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First Fifteen

October 27, 2024

Feedback with Jonterri Gadson and Sylvia L. Jones

THE DEVIL’S GATEKEEPER written by Rodney Nugent

For centuries, the Holy Grail and Pandora’s Box have been searched for with the hope that they would hold the key to humanity’s salvation. Today, Pandora’s Box has been found. Today, hope will replace the evils that have plagued our world… but suppose the Box was hidden for a reason.

Featuring Cassandra Hunter, Alberto Isaac, Phil Idrissi, James Tang, Rebekah Jarvis, Trip Langley, Suzan Mikel, and Darryl Alan Reed

Currently, Mr. Nugent is a prolific independent writer with multiple feature and television scripts in various stages of development. His film, John Henry, has been optioned by The Woods Entertainment Group, while his play, Skidders, a poignant portrayal of a homeless community, is under consideration by The CTG Group. Mr. Nugent’s play, Lost Voices, premiered at the 2020 LA Fringe Festival. Mr. Nugent’s play, The Letter, has not only captivated audiences but also garnered several prestigious NAACP nominations, a testament to the quality and impact of his work. Mr. Nugent began his professional career as a dancer and traveled the globe for a decade as a Principal dancer with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. He also choreographed for numerous commercials and music videos. Mr. Nugent’s footage of a story that has deep personal meaning to him, a documentary on the life of choreographic great Alvin Ailey, has been included in the current documentary on Alvin Ailey, which premiered at Sundance in 2022, in which Mr. Nugent appears as a dancer and interviewer of Mr. Ailey. Mr. Nugent is a native New Yorker and currently resides in Los Angeles. 

SOULLESS written by Tiffany Baker (supernatural drama pilot)

After Rashida Gaines’ near-death experience, she’s burdened with supernatural gifts that further complicate the relationship with her religious family, endangers her life, and forces her to become a vigilante in the army of an Egyptian Goddess.

Featuring Courtney Gabrielle Williams, Kim Estes, Phil Idrissi, Kila Kitu, Leonard A. Thomas, Elena Campbell Martínez, Rebekah Jarvis, Chanell Bell, and Tamika Simpkins

Tiffany Barker was raised in a large family in St. Louis. After entering the corrections field, she encountered every level of offender from traffic violators to murderers for 11 years. While she’d already recognized the unfair application of the law due to race and socioeconomic status, her favorite show Law & Order: SVU opened her eyes to gender-specific injustices. For years she sought to be like Olivia Benson, even becoming a member of her local YWCA’s sexual assault response team to support victims in the aftermath. But when Mike Brown was murdered in the St. Louis County municipality of Ferguson, everything she witnessed from law enforcement, sowed an inherent distrust she’d never previously felt. While justice is rarely achieved in the real world, she chooses to make every script she writes, reflect one where it does. And, after realizing having a badge and gun wasn’t necessary to help people, she enrolled in nursing school. Since 2018, she’s been applying for network fellowships and entering screenwriting contests, most recently being a finalist for ScreenCraft Drama and Save the Cat. In 2021 to improve her writing, she joined a weekly lab to be held accountable, improve her skills, network with actors, and offer her support to fellow writers. To take the journey into professional screenwriting more seriously, she has just relocated to Los Angeles. 

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First Fifteen

June 2, 2024

Feedback from Jonterri Gadson and Teresa Huang

ETTA LERAE written by Jana Naomi Smith (psychological drama feature)

After being denied access to the documentary subject of her dreams, a filmmaker goes to great lengths to convince an elder who doesn’t want to be bothered to be in her film, making questionable decisions along the way.     

Featuring Jerrika HintonMegan MendozaEmma Van LareKrystal FarrisDana L. WilsonSabah MuhammadNicolas diPierro, and Gita Reddy

Jana Naomi Smith (she/her) is a Gary, Indiana-bred, writer, filmmaker, and cultural worker. She is the creator, writer, and director behind the Tribeca Selected, audio drama, Red for Revolution. Previously, Jana wrote the podcast Built to Last for American Express, hosted by Elaine Welteroth and featuring Issa Rae and Kimberly Drew. Her prose has appeared in Essence magazine. Additionally, she created the meditation series Relax, Relate, Release during the COVID-19 pandemic, featuring archival audio from Angela Davis, Debbie Allen, and Maya Angelou, among others. These projects each examine the intersection of Black womanhood, erased historiographies, and intergenerational healing. Throughout her career, she’s worked for the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, HBO, CBS, ABC, and POV Film. Jana is an alum of Ryan Murphy’s “Half Initiative.” She is also a recipient of the Ida B. Wells Disrupting the Master Narrative Award and has been a finalist for numerous screenwriting awards. Jana holds a BA in Film Studies from Sarah Lawrence College. Through all of her work, she strives to reflect the truth of our time while encouraging audiences to re-imagine our collective power for radical love and compassion. She is currently developing two features inspired by her latest existential crises.

NEGRO-TISM written by Aadrise Johnson (comedy pilot)

When Courtney Jones, the first daughter of Black Hollywood, is outed during her father’s Oscar press week, she and her family must navigate their fame amid scandal to maintain their status among the elite.

Featuring Courtney Gabrielle WilliamsRyan Michelle BathéLeonard A. ThomasMichael FloodMegan MendozaJason T. GaffneyJames Mercer IIJames TangKaitlyn Foley, and Emma Van Lare

Aadrise Johnson is a comedy writer who was born in the Bronx but raised most of her life in Irving, Texas. Even though she tried her hardest to reject the Southern lifestyle, it melded into her New York grit. To cope with the changes moving caused, Aadrise created stories to escape a world where she didn’t fit in. A lot of her writing style and comedic humor stem from real-life situations mixed with the crippling anxiety that she might have peaked early. Being constantly told that you’re talented at a young age but growing up and realizing you might not be all that special does a number on a young Black woman. However, that doesn’t stop her from sharing her joy and pain through comedic stories of Black women just trying to exist. Aadrise likes to satirize Blackness in her work to celebrate, explore, and challenge Black Culture.

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First Fifteen

May 19, 2024

Feedback from Jonterri Gadson and Rochée Jeffrey

URBAN UPTAKE by Kenisha Morgan (Afrofuturism short)

After Ayanna Bell gets fired, she stumbles onto a digital world called Urban Uptake, a place for women like her.

