moving to LA, Ben has written for a handful of shows, most recently Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building, where he serves as a Co-Executive Producer.

Categories
First Fifteen

December 11, 2022

Holiday reading of 3rd Rock Realty written by Alex Ubokudom and directed by Tyee Tilghman

3RD ROCK REALTY by Alex Ubokudom

An animated situation comedy that centers on a Black female real estate agent, Patrice Ewing, who is trying to sell apartments in Harlem during an alien invasion so she can keep up her expensive lifestyle.

Featuring Brooks Brantly, Blair Busbee, June Carryl, Toccarra Cash, Gilbert Chayrez-Chavarria, David Jacobs, Elena Campbell-Martínez, Lakisha May, Rod McLachlan, Andrew Elvis Miller, and Alex Morris.

Alex Ubokudom is an actor, writer, producer, and teacher. He just recently moved to LA from New York City where he performed in many Off-Broadway productions. He also trained and performed improv and sketch comedy at New York’s Upright Citizens Brigade and the People’s Improv Theater. His online satirical comedy series BOK TV has been featured on Huff Post and Blavity. Catch him on the newly released Audible graphic novel WAKE with DeWanda Wise, Chante Adams, and Jerri Johnson. He’s also a professor of acting at Chapman University.

Tyee Tilghman is an actor, filmmaker, and teaching artist. He is a storyteller and a lover of language. Voices ranging from the classical brilliance of Shakespeare, the earthy undertones of Zora Neale Hurston, the quick wit of Aaron Sorkin, and the strength of street knowledge demonstrated in the lyrical calculus of Black Thought, are the fuel that feeds his passion to create. Mr. Tilghman holds an MFA in acting from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, and a BFA in drama from West Virginia University. His film & TV credits include Blindspotting (Starz), Baskets (FX), Reacher (Amazon Prime), Party of Five (FreeFormTV), A Deadly Lullaby(Lifetime), Criminal Minds (CBS), I’m Dying Up Here(Showtime), and American Nightmares. Tyee has been a stage actor for 18 years, and was most recently seen as George Page in Merry Wives of Windsor (Folger Library). Other select theatre credits include Our Very Own Carlin McCullough(Geffen Playhouse), Skeleton Crew (Studio Theatre), Gem of the Ocean and Fences (Marin Theatre Company), Spunk! and The Winter’s Tale (California Shakespeare Theatre), A Raisin in the Sun (DCPA), and Three Sisters (Chautauqua Theatre Company).

He recently designed a Shakespeare workshop focused on teaching empathy to non-actors, and created Demystifying Shakespeare, for professional actors in Los Angeles, to “take the fear out of Shakespeare.” Tyee also has taught at Identity School of Acting: Los Angeles, Denver Center Theatre Academy, Living History & Neighborhood Bridges (also through DCTA), A Noise Within, P.S. Arts, B.R.I.D.G.E. Theater Project, City Hearts: Kids Say Yes to the Arts, and InterAct Story Theatre.

Categories
First Fifteen

October 2, 2022

Full in-person reading and party!

Triggered written and directed by Kemiyondo Coutinho (industry sample pilot)

When Namara attempts to take her first BART ride since a traumatic event, she finds that she must make several emotional stops to get to her destination.

Featuring sola bamis, Alex Crow, Hillary Jones, Nekia Renee Martin, Kalea McNeill, Susan Louise O’Connor, Rashawn Nadine Scott, Thomas Silcott, Leonard A. Thomas, and Tobie Windham