Tag: Lena Waithe

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Office Hours: Get Help On Your Project

WRITERS, this one’s for YOU! Need some extra support to help you #MakeYourWork? Let ‘s go!

On Tuesday, July 18th from 4:00 to 6:00 PM ET, chat with BTFC Member, Netflix ‘Created By’ Fellow and writer and director Elisee Junior St Preux during BTFC Office Hours! He’ll do his best to support you and help you move your project forward!

 

During BTFC Office Hours we’ll answer general production questions and provide an environment where you can get advice and feedback on your projects from industry professionals.

How can we better describe them? It’s an open door for any member who would like to just come in and ask a question. Get a second pair of eyes on a rough cut, get some help on budgets, have your script reviewed…

Remember back in the day when our professors had office hours and you would just go in to ask a question or get some help? That is what these office hours are like.

Join us to talk about your project and ideas, so that you’re better equipped to move them forward. It’s all-time well spent.

Meet Elisee

Elisee Junior St Preux is a Haitian Filmmaker born in North Miami Beach, FL. A self-taught artist and cinephile, Elisee is the owner of the film blog “The Movie Butter Playbook”, and the screenwriting label, “À La MODE Films”. Elisee is a recipient of Indeed’s Rising Voices partnered with Lena Waithe’s Hillman Grad Productions, a 53rd NAACP Image Awards nominee, an HBO Short Film Award Finalist at the American Black Film Festival, and a Netflix Created By Fellow. With a distinct style of vintage storytelling combined with modern cinema, Elisee’s solemn goal is to bear witness and share stories that reflect today, honor the past, and reimagine the future.

NOTE: 40-minute slots will be assigned on a first RSVP basis. A Zoom link and information form will be sent to you 48 hours before your session. Please block out 4:00 – 6:00 PM ET on your calendar until your slot is received.

This event is for BTFC Members Only.

Members, please use your access code to RSVP.

Need help? Contact [email protected]!

Want access to this event? Sign up for our BTFC Membership!

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Office Hours: Get Help On Your Project

WRITERS, this one’s for YOU! Need some extra support to help you #MakeYourWork? Let ‘s go!

On Tuesday, February 28th from 5:00 to 7:00 PM ET, chat with BTFC Member, Netflix ‘Created By’ Fellow and writer and director Elisee Junior St Preux during BTFC Office Hours! He’ll do his best to support you and help you move your project forward!

 

During BTFC Office Hours we’ll answer general production questions and provide an environment where you can get advice and feedback on your projects from industry professionals.

How can we better describe them? It’s an open door for any member who would like to just come in and ask a question. Get a second pair of eyes on a rough cut, get some help on budgets, have your script reviewed…

Remember back in the day when our professors had office hours and you would just go in to ask a question or get some help? That is what these office hours are like.

Join us to talk about your project and ideas, so that you’re better equipped to move them forward. It’s all-time well spent.

Meet Elisee

Elisee Junior St Preux is a Haitian Filmmaker born in North Miami Beach, FL. A self-taught artist and cinephile, Elisee is the owner of the film blog “The Movie Butter Playbook”, and the screenwriting label, “À La MODE Films”. Elisee is a recipient of Indeed’s Rising Voices partnered with Lena Waithe’s Hillman Grad Productions, a 53rd NAACP Image Awards nominee, an HBO Short Film Award Finalist at the American Black Film Festival, and a Netflix Created By Fellow. With a distinct style of vintage storytelling combined with modern cinema, Elisee’s solemn goal is to bear witness and share stories that reflect today, honor the past, and reimagine the future.

NOTE: 40-minute slots will be assigned on a first RSVP basis. A Zoom link and information form will be sent to you 48 hours before your session. Please block out 5:00 – 7:00 PM ET on your calendar until your slot is received.

This event is for BTFC Members Only.

Members, please use your access code to RSVP.

Need help? Contact [email protected]!

Want access to this event? Sign up for our BTFC Membership!