Featuring Jasmine Ashanti, Nicolas diPierro, LaNora Terraé Hayden, sola bamis, Tehana Weeks, Stephanie Rocío, and Gita Reddy

Kenisha Morgan is originally from Atlanta, GA. To be more specific, she is from College Park, GA and East Point, GA. Nonetheless, she is an actress that became tired of waiting for opportunities; so, she decided to create them. She is a proud alumna of Northwestern University’s theatre program in Evanston, IL and the Atlantic Acting School’s Evening Conservatory program in NYC. Last year, Kenisha became a Stowe Story Lab 2023 alumnus. During the pandemic, she co-wrote a virtual production, No Justice, and won several accolades for the best virtual production at The WTFringe21 Festival & The Women’s Theatre Festival. No Justice was accepted to the Central Illinois 2021 Black Lives Black Words Festival and it was published in the BLBW anthology. Currently, she is writing a series. Her pilot for the series made it to the quarterfinals for Filmmatic – Inroads Fellowship Season 6. When not writing or acting, she works as a Low Code/No Code developer. She enjoys spending time with her boyfriend, friends, family, and her plants. Kenisha is a plant mom. Her experience in tech fuels her writing to focus on sci-fi and put people of color and women in these roles. 

ORNITHOMANCY by Marquis “The Honey Bear” Wright (absurdist comedy short)

Minutes before an interview for his dream job, an anxious man who bases his major decisions on the flight pattern of birds, confronts the most important people in his life.

Featuring Henry Alexander Kelly, Jerome Beck, Christopher Horice Jr., Gracie Fojtik, Shirley Jordan, and Isaiah Dòdó-Williams

Marquis “The Honey Bear” Wright is a Northwest Emmy Award-nominated producer for his work on the PBS Kids’ show Molly of Denali. He is a screenwriter and playwright, with three produced plays under his belt: Ricochet, Ornithomancy: the practice of reading omens through the flight patterns of birds, and Getting Distance. Besides writing, Marquis channels his comedy through stand up and Upright Citizen Brigade improvisation. He loves comedy about the intersections of blackness, queerness, body positivity, and the ex-religious experience. During his time as an Editor at WEBTOON Entertainment, he worked on 24 web comic book series. In addition to writing Ornithomancy, he will be producing and lead acting in the short film this year.

Marquis is a Mr. Bear Los Angeles 2023 title winner and a Southland Honors Cultural Arts Award winner for his contribution to the Los Angeles queer community. In addition to his charitable club event, “Black Bear Joy” at the Eagle LA, he has also co-hosted popular programming at Precinct DTLA, such as Fat Slut, Club Chub, and Howl. Armed with his “Honey Bear” brand of yellow fashion, he aims to uplift black queer people to feel an unapologetic sense of belonging in the LA nightlife scene. He is represented by Queer Up Talent. 

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First Fifteen

April 14, 2024

Feedback from Delondra Mesa and Jonterri Gadson

SAINTS OF 145TH by Darian Dauchan (supernatural pilot)

When a newbie pastor and his Black clergy are ordained with supernatural powers in a dystopian Harlem they must fight to keep their church alive, reigniting the age-old war between angels and demons. 

Featuring Brooks Brantly, Bernard Addison, Karla Mosley, Rob Nagle, Trip Langley, Brian Dykstra, Katrina Nelson, Eric B. Anthony, and Tamika Simpkins

Darian Dauchan is an award-winning actor, writer, poet, and musician who has appeared on both Broadway (Twentieth Century starring Alec Baldwin and Anne Heche) and Off-Broadway theater (Classical Theatre of Harlem’s Cherry Orchard starring Wendell Pierce). TV and film credits include Law and Order, Nickelodeon’s Bet the House as Darian the “SoundFX” Guy, and the Lionsgate feature film Things Never Said. Darian is most known for The Brobot Johnson Project, an Afrofuturism, Sci-Fi Hip Hop transmedia piece that won Outstanding Comedy Series at the LA Web Festival and BEST soundtrack at the Escape Velocity Festival sponsored by the Museum of Science Fiction. The show The Brobot Johnson Experience is a critically acclaimed Ben Brantley New York Times Critics’ Pick. More recently Darian was nominated for a Drama League award for Darian’s piece “Brobot PSA” in the AFO Solo Short series, a contributing voice-over actor for the short doc Lynching Postcards by Oscar-nominated director Christine Turner, produced by Fireflight Films and MTV Studios which won the Image Award for Outstanding Short Form Special, and is a New Music USA grantee. Darian is also the narrator for the recently released audiobook Master Class on Being Human published by Beacon Press. Darian’s music Doin’ it Live and Ohm can be found on all streaming platforms. www.dariandauchan.com www.brobotjohnson.com

SECRETS AND LIES written by Rodney Nugent (thriller feature)

A psychologically damaged detective, haunted by brutal murders from his past, visits his estranged brother in New Orleans. That night, his brother is arrested for a gruesome double murder and then commits suicide. Clinging to what sanity he has left Desmond must become the man he’d hoped he left behind and enter the underbelly of Orleans’s shadow worlds of opulent wealth, prostitution, ritual sex, and voodoo. 

Featuring Christopher Mychael Watson, Leonard A. Thomas, Rob Nagle, Conni Marie Brazelton, Trip Langley, Kermit Burns, Jordan Maia, and J.D. Elliby

Currently, Mr. Nugent is a prolific independent writer with multiple feature and television scripts in various stages of development. His film, John Henry, has been optioned by The Woods Entertainment Group, while his play, Skidders, a poignant portrayal of a homeless community, is under consideration by The CTG Group, promising exciting prospects.

Mr. Nugent’s play, Lost Voices, premiered at the 2020 LA Fringe Festival.

Mr. Nugent’s play, The Letter, has not only captivated audiences but also garnered several prestigious NAACP nominations, a testament to the quality and impact of his work.

Mr. Nugent began his professional career as a dancer and traveled the globe for a decade as a Principal dancer with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. He also choreographed for numerous commercials and music videos.

