The AAFCA Podcast

Stephen Curry may be known as the best shooter in the NBA but in Hollywood he is making headlines for his pitches. Since forming his production company Unanimous Media in 2018, Curry and his business partner Erick Peyton have blazed a path creating uplifting content in film, television, and podcasts. 

Peyton has literally been creating content most of his life with several producing and directing credits to his name, the Florida native, along with his partner, Curry, have a vision with the purpose to tell unique stories and bring inspirational content to every single media channel. 

Suzan-Lori Parks rose to prominence in the theatrical world when her play, Topdog Underdog won a Pulitzer Prize in 2002. She wrote her first screenplay, “Girl 6” directed by and starring Spike Lee in 1996 and has several film projects to her credit including the adaptation of Richard Wright’s “Native Son” for HBO. For her two recent projects, "Genius: Aretha" for NatGeo and "The United States vs. Billie Holiday", Suzan Lori dives deep into the lives and voices of two legendary singers. 

“Genius: Aretha” is the latest addition to the Genius series by NatGeo. The eight-part series tells the story of Aretha’s rise from her gospel and jazz roots to become the legendary ‘Queen of Soul’. The series was also produced by Suzan-Lori. The series was directed by Anthony Hemingway and starts Cynthia Erivo as Aretha Franklin, Malcolm Barret, David Cross, and Courtney B Vance.

The AAFCA Award winning film "The United States vs. Billie Holiday" was directed by Lee Daniels and stars Andra Day as Holiday, Trevante Rhodes, and Garret Hedlund. 

NBA phenom LeBron James and his Manager/Business partner, Maverick Carter founded SpringHill entertainment in 2007.  Their first project, a documentary, “More Than a Game” in 2008 followed James and his Akron, Ohio high school teammates through the ups and downs of high school basketball, and ultimately his journey to fame. Since then, the company – now known as The SpringHill Company has grown with more than 30 projects under their belt with several more on the way.

Actors Lena Waithe and Naomi Ackie talk about the new season of Netflix's award-winning comedy series, "Master of None." The season focuses on the marriage of Denise (Waithe) and Alicia (Ackie) as their relationship takes a rollercoaster ride when the two decide to conceive. All episodes of season 3 are currently streaming on Netflix. 

As Black Lives Matter stories and "Living while black"  surfaced across the United States, people took to the streets in protest. And this chant was said in unison around the world.

One of the people who captured this Black Lives Matter movement in the U,K. was photographer Nisan Harriman. 

Harriman’s took to the street and shared amazing images of frustration, anger, unity, and hope that went viral.  

Harriman is no stranger to this. He has an eye for narrative and has been taking compelling historic photos, celebrity portraits, and magazine editorial for some time now.  He’s shot such notables as Tom Cruise, Giorgio Armani, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Cate Blanchett and Olivia Colman. His photos have been featured in the pages of Vanity Fair, British GQ, Harper's Bazaar, and People magazine to name a few and he made history as the first black man to shoot the Vogue UK September issue in 2020. 

Focus groups are an integral part of the studio business. Everything is tested, and I mean everything. Networks test show pilots, movies, trailers, even posters are brought before everyday Janes and Joes so executives can give the thumbs up or thumbs down on the projects in their lineup. This information helps them decide what movies we will see in theaters, what shows make the fall line up, and what commercials will air during  the Superbowl. 

But as the industry had to adjust its model for production and distribution during 2020, Invoke, a tech driven marketing research company, leveraged their technology to take the once in person fact finding research sessions of focus groups - and made them virtual. What Invoke is doing is groundbreaking. In these virtual focus groups participants use their phones and tablets to interact while watching content, and provide data insights in real time for studio executives, producers, and directors.

To understand all this we need to go behind the curtain and talk to the wizard herself, CEO of Invoke, Gigi Wang. Wang has helmed Invoke for over four years and has spent her career in technology, consulting and marketing research. I recently spoke the Gigi Wang to learn what drew an up-and-coming engineer to marketing research,  the ins and outs of virtual focus groups, and some life lessons she’s learned along the way.

Ava Duverney’s company, ARRAY does more than just produce amazing film. In fact the company distributes independent film and is a resource collective comprised of arts advocacy organizations, volunteers, and donors from around the world with one goal: to amplify  films by people of color and women of all kinds.  

Since its creation in 2010, Array has elevated independent film voices distributing over thirty projects including the 2011 Sundance Award Winning KINYARWANDA, Ava Duverney’s 2012 Film, the award winning “Middle of Nowhere”, “Vaya,” the 2016 Africa Academy Award winner directed by Directed by Akin Omotoso, The Emmy Winning documentary “13th” and the revealing documentary “They’ve Gotta have Us” in 2020. 

The person who has been in lock step with Ava Duverney throughout this journey from the beginning has been Tilane Jones. Jones, has been working as a producer for over a decade not only oversees the company’s many releases, but also oversees the Array Alliance, the non profit dedicated to social impact and education and the ARRAY Creative Campus that provides production support for up and coming filmmakers. We spoke to Tilane  about her role at ARRAY, her journey as a producer, and what lessons learned during the Pandemic.

When it comes to capturing the black experience in film only one name comes to mind and that’s Sam Pollard. 

Pollard has been telling Black and other stories for over thirty years. His first project: "Eyes On the Prize 2: America At the Racial Crossroads" won him an Emmy. Since then he’s produced, directed, and edited so many crucial stories including the Peabody award-winning I’ll Make Me a World: Stories of African-American Artists and Community" and Spike Lee’s "If God Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise" for HBO. 

Sam Pollard's resume is extensive with over 100 credits as a producer, director and editor. His latest project is the film "MLK/FBI" that takes a deep dive into the contemptuous relationship between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and  FBI Director J Edgar Hoover’s efforts to stop the civil rights movement.

Hair and makeup is an essential part of how we look at a film. It helps us to visually capture the character – encapsulating the overall look of them and the memorable moments that we see them in. Whether it’s a young woman going on her first date; An African king fighting to save his throne, or a family fighting to survive the unknown. We remember them from top to bottom including their hair. To help understand what goes into hairstyling for film, I only had to speak to one person Camille Friend. Camille is an award-winning hairstylist who has worked in the industry in both TV and Film for over 20 years. She has worked on some of the past decades most iconic and block buster films. Check out a few projects she has worked on. 8 Mile,  Ray, Coach Carter, Dream Girls, The Help, The Hangover, Django Unchained, Black Panther, The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1, House of Lies, Glass, The Hateful Eight, and Us  - and that’s just the tip of the iceberg!

Recently I had the pleasure to chat with Camille via Skype to discuss the hair business, how she got started and what it takes to make it in the industry. 

Check out Camille’s IMDB page to see her complete filmography and if you are interested in learning more about Camille’s Hair Scholars classes, visit her website at www.hairscholars.com or visit the programs' Facebook or Instagram page. 

When watching a film its easy to pick out the craft of the actors, or the vision of the director. We can even deep dive into the lens of the cinematographer and music composer. But actually when we look at a film the one person we see and don’t see is the film editor. As a journalist, I know first hand how important it is to have an editor put their eyes on my work and fine tune it—and for film, this is no different. 

Terilyn Shropshire is an award-winning film editor with over twenty years experience working in both film and television. She has worked on films including Eve’s Bayou, Love & Basketball, Sparkle, Beyond the Lights, and the Secret Life of Bees. She has also worked on television series Quantico, Cloak & Dagger, and most recently the award winning Netflix series, When they See Us. 

I spoke with Terilyn recently via Skype to discuss her role as a film editor, her projects, and  her movie making process.