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Office Hours: Get Help On Your Project

WRITERS & PRODUCERS, this one’s for YOU! Need some extra support to help you #MakeYourWork? Let ‘s go!

On Monday, March 13th from 4:00 to 6:00 PM ET, chat with BTFC Black Producers Fellow and award-winning writer, producer and director Craig T. Williams during BTFC Office Hours! He’ll do his best to support you and help you move your project forward!

 

During BTFC Office Hours we’ll answer general production questions and provide an environment where you can get advice and feedback on your projects from industry professionals.

How can we better describe them? It’s an open door for any member who would like to just come in and ask a question. Get a second pair of eyes on a rough cut, get some help on budgets, have your script reviewed…

Remember back in the day when our professors had office hours and you would just go in to ask a question or get some help? That is what these office hours are like.

Join us to talk about your project and ideas, so that you’re better equipped to move them forward. It’s all-time well spent.

Meet Craig

Craig T. Williams is a Film/TV writer and producer. Having just completed production of Game Nite, a feature film he wrote and produced, directed by Tonya Pinkins and starring Shamika Cotton and Jamie Lincoln Smith, Craig is on the writing staff for a TV show on the ALLBLK network.

Craig was part of the prestigious 2022 WarnerMedia Discovery Access Writers Program (formerly the HBO All Access Writers Program.) As one of only 20 writers chosen from over four thousand applicants, he created an original 30-minute TV Pilot.

Craig has many scripts in various stages of development including the award winning one-hour TV pilot How Ya Like Me Now, about the ‘80s rap rivalry between Kool Moe Dee and LL Cool J, a Christmas Movie Musical and a 30-minute dramedy inspired by his mother finding her long lost sister when they were both in their 60’s.

In 2021, he won a $25,000 Producers grant from the Black TV and Film Collective with fiscal support from Wavelength and Cinereach to produce the short film Mechanics Rose, which is now playing the festival circuit. Craig is a writing mentor for Start with 8, The Craft Institute, and for teen filmmakers at Reel Works Mentorship Program in Brooklyn. A native New Yorker, Craig honed his skills creating a string of quirky, comedic, romantic short films with his wife of 21 years. Together they’ve made more than fifty film projects. They have an 18-year-old son and make their life in the heart of midtown Manhattan.

NOTE: 40-minute slots will be assigned on a first RSVP basis. A Zoom link and information form will be sent to you 48 hours before your session. Please block out 4:00 – 6:00 PM ET on your calendar until your slot is received.

This event is for BTFC Members Only.

Members, please use your access code to RSVP.

Need help? Contact [email protected]!

Want access to this event? Sign up for our BTFC Membership!

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Office Hours: Get Help On Your Project

WRITERS & PRODUCERS, this one’s for YOU! Need some extra support to help you #MakeYourWork? Let ‘s go!

On Thursday, March 23rd from 4:00 to 6:00 PM ET, chat with BTFC Black Producers Fellow and award-winning writer, producer and director Gem Little during BTFC Office Hours! She’ll do his best to support you and help you move your project forward!

 

During BTFC Office Hours we’ll answer general production questions and provide an environment where you can get advice and feedback on your projects from industry professionals.

How can we better describe them? It’s an open door for any member who would like to just come in and ask a question. Get a second pair of eyes on a rough cut, get some help on budgets, have your script reviewed…

Remember back in the day when our professors had office hours and you would just go in to ask a question or get some help? That is what these office hours are like.

Join us to talk about your project and ideas, so that you’re better equipped to move them forward. It’s all-time well spent.

Meet Gem

Gem Little, a Chicago native, is an award-winning writer/director/producer based in Los Angeles. Gem found her love of filmmaking when she was a professional dancer and choreographer, picking up a camera for the first time to capture dance films and studio performances.

In 2018, Gem moved to Los Angeles to work for the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority after graduating with an MA in urban planning. Her passion for building a better world as an urban planner lingers in her style of storytelling. Gem tends to write off-kilter genre stories that make us think differently about the dark-sides of human nature.