Mr. Nugent’s footage of a story that has deep personal meaning to him, a documentary on the life of choreographic great Alvin Ailey, has been included in the current documentary on Alvin Ailey, which premiered at Sundance in 2022, in which Mr. Nugent appears as a dancer and interviewer of Mr. Ailey.

Mr. Nugent is a native New Yorker and currently resides in Los Angeles.

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First Fifteen

March 24, 2024

Feedback from Lauren Glover and Jonterri Gadson


UNSETTLING written by Sarah Jayne Brown (dark comedy pilot)

A 29-year-old woman struggling to no longer settle for the toxic abuse piled on by work, family, and relationships decides to hold herself accountable by making a pact: she will be a successful writer by age 30, or kill herself.

Featuring Courtney Gabrielle Williams, Andrew Elvis Miller, Nono Osuji, Gita Reddy, Erron Jay, Jennifer Apple, Christopher James Stevens, Rashawn Nadine Scott, and Chanell Bell

Sarah Jayne Brown specializes in the dark arts. Born and raised in Oakland CA, she is a Black & Jewish, Queer Feminist writer with a punk rock sensibility. Through horror and dark comedy, she exposes uncomfortable aspects of the human condition. Her stories are a blend of everyday modern life and the surreal. Born to a schizophrenic mother and raised by her grandparents, she grew up in a household where film and TV served as an escape. First, it was The Wizard of Oz at age five. Then it was The Exorcist at age eight. Then she discovered Paul Thomas Anderson, Stanley Kubrick, and Danny Boyle at age twelve and she knew she wanted a career in film and television. Sarah received her Bachelors in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University in 2015. In 2022, she placed in the Outstanding Screenplays Feature Competition for FLESH & BONE, a body horror-comedy about a witch who conjures her dream boy, only to discover his body is rapidly decaying. Her TV pilot UNSETTLING recently placed in Launch Pad’s TV pilot competition and is being developed into a web series. Her latest script is a dark erotic drama titled UNICORN’S DILEMMA about a young woman navigating the ecstasy and horrors of polyamory culture.


SENIOR HIGH written by Tamika Simpkins  (comedy pilot)

When Miss Teacher, a 25 year long high school teacher, who has always had a passion to educate and empower students, gets fired due to her old school and unorthodox-ed methods, she gets a rare opportunity to empower another generation of students, who all happen to be in the senior citizen club. 

Featuring Kimberly Hébert, Lee Sherman, Christopher James Stevens, Amy Scribner, Leah Bass-Baylis, Laura Jacobson, Alberto Isaac, Kim Estes, Shirley Jordan, Conni Marie Brazelton, and Rashawn Nadine Scott

Philadelphia-native Tamika Simpkins has shared her acting talents on stage, film, TV, and behind the mic. She holds a double major Bachelor of Science degree in Computer and Information Science, and African-American Studies. Now LA based after losing a bet to a friend, she is driven to tell stories to make you laugh, think, reflect, and inspire.

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First Fifteen

February 25, 2024

Feedback from Lee Edward Colston II and Jonterri Gadson

THE BASEMENT written by J.D. Elliby (crime drama pilot)

A resilient 12-year-old African-American girl goes on the run from a corrupt cop and his henchmen after he murders her mother.

Featuring Lee Sherman, Candace Thomas, Jernard Burks, Alexandra Ryan, Daniel Lynch, Alexander Crow, Brensten Lindsey, Jasmine Ashanti, Gilbert Chayrez-Chavarria, Isabella Riley, and James Tang

Over the past twenty-five years, J.D. Elliby has been stalked by aggressive parents, chased down back roads in West Virginia, and even pulled over by the Federales in Cartel Country. All of these adventures occurred during his relentless pursuit of the next MLB star. He’s a Major League Baseball scout with a knack for storytelling.

UNDERCOVER STARDOM by Michael Flood (period crime drama pilot)

During the height of the 90s NY hip-hop/R&B scene, and following the tragic murder of her fiancé, a smart, adaptable, and messy Vice detective goes undercover as an R&B singer to take down a shady CEO and his infamous gangster record label.

Featuring Lakisha May, Philip Smithey, Gilbert Glenn Brown, Alexandra Ryan, Leonard A. Thomas, Peter Pasco, Alexander Crow, Phil Idrissi, and Tamika Simpkins

Michael Flood is an actor and writer based in Los Angeles and hails from New York.

Although Michael is a classically trained actor who worked in various theatrical and television productions throughout his career, he reunited with his love for writing during the COVID pandemic, where he wrote and produced a three-part sketch comedy series involving mask-wearing, Russian spies, and Black Republicans in the 2020 presidential election.

In addition to earning his MFA in acting from Case Western/Cleveland Play House and studying at The Groundlings Improv Theatre, Michael has taken writing classes at the New Federal Theatre, Groundlings, Gotham Writers Workshop and Script Anatomy.

His aim is to tell stories that will make you laugh, cry and not fall asleep.

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First Fifteen

January 28, 2024

Feedback from Kemiyondo Coutinho and Jonterri Gadson

SUPERMOMS, BLESSINGS…AND RABBIT HOLES by Shaniqua.the.artist (drama short)

A young woman’s battle trying to love her child while chasing her dream.

Featuring sola bamis, Darryl Dunning II, Tamika Simpkins, Shirley Jordan, LaNora Terraé Hayden, Shaila Tyler, Alyse Moné, Natasha LaGrone, and Bonnie-Rae Sunshine

Shaniqua spent her childhood staying in almost all 5 of the New York City boroughs, but her heart lies in the place where she was born and made her most memorable memories — BROOKLYN, NY. It was in Brooklyn where, as a child, she began performing as characters she saw on TV and in films because she wanted to “continue the story” after the credits ended. Her street smarts and grit allowed her to avoid the common pits and downfalls of her surroundings and pursue the uncommon path of going to college. Shaniqua earned a BA in theatre from the University of Buffalo, MSW from Adelphi University, completed a two-year conservatory-based acting program at Maggie Flanigan Studio, and studied at NYC-based, Kimball Studio for on-camera classes.

