Dustin Felder, one of Hollywood's premier acting coaches, is the go-to coach for superstars Will and Jada Pinkett Smith. In his most recent collaboration with the Smith's, Dustin coached Jaden in the summer hit The Karate Kid. Equally impactful in the world of TV, Dustin was the acting coach for the ABC sitcom, "My Wife and Kids."



Dustin's success as a coach is rooted in his mastery of various acting techniques, his dynamic understanding of character, as well as his own experience as an actor with recurring roles on the Emmy Award-winning "Law & Order", the NAACP Image Award-winning "New York Undercover", "My Wife and Kids", and dozens of national commercials. Believing firmly that 'the worst thing in the world is wasted talent,' Dustin has utilized his gifts to help others realize their potential.



Hosted and produced by veteran entertainment journalist, commentator, author and film festival director Tanya Kersey, and co-host Tiffini Bowers, "Inside Urban Hollywood" airs live the 1st and 3rd Monday of each month at 6pm PST/9pm EST. This entertainment industry talk show features engaging, informative, compelling and up close and personal conversations with a wide range of Hollywood movers and shakers from filmmakers, writers, directors and producers - to agents, talent managers and studio executives. The show is an interactive discussion that gives YOU, the audience, an inside look at Hollywood and the topics shaping the entertainment landscape. Listeners are welcome to call-in to ask questions at (646) 200-3290.

Je'Caryous Johnson will discuss how to write, direct and produce urban theatre. He is currently touring his hit stage play, "Cheaper to Keeper Her," starring Vivica Fox and Brian McKnight..




With over 14 years of experience in the performing arts, Johnson has trained with such theater masters as Edward Albee, Jose Quintero, and Sir Peter Hall. He has directed some of the best theater legends, including Billy Dee Williams, Richard Roundtree, and Grammy Award winner Brian McKnight.



He was the first person to adapt an African-American romance novel into a stage play. He was also the first person to write and produce a novel and a play, simultaneously. With his youthful appeal, Johnson was handpicked by the estate of Sammy Davis Jr. to write Mr. Bojangles on Broadway: “Sammy Davis Jr. – The World’s Greatest Entertainer” (Las Vegas 2007). The distinction gives him another first – the youngest creator of a Vegas show. Davis’s estate also recommended that Quincy Jones (who owns the rights to the biography) collaborate with Johnson on the Broadway show. He will also make history again, with his upcoming collaboration with Brian McKnight to produce a soundtrack, play, and novel. Today, Johnson is making his mark in the entertainment arena, becoming one of the most sought-after playwrights in the industry.



"Inside Urban Hollywood" airs live the 1st Monday of each month at 6pm PST/9pm EST. This entertainment industry talk show features engaging, informative, compelling and up close and personal conversations with a wide range of Hollywood movers and shakers. Listeners are welcome to call-in to ask questions at (646) 200-3290.

Clutter is one of the single biggest reasons projects are so hard to get made in Hollywood. Every night, studio executives drag home a pile of scripts, 99% of which will end up in the reject bin. The way you decrease your script's chances of suffering the same fate is by doing your due diligence and not sending it out until it's at its absolute best. Unfortunately, too many writers, directors, and producers aren't skilled enough to know when that is.



On Monday, September 20th, Paul Chitlik, The Rewrite Mentor, and author of "Rewrite" will appear on Inside Urban Hollywood to discuss how to know when your script is ready.



Paul Chitlik has written for all the major networks and studios. He was story editor for "The New Twilight Zone," and staff writer for Showtime's "Brothers." He has written features for Rysher Entertainment, NuImage, Promark, and others. He received a WGA award nomination for his work on "The Twilight Zone," a GLAAD Media Award nomination, and won a Genesis Award for a Showtime movie. He has taught screenwriting at UCLA, Loyola Marymount University, and ESCAC, the film school of the University of Barcelona. He began teaching advanced residential workshops in 2008, in Cortona, Italy, and will lead workshops in Telluride, Colorado, and Spain in 2010.



Listeners are welcome to call-in to ask questions at (646) 200-3290.

Michael Elliot's career began in 1988 when he self-published Krush Magazine - the first publication ever devoted to covering the burgeoning world of hip-hop music exclusively.



Next, Elliot turned his attention to the book publishing world. He authored and self-published the hip-hop guidebook, "The Unsigned Rappers Guide To Getting a Record Deal". Impressed with his track record, in 1992, Elliot caught the interest of the owners of The Source Magazine. Recognizing his ability to "make things happen" the owners offered Elliot a position as Director of Special Projects.



In 1995, Elliot resigned from The Source and began teaching himself to write screenplays. 13 months later, Elliot sold his first script to 20th Century Fox.



After another stint at "The Source" Elliot returned to Hollywood, writing and executive producing "MTV's Hip-Hopera Carmen" which launched the film careers of Mos Def, Bow Wow, Joy Bryant, and Beyonce Knowles. Elliot also scripted the films "Brown Sugar" starring Taye Diggs & Sanaa Latham & "Like Mike," starring Bow Wow and Cedric The Entertainer.



Elliot latest film "Just Wright" opened in theaters back in April. The romantic comedy stars Queen Latifah, Common, and Paula Patton. Elliot's next mission is to help aspiring screenwriters through his website www.writerslittleblackbook.com and The Ladder:Produced Screenwriters Helping Aspiring Screenwriters, one of the largest Screenwriter groups on Facebook.