Gem is an MFA graduate of the American Film Institute where she honed her craft as a storyteller. While there, she held internships with Charles King’s MACRO and Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY Filmworks. Gem is currently a showrunner’s assistant to Patrick Somerville (STATION ELEVEN, MANIAC).

Gem’s more than a decade of experience has earned her recognition from TRIBECA, AMERICAN BLACK FILM FESTIVAL’S HBO SHORT AWARD, TORONTO BLACK FILM FESTIVAL, BRONZELENS, HARLEM INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, and many others.

Most recently, she received a $25,000 grant from the BLACK TV & FILM COLLECTIVE to write and produce her short film, PENS & PENCILS. The film has been nominated for an NAACP Image Award (2023) and has been acquired by HBO MAX (now streaming). Gem also produced WARNERMEDIA ONEFIFTY pilot, REMEMBER, alongside creator, Bernard David Jones. The series has been picked up by Berlanti Productions.

Gem is also an activist, known for her work in community development, including starting Indiana’s state-wide program that helps justice-involved people start small businesses.

While building community through filmmaking in LA, Gem is currently developing a slate of projects under her production company banner, NATURE VS NURTURE, alongside her partner, Nagee Brown.

NOTE: 40-minute slots will be assigned on a first RSVP basis. A Zoom link and information form will be sent to you 48 hours before your session. Please block out 4:00 – 6:00 PM ET on your calendar until your slot is received.

This event is for BTFC Members Only.

Members, please use your access code to RSVP.

Need help? Contact [email protected]!

Want access to this event? Sign up for our BTFC Membership!

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Office Hours: Get Help On Your Project

WRITERS & PRODUCERS, this one’s for YOU! Need some extra support to help you #MakeYourWork? Let ‘s go!

On Tuesday, April 18th from 6:00 to 8:00 PM ET, chat with BTFC Black Producers Fellow, producer, and writer Bethel Dixon during BTFC Office Hours! She’ll do her best to support you and help you move your project forward!

 

During BTFC Office Hours we’ll answer general production questions and provide an environment where you can get advice and feedback on your projects from industry professionals.

How can we better describe them? It’s an open door for any member who would like to just come in and ask a question. Get a second pair of eyes on a rough cut, get some help on budgets, have your script reviewed…

Remember back in the day when our professors had office hours and you would just go in to ask a question or get some help? That is what these office hours are like.

Join us to talk about your project and ideas, so that you’re better equipped to move them forward. It’s all-time well spent.

Meet Bethel

Bethel Dixon is a writer/producer focused on creating a body of work that tells authentic and moving stories centered upon the lives of people of color around the globe. Bethel is a first-generation Ethiopian-Eritrean American filmmaker, who brings a distinct voice and vision to her work drawn towards the exploration of humanity, family dynamics, women, immigrant life, and film as a vessel for social impact.

In 2021, Bethel was selected as a Black Producers Fellow by the Black TV & Film Collective and Wavelength Productions. As part of the inaugural class of fellows, her short film HERE, will tackle the subject of the black experience of education in America told from an immigrant lens. Bethel co-wrote and produced the short film CROSSROADS, which premiered at BronzeLens in 2020 and screened at the 2021 Pan African Film Festival. A former screenwriting mentee of the 2012 Women In Film Mentoring Program, Bethel studied feature film writing with the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program.

Prior to shifting her career towards independent filmmaking, Bethel served as Development Manager for Investigation Discovery developing content for the leading true crime network on television and the #1 network for women in all of cable. During her time with ID, Bethel co-developed seven series and specials, including the documentaries SUGAR TOWN, BLACK AND BLUE, and THE ATLANTA CHILD MURDERS. Under the ID Films banner, she championed six issue-based documentaries challenging timely narratives spanning hate crimes, wrongful convictions, juvenile sentencing and more. Prior to her time with ID, Bethel spent one year in programming with Discovery Channel, preceded by four years with Sony Pictures Television.