During a performance at Columbia University, Shaniqua had the opportunity to share, through acting, the story of African-Americans who lived in the 1800s. The performance encouraged her to resume her project of starting YC Productions — a production company with the mission of telling the stories of social issues with the goal of increasing awareness within communities.

In between writing short films, being a writer/actor for the Amazon series, Hood Deals, knocking out auditions, and attending acting classes — Shaniqua prides herself in being a mother to an amazing son. Her tenacity, passion, and confident belief in her purpose continues to fuel her efforts in chasing her dreams. She sends her love and gratitude as you take a peek into her life as an artist.

The Black Wall Street Giant by Sabah Muhammad (drama feature)

In April of 1921 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, when a young piano phenom discovers that her inspiration and best invisible friend, THE Jesus Christ, is an emaciated white guy and not the black giant she trusts and reveres, she must fight to feel the love and hope that once colored her racist poverty-stricken world.

Featuring Isabella Riley, Karan Kendrick, Oneké Cummings, Josiah Ekari, Antonio David Lyons, Krystal Farris, LaNora Terraé Hayden, Shirley Jordan, Philip Smithey, and Tamika Simpkins

Sabah Muhammad is a writer, disguised as an attorney dedicated to criminal justice and mental illness reform. Her one true love is powerful storytelling based on growing up Black, weird, Muslim and poor in the bible belt South. As a kid in the Nation of Islam, she was the plucky eldest of seven whose spirited intelligence usually earned her a timeout for not being righteous; alone in a room thinking about what she’d done, usually something feminist, proved to be an excellent place to develop characters. Art, as an escape, prepared her for a ten-year acting career that included countless exciting projects like The Brooke Ellison Story directed by Christopher Reeve, starring Jon Slattery and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio; The Skeleton Key, starring Peter Sarsgaard and Kate Hudson; and a 12-city arena tour, sponsored by Coca-Cola: the Go for It! Roadshow.

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First Fifteen

November 12, 2023

Feedback from Kemiyondo Coutinho and Jonterri Gadson

PANCAKES & WAFFLES written by Monet Mike (comedy pilot)

Fresh out of high school, Gillian Scott accepts a job at a local diner not knowing its colorful staff would start as wild strangers but morph into a unique family she didn’t know she needed.

Featuring Iliana Rivera, Brooks Brantly, Conni Marie Brazelton, Candace Thomas, Oneké Cummings, Elena Campbell Martínez, Jernard Burks, Rod McLachlan, Jerome Beck, Peter Pasco, and Courtney Gabrielle Williams

Monet Mike is a writer, producer, and director from Decatur, Georgia. As a screenwriter, Monet’s mission is to carefully craft stories through a multi-perspective lens that humanizes people and concepts society often avoids in conversation and lifestyle. As an independent filmmaker, Monet began Glory James Productions to produce original series and features that invigorate minds and cultivate conversations with the goal of positively impacting our local and global community through art with purpose.

THE NO DAY written by Gita Reddy & Jessica Jiji (comedic short film)

It’s show — or rather, international conference — time! and a fed-up assistant mistaken for several of the eccentric attendees plays along at the risk of missing the chance to connect with the one person who actually gets her.

Featuring Ellen D. Williams, Napoleon Tavale, Jamila Webb, Peter Pasco, Ser Anzoategui, Elena Campbell Martínez,  Tamika Simpkins, Newton Kaneshiro, Alberto Isaac, and Karen Huie

As a writer and director, Gita Reddy is drawn to the charismatic complexities and intrinsic humor of large ensembles. Plus, they’re never boring! She started out on the opposite end, in solo-ish writing and performing, and has been published in Tokens?: The NYC Asian American Experience On Stage (Temple University Press) also receiving a fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts. As an actor, you may know her from I Think You Should LeaveAll Rise, and recurrings on Never Have I EverOrange Is the New BlackThe Mindy Project, Marvel’s Iron Fist, and Adam Ruins Everything. Voiceover includes the Indie Spirit award-winning 7 Days and the Oscar-winning Zootopia. Theatre acting credits include: Sundance Lab, Getty Villa, Old Globe, City Theatre (Pittsburgh), Mixed Blood (Minneapolis) and in NYC: Cherry Lane, Target Margin and Clubbed Thumb. Training includes the Public’s Shakespeare Lab; improv at iO West, Magnet and UCB; and a fellowship with New York Theatre Workshop in Casting and Artistic Management. She was born in Canada, grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, has an M.A. in Cinema Studies from New York University, and loves watching the hummingbirds get all territorial in her tiny garden.

Jessica Jiji grew up in New York City roaming the streets to the shock and fury of her Arab father, who came from a time and place where women never left the house without a veil and a man. But he also passed along a deep appreciation for the wondrous aspects of Arab culture that she now cherishes. She eventually honored her refugee father by returning to his lost homeland — Iraq — as a speechwriter for the UN Secretary-General. Working at the United Nations has convinced her entertainment contributes as much to peace as diplomacy. The author of three published novels (two translated into Italian), she studied screenwriting with Roadmap Writers and Jill Chamberlain, earning the Page Gold Prize and other accolades. Skateboarding with her three sons is totally worth the nine-inch metal plate holding her arm together.

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First Fifteen

October 29, 2023

Feedback from Pilar Alessandra and Jonterri Gadson

DON’T FORGET DOROTHY written by Jana Smith (sci-fi feature)

A veteran actress and her daughter are both dealing with an identity crisis, body dysmorphia, and the pressure to meet society’s expectations of them when they are offered an opportunity to participate in a neurological experiment that would erase every racist, sexist, and hurtful memory that formed their insecurities; giving them the chance to restart their lives as free Black women.​

Featuring Shirley Jordan, Tehana Weeks, Conni Marie Brazelton, Bonnie-Rae Sunshine, Trip Langley, Caro Guzmán, Ashley J. Hobbs, Tamara McMillian, Janessa St. Pierre, and Inger Tudor

Jana Smith (she/her) is a Gary, Indiana-bred, interdisciplinary writer, filmmaker, and cultural worker passionate about intergenerational stories about women and femmes. Her prose has been published in Essence magazine! Jana was awarded the Inaugural Ida B. Wells Disrupting the Master Narrative Award for her film script, Baptême. She also participated in Ryan Murphy’s “Half Initiative” for rising writers, directors, and creatives. Jana wrote Built to Last a podcast by American Express hosted by Elaine Welteroth. She has worked for the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, The Good WifeMadam Secretary, HBO’s Random Acts of Flyness, America ReFramed, and POV. In 2018, her pilot was a finalist in the MACRO Episodic Story Lab. She studied filmmaking at Sarah Lawrence College. Her work examines the intersection of Black womanhood, erased historiographies, and intergenerational healing (basically, whatever she’s having an existential crisis about). The stories she tells often interrogate shame––illuminate the interior lives of women––and imagine a more human-dwelling future. Through her work, she strives to reflect the truth of our time while encouraging audiences to re-imagine our collective power for radical love and compassion. She is currently directing and producing a narrative audio drama centering Black women, love, and liberation, which she wrote titled Red for Revolution.