Darrell serves as co-chair of the Entertainment and Sports Law practice, and is a prominent entertainment lawyer with more than 19 years experience in entertainment law. Darrell's clients include diverse and visionary individuals and entities, reflecting his commitment to developing multimedia opportunities within the convergent climate of today's entertainment industry. His commitment to providing superior personal service has resulted in long-standing relationships with studio executives and creative personnel, representation of actors, writers, directors and producers associated with a variety of television programs and motion pictures including “NCIS,” “Law & Order,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Entourage,” “In Plain Sight,” “Flash Forward,” “Friday Night Lights,” “Dancing with the Stars,” “Randy Jackson Presents America's Best Dance Crew,” Academy Award Winner “Crash,” “RocknRolla,” “Couples Retreat,” “Notorious,” “The Great Debaters” and “Max Payne.”



Darrell has been consistently named among the Top 50 Showbiz Players by Black Enterprise Magazine. He also was inducted into the Black Entertainment & Sports Lawyers Association Hall of Fame in 2007.

Kerry David spent the first 2 ½ years of her film career working in Business Affairs at Paramount Pictures. She left Paramount to spend the next three years working for, and traveling with, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman on such projects as Mission Impossible 2 and Eyes Wide Shut.





Kerry eventually left to start her own production company. Since she's won multiple awards at various film festivals and produced works for the likes of MGM and Lifetime Television including Agent Cody Banks and the sequel Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London.



Kerry’s next theatrical film will be the dramatic feature “Like Dandelion Dust” starring Mira Sorvino slated to be released on September 24, 2010. She is also currently filming “Making Miles – The Miles Davis Story” for HBO.



In 2001 Kerry founded the website www.IndieProducer.net, otherwise known as iP, a social networking community which helps educate, connect, and support new and emerging filmmakers. IP provides resources, entertainment news, interviews, and networking opportunities. iP is now in 111 countries and reaches 80,000 filmmakers worldwide.



David has been a guest speaker, panelist, and moderator at schools, writing groups, film festivals and film summits in the US and overseas. She writes articles for various magazines and websites and her article “Getting to the Yes” – outline how to navigate Hollywood has been purchased by over a thousand filmmakers. She’s is a voting member of the Producers Guild of America and British Academy of Film & Television Arts.

Rob Edwards, an accomplished screenwriter and producer, is an industry veteran with more than 20 years of experience. His most recent career achievement includes his work as a writer on Disney’s Academy-Award nominated The Princess and the Frog, starring Anika Noni Rose, Oprah Winfrey, John Goodman, Bruno Campos and Terrence Howard.



Edwards has also produced and written for popular television shows including: Full House, A Different World, The Marshall Chronicles, Roc, In the House and In Living Color, for which he received an Emmy Award nomination. He also worked on the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, where he met show creators Andy and Susan Borowitz. The team went on to create Out All Night, starring Patti LaBelle, Morris Chestnut and Vivica A. Fox.



Edwards has also written for Disney’s Academy Award-nominated animated feature, Treasure Planet. He is currently working on The King of the Elves, based on a short story by Phillip K. Dick. Born in Detroit, Edwards lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two sons.

Named one of “10 Digital Directors to Watch” by Daily Variety, Jon Reiss is a critically acclaimed filmmaker who has produced and directed three feature films most recently Bomb It (Tribeca 2007) about graffiti, street art and the battle over visual public space throughout the world. Jon just published Think Outside the Box Office: The Ultimate Guide to Film Distribution in the Digital Era, the first step-by-step guide for filmmakers to distribute and market their films. The book was inspired by his experience releasing Bomb It with a hybrid strategy and the classes he teaches at Cal Arts. This Spring Reiss will be launching Think Outside the Box Office: The 2 Day Workshop which are an immersions into the nuts and bolts/step by step tools and techniques of today’s distribution and marketing landscape. IFP will be presenting a Reiss TOTBO Workshop in NYC (in conjunction with Shooting People). Other TOTBO Workshops are scheduled for London, Amsterdam, Boston, Melbourne, Sydney, Vancouver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Perth, Adelaide with more on their way. Jon was recently brought on board the IFP Filmmaker Labs to help transform them into year long completion and distribution labs. He is also launching a distribution and marketing tools website for independent filmmakers at: www.ultimatefilmguides.com

Jeff Friday, Founder of the American Black Film Festival, stops by Inside Urban Hollywood to discuss how to use film festivals to advance your career.



Jeff Friday boasts eighteen years of success as a product marketer, entertainment executive, and entrepreneur. Jeff entered the film business in 1996 when he became the president of UniWorld Films. Under his direction the company founded the Acapulco Black Film Festival, which has since moved stateside and been renamed the American Black Film Festival. He also assisted the studios in marketing movies to the African American audiences, including DreamWorks’ film release Amistad. In 2001 Friday acquired UniWorld Films, renaming it Film Life, Inc and assumed the position of CEO.

Scott Kirsner, Author of "Fans, Friends, and Followers: Building An Audience And A Creative Career In The Digital Age" stops by Inside Urban Hollywood to discuss how to build an online following.

Scott Kirsner is a journalist who writes about innovation, with a special focus on the ways that new technologies are changing the entertainment industry. His most recent book is Fans, Friends & Followers: Building an Audience and a Creative Career in the Digital Age. His 2008 exploration of the role that new technologies have played in Hollywood, Inventing the Movies, was featured on National Public Radio, the New York Times’ “Tech Talk” podcast, and as part of Google’s Authors@Google series. Scott has written for Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, and he edits the blog CinemaTech (http://cinematech.blogspot.com). He is part of the team that organizes The Conversation, an occasional gathering that explores new trends in film and online video (http://theconversationspot.com). His writing has also appeared in Wired, Business Week, Newsweek, Fast Company, and The Los Angeles Times.