NOTE: 40-minute slots will be assigned on a first RSVP basis. A Zoom link and information form will be sent to you 48 hours before your session. Please block out 6:00 – 8:00 PM ET on your calendar until your slot is received.

This event is for BTFC Members Only.

Members, please use your access code to RSVP.

Need help? Contact [email protected]!

Want access to this event? Sign up for our BTFC Membership!

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The Download featuring Deondray Gossfield and Quincy LeNear Gossfield, Directors (“Flames,” “The Chi”)

On Wed. August 10th at 4:30 PM PT | 7:30 PM ET, join us for another edition of The Download – a special VIRTUAL guest conversation series featuring impactful filmmakers who provide insider knowledge to help Black creatives make their work.

This edition we are in conversation with married directing duo Deondray Gossfield & Quincy LeNear Gossfield, Directors (“Flames,” “The Chi”). Deondray and Quincy will be discussing their work on The Chi as well as their journey as Black directors and the continued importance of diversity in the industry.

Meet the Gossfield’s

Dubbed the “Godfathers of LGBTQ+ TV”, real-life married couple, Deondray & Quincy LeNear Gossfield are the creators, writers and directors of the iconic GLAAD award-winning anthology series, The DL Chronicles.

Building on their brand and following their passion of telling Black, LGBTQ+ stories, they created and directed the Amazon Prime spinoff series, The Chadwick Journals. The third season, featuring Jamar Michael (Dear White People), won a 2021 Silver Telly Award and garnered a 2020 Daytime Emmy® Nomination for lead actor, Damian Toofeek Raven (“Chadwick”)

The Gossfields were also tapped to be part of the producing teams for hit shows like, Kocktails with Khloé (FYI), and Sunday Best (BET).

Their short film, Flames Executive Produced by Lena Waithe and Rishi Rajani, starring Deion Smith (Outer Banks) and Dontavius Williams, premiered with critical acclaim at 2021’s Tribeca Film Festival and won two Telly Awards for “Best Directing” and “Best Drama”, several SFAAF awards including “Best Directing” and “Best LGBT Short”, 1st Runner Up for “Best Local Short” and the Jury Award for “Excellence in Cinematography” at Out On Film, Atlanta.

Their short film, Congo Cabaret, highlighting the LGBTQ+ contribution to the Harlem Renaissance, has won numerous awards, and features Parisa Fitz-Henley (Luke Cage), Kevin Daniels (Modern Family), and Darryl Stephens (B Positive).

Their film, Smoke, Lilies and Jade, narrated by Emmy® and Tony Winner, Billy Porter (Pose) premiered at Outfest Film Festival in Los Angeles and went on to win “Best Short Film” at 2021’s Black Alphabet Film Festival in Chicago.

The pair made their TV directorial debut in 2022 on Lena Waithe’s and Showtime Network’s drama, The Chi.

The Download

Offered multiple times a year, The Download is a special virtual guest conversation series hosted by the Black TV & Film Collective. It features impactful filmmakers who provide insider knowledge to help Black creatives do their work.

First, our guest participates in a 1:1 conversation with our host about their journey and current career.

Then, we provide selected BTFC members with an opportunity to take a seat at the table with our guests and ask questions and advice of this industry veteran. In turn, our members are provided with an opportunity to engage in conversation with someone whose career might inspire them. Those who attend are also further encouraged and motivated to make their work! Recent guests on The Download have included Aaron Rahsaan Thomas, Charlene Polite Corley, the editing team of A Black Lady Sketch Show and Janine Sherman Barrois. 

#MakeYourWork

Join us at this edition of The Download and get the information and inspiration you need to #MakeYourWork! RSVP today!

Questions? Contact [email protected]. 

Become a member and get discounts for BTFC events! Visit www.blacktvfilmcollective.org/join