FARE by Karan Kendrick (suspense short)

A 50-something black woman, tired of losing, creates a deadly game that only she can win.

Featuring Tamika Simpkins, Shirley Jordan, Bonnie-Rae Sunshine, Chinai Routté, Gita Reddy, Kenajuan Bentley, Rod McLachlan, Leonard A. Thomas, and Toccarra Cash

Hailed for her powerfully nuanced portrayal of “Minnie McMillian” in the blockbuster Just MercyKaran Kendrick is among the artistic elite.

Additional credits range from The Hunger Games (Lionsgate), and The Hate U Give (20th Century Fox); to television favorites like Grey’s Anatomy (ABC), Greenleaf (OWN), and most recently, “Candace” on All American: Homecoming(CW).

In addition to her work as an actor, Karan is a philanthropist, speaker, and Honorary Astronaut (NASA Ames). Her long-standing passion, however, is the work she does through her arts organization, The Kendrick Academy (TKA), where she has served tirelessly to provide students with the opportunity to build character, discipline, and an eternal passion for the arts for over a decade.  Based in her hometown of Fort Valley, GA, TKA offers weekly acting and dance classes to students ages 3 to 85. In 2020, her Academy expanded to virtual acting and screenwriting classes and continues those offerings today allowing her to serve students in 7 states and counting.

As she expands her role as storyteller to include writer, Karan states: “I want to tell stories that center Black Women in the middle of their own discourse. I want to position us in the luxury of being human, vulnerable, weird, weak, warrior, and loved, all at the same time. I want to remind us to burn the cape, and keep the flame.”

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First Fifteen

April 16, 2023

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.

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First Fifteen

February 26, 2023

Feedback with Jonterri Gadson and Mika Frank

IN THE VILLAGE by Monet Mike (drama pilot)

A community fights to navigate the ever-changing waters of its district. Five educators and a self-conscious middle schooler must keep their sanity and strength to make it through each unpredictable day.

Featuring Marqita Delgado, Adam Brudnicki, Julianna Ojeda, Kaitlyn Foley, Darryl Dunning, Amy Scribner, Altamese Rogers, Keisha Bissram, Janay D. Henry, Leonard A. Thomas, Georgina Navarro, Alex Morris, and Gita Reddy

Growing up in Decatur, Georgia, Monet entered the film industry by investing in herself. She wrote, produced, and co-directed her first pilot presentation in an effort to shine a light on a community she believed was misrepresented or absent often in the media. In finding safe spaces to learn and grow, Monet partners with other independent filmmakers to further develop her voice as a writer and skills as a producer. Monet’s mission is to carefully craft stories with a multi-perspective lens that humanizes people and “taboo” concepts. She is dedicated to creating art that positively impacts and challenges her local and global community.

VILLAINESQUE by Katherine Street (dramedy action pilot)

In a world where heroes and villains are simply rich jerks in fancy outfits, a bitter, struggling novelist takes a job writing for one of them and gets more than she bargained for. 

Featuring Rashawn Nadine Scott, Henry Alexander Kelly, Akilah Walker, Trip Langley, Andrew Elvis Miller, James Tang, Natasha LaGrone, Gita Reddy, Alexandra Ryan, Janay D. Henry, and Elena Campbell-Martínez

Katherine Street is an LA-based award-winning screenwriter and Philadelphia native. A cinephile at heart, she writes female-driven stories with complex (oftentimes damaged) main characters, centered around self-discovery, self-love, and belonging. She has written numerous short-form projects, including original shorts, pilots, and features. As a filmmaker, she wrote and directed the dramatic short film “Cycles,” and created her flagship web series “The New Adult,” which is currently streaming on Kweli TV. She earned her degree from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts with a concentration in cinematography. She has literary representation with Culture Creative Entertainment.

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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.

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First Fifteen

November 20, 2022

Feedback from Kemiyondo Coutinho and Jonterri Gadson

AMERICAN DEBT by Jeta Stephens (dramedy pilot)

Two pre-rich bankers learn that their employer is plotting to bankrupt their neighborhood and take matters into their own hands.

Featuring Akilah Walker, Selina Scott-Bennin, Andrew Elvis Miller, Gita Reddy, and Cassandra Hunter

Jeta Stephens shares her birthday with Dr. Angela Davis and Ms. Anita Baker. She considers herself a hybrid of both women, sent here to serenade with her storytelling while radically advocating for Black people. Hailing from Coatesville, Pennsylvania, Jeta studied public relations and Spanish at Temple University. She entered the filmmaking world with her travel documentary series, Global Lipstick, which she wrote, co-produced and co-hosted. In this series, she managed productions and crews in the United States, Spain, and United Arab Emirates. Her perspective on art, America, and money shifted while working as a banker. It’s there that she decided to merge the world of art and finance and became a financial storyteller. Jeta resides in LosAngeles. She spends her time writing dramedies, creating music, and providing financial education. Her wildest dream is for Black people to be financially free.

COLORISM: A VERY DARK COMEDY by Nono Osuji (comedic short film)

Zora must fight for her place, professionally and personally, in a world judging her by the shade of her skin. In a hidden prejudice of colorism, she must maintain her self-worth.

Featuring Jessica Obilom, Saidah Arrika Ekulona, Gita Reddy, Asia Lynn Pitts, Cassandra Hunter, Lawnyae Marie, Hank Chen, Jasmine Shanise, Alex Ubokudom, Jarric Tucker, Jennifer Stoneking, and Kenneisha Thompson

Nono Osuji is an actor turned filmmaker and writer. She is a first-generation American born to Nigerian, Igbo parents who have recently forgiven her for not going to medical school. She studied communication science disorders and minored in performing arts at Saint Louis University. While living in NYC, she attained her Master of Arts from the New School University in media and film. She has worked for ABC and PBS on award-winning documentaries, and in the multi-media space with fortune 500 companies such as Tiffany and Co., Estee Lauder, and L’Oreal USA, as well as with smaller companies and individual artists. She was also a writer for the second season of the series WASHED streaming on Amazon, and now works for corporate entities such as AT&T and Warner Media as a creative producer and writer for podcasts, conferences, videos, and other media content. As an actor, she is currently studying with Lesly Kahn and Associates and taking improv at The Stomping Ground Theater located in Dallas, TX. She is rewriting a pilot for a series she created and will be writing a real-life-inspired fiction book in 2023 She has never written a book so pray for her. Her free time is spent learning Spanish, cooking new cuisines, napping, and spending time with her friends and family with her karaoke mic in hand.

MERDE by Victoria Dunn (comedy pilot)

When former child star, Rachelle Stallings, hires a reality TV show crew to follow her failing theater company she puts the company and staff under a spotlight they weren’t prepared for. 

Featuring Kelly McCreary, Joy Brunson, Kimberly Hébert, Jon Gentry, Lexi Graboski, Alex Ubokudom, Alexander Crow, and Courtney Gabrielle Williams

Victoria Dunn is an actress and writer originally from Atlanta and currently based in Los Angeles. Dunn has worked and trained as an actress from a young age and can be seen in various commercials, web series, and heard in scripted podcasts and voiceover commercials. Weekly you can hear her as a co-host of the reality television recap podcast Fame Adjacent. Dunn worked behind the scenes in a myriad of jobs at a non-profit theater company in Atlanta and currently works on the production side for Disney-ABC Signature. She is currently in pre-production on her comedic web series Smiling Faces.

Categories
First Fifteen

October 30, 2022

Feedback with LaToya Morgan and Christina Martin

The Monitor by Reynaldo Dumas (sci-fi pilot)

In a futuristic society not far removed from our own, crime and racism have purportedly been eliminated by an authority which requires all members of society to wear monitors that track their every movement. However, when a wealthy mother goes missing following a harrowing car accident, the balance of power will soon shift when she becomes a slave to a pair of nomads living off the grid.

Featuring Jody Flader, Carolina Hoyos, Alexandria Delgado, Satya Vanii, Kaypri, Leonard A. Thomas, Phil Idrissi, Trip Langley, Kimberly Hollkamp-Dinon, and Rashawn Nadine Scott

Reynaldo Dumas is an up-and-coming writer with ambitions to direct feature films. His favorite genre is sci-fi, and he wants to create stories that center around the African-American experience using science fiction elements. Based out of Chicago, Reynaldo enjoys playing guitar, drawing, and reading in his spare time.

Moonchild by Chris Courtney Martin (horror feature)

After a visit from her estranged mother, a Millennial werewolf is forced to choose between a successful life in the human world and the survival of her pack.

Featuring Kimberly Hébert, Toccarra Cash, J.R. Gomez, Daniel Mills, Will Slanger-Grant, and Dani Woodson

Chris Courtney Martin is a Black Non-Binary/Queer writer-producer-psychic originally from Philadelphia, PA. In 2014, they graduated from Drexel University with a degree in screenwriting and playwriting, with dual minors in film &video and art history. Their time at Drexel, yielded publication in The Triangle (student newspaper) and the school’s annual anthology, The 33rd. Martin’s screenwriting credits include Pale Horse-the upcoming feature directorial debut of Gabourey Sidibe, along with smaller projects starring legendary talent such as Sheryl Lee Ralph and Niecy Nash. With their spec screenplays having garnered several accolades, including wins at Urbanworld and Emerging Screenwriters as well as mentions on the Young & Hungry and Bitch Lists, Martin sees a return to poetry and other literature to be the next test of their writing skills. Their hybrid chapbook of poems and essays titled The Book Of I.P. (Idle Poems) is available in paperback on Amazon. Their other poetic works not included in this collection have been published via Erato Magazine, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, and The Incognito Press.

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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

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First Fifteen

September 25, 2022

Feedback with Tanya Barfield and Kemiyondo Coutinho

American Steele by Will Loper Jr. (drama pilot)

A PTSD-stricken student body president fights to expose the secrets behind a recent shooting at his Southern university.

Featuring Jared Corbin, Jamal Douglas, Summer Brown, Brooke Johnson, James Kenna, David Meyers, Tamika Simpkins, Inger Tudor, Rama Vallury, and Kaiy Watts

Will Loper Jr. is a well-traveled military brat and theater kid born and raised in Alaska’s whimsical wilderness who’s been accused of being the Abominable Snowman which has done wonders for his character development. Rejected by his beloved theater teacher for the lead role in his senior year musical, he addressed the lack of Black queer stories and characters by creating his own. As a drama writer that leans light, he focuses on characters whose shortcomings give them a chance to embrace their potential and, with the right community and support, thrive in their authenticity. Will’s purpose as a writer is to leave audiences having found joy in their own circumstances and arming them with a few remedies along the way. By providing a safe space to explore tabooed themes, he strives to empower and encourage his audience to let go of their self-imposed limitations in order to achieve their highest potential. As a founding member of the A-Story Collaborative – a group of emerging BIPOCwriters – his synergetic spirit, BFG (Big Friendly Giant) energy, and bomb snack/food suggestions are surefire assets that will enable him to flourish in any community. His latest project is the short film son•shine, which is inspired by the life of Nigel Shelby–a gay, Black, 14-year-old who committed suicide because of bullying and neglect at his high school as he struggled with his mental health.

Nefertiti by LaDarrion Williams (period drama pilot)

An epic exploration of Kemet’s most formidable Queen, Nefertiti, as she navigates betrayal, forbidden love, and a secret that will threaten her ascension to the throne.

Featuring Eric B. Anthony, Gilbert Glenn Brown, Summer Brown, Marcuis Harris, Mildred Marie Langford, Tamika Simpkins, and Inger Tudor

LaDarrion Williams is a Los Angeles based-playwright, filmmaker, author, and screenwriter whose goal is to cultivate a new era of Black fantasy, providing space and agency for Black characters and stories in a new, fresh and fantastical way. His first play, Katrina, won first place at the Alabama State Thespian Conference. It was also a part of A Noise Within Theatre for their Noise Now Reading Series. In September 2019, his play, Coco Queens, was a part of the Sundance Institute’s Playwriting Intensive. The play was also a semi-finalist for the 2020 Eugene O’Neill National Playwriting Conference. In 2021, his play Boulevard of Bold Dreams (a story about Hattie McDaniel’s historic Oscar win) was a part of the NewWorks Festival at the Morgan-Wixson Theatre in Santa Monica, California. Currently, it will be a part of the Orlando Shakes PlayFest 2022, and it will be making its world premiere at TimeLineTheatre in Chicago in January 2023 and Greater Boston Stage Company in March 2023. LaDarrion is currently a resident playwright/co-creator of The Black Creators Collective, where his play UMOJA made its WestCoast premiere in January 2022 and produced North Hollywood’s first Black playwrights festival at the Waco Theater Center. His viral and award-winning short film Blood at the Root is currently on YouTube and Amazon Prime and is anticipated to become a Young Adult fantasy novel.

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First Fifteen

May 15, 2022

Feedback with chandra thomas and Sylvia L. Jones

The Flags Need Soil by Ezra Lerner (one-hour dramedy pilot)

A depressed gamer yearning for change must decide whether or not to enlist in the army at the behest of a recruiter desperate to avoid losing his job and being redeployed.

Featuring Leonard A. Thomas, James Tang, Cassandra Hunter, Breezy Leigh, Satya Vanii, Phil Idrissi, Roni Banerjee, and Jaz Wright

Red for Revolution by Jana Smith (period drama short film)

When a Black female revolutionary is assassinated, the two women left in her stead, a famous apolitical jazz singer and a radical activist, happen upon an unlikely romance that they must protect during one of the most tumultuous periods in American history.

Featuring sola bamis, Shinelle Azoroh, Leonard A. Thomas, and Kila Kitu

Truck My Life by Sharona D’Ornellas (dramedy pilot)

Truck My Life follows Vaughn, an African American man in his mid thirties, as he converts an old food truck into a functional home to save money for his future real estate dreams. Comedy ensues as he simultaneously tries to find love in fickle Los Angeles, while essentially being homeless.

Featuring Philip Smithey, Shinelle Azoroh, Joshua R. Lamont, Rafiq Batcha, Gita Reddy, Jordan Williams, Jerome Beck, Kiayla Ryann, and Breezy Leigh

Categories
First Fifteen

April 10, 2022

Feedback with Jonterri Gadson and Kemiyondo Coutinho

Viral by Andrew St Juste (comedy pilot)

After a failed movie career, an ex-influencer returns to the listicle company that made her famous, but instead of the corner office she’s stuck mentoring the next generation of content creators. 

Featuring Rashawn Nadine Scott, Leonard A. Thomas, David Meyers, Kaiy Watts, Alex Crow, Tiffany Oglesby, Kimberly Hollkamp-Dinon, Kaitlyn Foley, and Nekia Renee

Pulaski Avenue by Dani Woodson and Sumayya Ayoub (children’s animation pilot)

Pulaski Ave. is the tale of Danielle and Sumayya, two besties, from different backgrounds who expolored their Philadelphia neighborhood while encountering bullies, oddball neighbors, and learning lessons about friendship and life. 

Featuring Georgina Captan, Nekia Renee, Lee Sherman, Gita Reddy, Rafiq Batcha, James Tang, Rashawn Nadine Scott, and Kaiy Watts

the 1 & only MJ Girls by Mars Wolfe (comedy pilot)

The Windy City gets a makeover when two drag queens dip Chicago’s nightlife into the pasty watercolors of America’s Fine Arts Administration. 

Featuring Linda La, Jerome Beck, LaNora Terraé Hayden, Londen Shannon, Tryphena Wade, and Rashawn Nadine Scott

Categories
First Fifteen

February 12, 2022

Feedback with Kemiyondo Coutinho and chandra thomas

My Addiction by Shanae Sharon (comedic short film)

Kat goes through a cycle of love addiction after meeting yet another man who she thinks is her soulmate. 

Featuring D’Kia Anderson, Millie Langford, Terrence Terrell, and Patrice Lakey

Me vs. You by Apoorva Gundeti (comedy pilot)

Corporate lawyer Sahana and artist Ben struggle to make their inter-racial relationship work. Sahana’s parents love Ben like their own son…so, what’s the problem? Well, Sahana’s company is responsible for the gentrification of the L.A. Arts District, which is now putting Ben out of work.

Featuring Anu Bhatt, Connor Sullivan, Yemie Sonuga, Huse Madhavji, Gita Reddy, Steve Han, Rami Khan, Desiree Staples, and Deepa Patel

Just a Friend by Kaypri (rom-com feature)

Despite their immediate connection on a hip-hop dance floor in the ’90s, a heartbroken undergraduate and a firefighter with a heart of gold, agree to just be friends out of respect for his promiscuous lifestyle and her celibacy.

Featuring Kendra Christel, Lanett Tachel, Vivia Armstrong, Darian Dauchan, Joshua R. Lamont, Abraham Ntonya, Leonard A. Thomas, and Rashawn Nadine Scott

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First Fifteen

March 13, 2022

Feedback with Tash Gray

Pedigree: 1981 by Chanell Bell (dark comedy pilot)

Laurie is determined to make the Best Entertainment Television Network the best entertainment network of all time, but first, she must cover a few sex scandals, a few lies, and espionage in the process.

Featuring Courtney Gabrielle Williams, Alex Morris, B. Alexander, Elayn Taylor, Eric B. Anthony, James WDL Mercer II, Kaiy Watts, Tarina Bradshaw, and Tamika Simpkins

The Voice of Saya by Stephanie M. Mosley (drama pilot)

Silenced by sexual trauma, Faith Saya Clarke haphazardly embarks on an enlightening journey to discover her own resilience, humor, and power as she becomes a voice for the voiceless.

Featuring Breezy Leigh, Tory Devon Smith, Leonard A. Thomas, Alex Morris, Elayn Taylor, June Jones, Kaiy Watts, and Courtney Gabrielle Williams

The Expatriates by Katherine Street (period drama feature)

In the spring of 1929, a young Black couple visits Paris to find a sense of meaning, belonging, and a more promising future – but they cannot quite shake everything they left behind.

Featuring Akilah Walker, Maurice Demus, Eric B. Anthony, Amberlin Morse, Evangeline Edwards, Morgan Gunter, and Tamika Simpkins

Categories
First Fifteen

December 12, 2021

A full reading of Christina Martin’s tech comedy A HUMAN PROBLEM with direction from Brittany Scott Smith

A Human Problem by Christina Martin

When a tech company’s problem-solving android starts eliminating white people, it’s up to two underappreciated black programmers to (maybe) save the day.

Featuring Jerrika Hinton, Brooks Brantly, Alex Morris, Danielle Frimer, Jody Flader, Andrew Elvis Miller, Rafiq Batcha, Alex Crow, and Rashawn Nadine Scott

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First Fifteen

November 21, 2021

Feedback with Kemiyondo Coutinho and Jamila Daniel

MAGIC DADDY by Justin Casselle (drama-comedy pilot)

A world-renowned magician’s disappearance forces his two adult children to connect with a brother they never knew they had in order to track down their father and save the family.

Featuring Brooks Brantly, Leonard A. Thomas, Inger Tudor, Rashawn Nadine Scott, Alex Morris, Marcuis Harris, Alexandria Delgado, Courtney Gabrielle Williams, LaNora Terraè Hayden, Anwar Ali, and Yemie Sonuga

HAYS COUNTRY by Sabah Muhammad (drama pilot)

When family rivalries tear notorious bank robbers apart, their slipping stronghold on the West makes them a target for the enemies they made on the way to the top.

Featuring Krystal Farris, Marcuis Harris, CJ Dickinson, O’Neil Cespedes, Jason Michael Miller, Andrew Elvis Miller, Daniel Will-Harris, Anwar Ali, Courtney Gabrielle Williams, Jonah Wharton, André Sogliuzzo, Alexandria Delgado, and Gita Reddy

THE DOOR OF NO RETURN by EJ Tanner (horror feature)

While on spring break, five Black college students get trapped in a cursed slave castle off the coast of Senegal. Their search for a deeper connection to their roots brings them face-to-face with friends who want to ensnare them in eternal bondage. Can this group of friends come together and escape this level of hell, or will they suffer the same fate as the wretched souls trapped in this forsaken mausoleum?

Featuring LaNora Terraè Hayden, Courtney Gabrielle Williams, Leonard A. Thomas, Maurice Demus, Brooks Brantly, André Sogliuzzo, Alex Morris, and Inger Tudor

Categories
First Fifteen

October 24, 2021

Feedback from Kemiyondo Coutinho

Antisense by Rimi B. Chatterjee (sci-fi pilot)

The survivors of climate change gather in Climate Town, a UN-mandated refuge in Southeast Asia, and fight to save their future against the powers of exploiting their homelands and destroying their lives.

Featuring Gita Reddy, Michael Flood, Rafiq Batcha, Deepa Patel, Soma Mitra, Nikhaar Kishnani, Leilani Marie Smith, Mo Rodvanich, Brandon English, and Apoorva Gundeti

Black Flame by Myah Daniels (suspenseful drama pilot)

After a fire occurs at Vale Valley Prep, bookworm Sloan Sanders and the rest of the Black student body begin receiving mysterious text messages, leading them on a dangerous hunt to find the mysterious messenger.

Featuring Jairis Carter, Marie Dupree, Dakota Kruz, Caryn Ruby, Alex Crow, Moselle Davis-Kaufman, Bryan Keith, Lee Sherman, Phil Idrissi, Tamika Simpkins, and Nekia Renee

Facsimile by Shana L. Darabie (sci-fi/horror feature)

A woman obsessed with following the rules finds herself in a terrifying situation where the rules no longer apply after she’s assigned to work on a frozen planet populated by colonists hiding their own dreadful secret.

Featuring Puja Mohindra, Mari Weiss, Alex Crow, James Tang, Nikhaar Kishnani, Marcuis Harris, Leilani Marie Smith, Phil Idrissi, Gita Reddy, Mo Rodvanich, and Tamika Simpkins

Categories
First Fifteen

September 26, 2021

Feedback from Kemiyondo Coutinho and Rachelle R. Williams

Baptême by Jana Smith (surreal mockumentary short film)

The petty ass, messy ass ladies of a hit reality series have resumed production. And when one of the stars experiences a traumatic event, she seeks support from her closest friends and fellow castmates, only to be betrayed by them. She then must find healing in a place she never thought to look.

Featuring Tryphena Wade, Chanell Bell, Lakisha May, Toccarra Cash, Lorene Chesley, Alma Schofield, Kila Kitu, Ananiah Hogan, Kamal Bolden, and Inger Tudor 

Brute by Nathan James (drama pilot)

A broke college student joins a peculiar escort service—which caters to the taboo desires of wealthy couples—to help pay tuition. Rising racial tensions in the city of Pittsburgh cause him to question whether he is contributing to a problematic belief about his existence.

Featuring Ronald Emile, Allison Winn, Rashawn Nadine Scott, Paul McKinney, Leonard A. Thomas, Kaiy Watts, Toccarra Cash, Will Slanger-Grant, Justyn Williams, Jonah Wharton, and Courtney Gabrielle Williams

Remembering Charmaine by Katherine Street (dramedy pilot)

After the media erroneously reports the death of former child star-turned social pariah Charmaine Fox, she’s compelled to redeem herself in order to leave behind a more positive legacy.

Featuring Courtney Gabrielle Williams, Leonard A. Thomas, Lorene Chesley, Trip Langley, Antonio David Lyons, Kaitlyn Foley, Ethan Michael Hernández, and Rashawn Nadine Scott