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Office Hours: Get Help On Your Project

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

On Tues. October 15th at 4 PM ET, chat with BTFC Board Member, Emmy-nominated producer and director Okema T. Moore about your project! During Office Hours we do our best to offer insight and feedback that can help push you 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 projects and ideas, so that you’re better equipped to move them forward. It’s all-time well spent.

NOTE: 40-minute slots will be assigned on a first RSVP basis. A Zoom link and 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.

 

About Okema T. Moore

 

Okema T. Moore is an EMMY nominated, PGA producer as well as a director, writer and actor. She has worked on projects for OWN, Netflix, FOX, Food Network, TLC and more. Most recently she produced on BET’s Klutch Academy, Showran and Directed BRIC TV’s first late-night talk show and was featured in Variety Magazine speaking on the need for Black Producers to have access to finances to support their work. Okema serves on the board of both NY Women in Film & TV and The Black TV & Film Collective and has committed to lifting while she climbs these industry ladders.

 

This event is exclusive to BTFC MEMBERS ONLY.

Members, make sure to use your code to access this event!

Interested in becoming a member? Visit www.blacktvfilmcollective.org/join

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The BTFC Presents The Download LIVE in New York

*Seats are limited. No tickets will be sold at the door. Vaccination required, masks are optional*.

On Friday, October 28th at 4:00 PM ET, join us for another edition of The Download LIVE at the Urbanworld Film Festival in New York City!

The BTFC and the Urbanworld Film Festival are partnering up to host a conversation that highlights the multiverse of paths creatives can take to build a career in TV & Film. 

Meet Our Moderator

Okema T. Moore is an Emmy Nominated, PGA producer and rising director. She produced the narrative 2019 ABFF winner Little Apple, and The Future is Then, which was a Tribeca N.O.W. 2019 selection. She has directed and produced branded content for clients including Lifetime, Netflix, Nickelodeon, DreamWorks, FOX, and Disney/Marvel. Her most recent work includes docs The Color of Care (OWN), UNLADYLIKE (PBS/American Masters) and Klutch Academy (BET), as well as culinary hits The Kitchen and Beat Bobby Flay (Food Network). She Showran and Directed her first series in 2021, Hella Late! with Hollie Harper (BRIC TV), and was a finalist in this year’s Blackhouse Producer’s Lab, as well as a semifinalist Stowe Story Lab Diverse Voices Fellowship, the Commercial Diversity Director’s Program and The Sundance Producer’s Track for 2022. In 2021 Okema was a Fellow for Minority in FILM’s inaugural 2021 Branded Lab for directors while helping to run the Black TV & Film Collective’s Black Producer Fellowship. Okema serves on the boards of both The Black TV & Film Collective Board of Directors and NY Women in Film & TV and is committed to continuing to lift while she climbs to build up womxn, queer, IPOC and Black creatives.

Meet Our Panelists

Luis G. Santos

Luis G. Santos was born and raised in the Bronx, NY to a hustler business-man Father and a white-collar worker Mother who’s a closeted writer. As a child, Luis observed his father’s strong business acumen by day, & snuck around the house to find his mother’s beautiful-yet-hidden writings at night. This juxtaposition is what sparked Luis’ obsession with developing a strong business sense and his never-ending dedication to perfecting his artistic craft.

While writing & directing his own short films in hopes of developing projects for TV & FILM, Luis climbed the corporate ladder – starting an internship at 72&sunny and later producing at Mother NY, McCan, & VEVO. This collection of experiences has helped Luis attain a deep understanding of how to excel as a director, writer, and producer in Film, TV, & Commercial productions while also enabling him to properly understand the corporate structure firsthand. Luis has also carved a lane for himself in the Music & Live entertainment spaces, directing work for artists such as Future, Jessie Reyes, Pusha T, Latto, & many more.

Artesia Balthrop

For over a decade, Brooklyn‐bred film/television/video producer Artesia Balthrop has racked up a laundry list of credits working on a variety of projects at flagship media brands like VH1 (Hip Hop Honors, Storytellers, The Great Debate), Bravo (Kandi Factory), TLC (Next Great Baker); E! (Kourtney and Kim Take New York); Essence magazine’s award-winning website ESSENCE.com, and with JAY-Z on his award nominated YouTube channel, Life + Times. Her present works finds line producing for Comedy Central’s Hell Of A Week w Charlamagne Tha God and Eyes On The Prize (HBO). She has also Executive Produced the independent short African BootyScratcher (2008, dir. Nikyatu Jusu); which premiered at the American Black Film Festival and was licensed by HBO for their Black history month collection. She also produced the viral documentary Where I’m From on JAY Z’s inaugural concert series to open the Barclays Arena. Ms. Balthrop attended Duke University, where she majored in Public Policy. In her teens, she learned to embrace key Quaker values like simplicity, equality and community by attending The Brooklyn Friends School. She now imbues her visual projects with similar ideals, and is a staunch proponent of using film and television as a storytelling tool.

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].

Interested in becoming a member? Sign up for our BTFC Membership!

*Seats are limited. No tickets will be sold at the door. Vaccination required, masks are optional*.

BACK TO NEWS & EVENTS

Office Hours: Get Help On Your Project

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

Chat with BTFC Board Member and writer, director, and Emmy-nominated producer (UnladyLike 2020) Okema T. Moore about your project! During Office Hours we do our best to offer insight and feedback that can help push you 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 projects and ideas, so that you’re better equipped to move them forward. It’s all-time well spent.

NOTE: 40-minute slots will be assigned on a first RSVP basis. A Zoom link and 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.

 

About Okema T. Moore

 

Okema T. Moore is an EMMY nominated, PGA producer as well as a director, writer and actor. She has worked on projects for OWN, Netflix, FOX, Food Network, TLC and more. Most recently she produced on BET’s Klutch Academy, Showran and Directed BRIC TV’s first late-night talk show and was featured in Variety Magazine speaking on the need for Black Producers to have access to finances to support their work. Okema serves on the board of both NY Women in Film & TV and The Black TV & Film Collective and has committed to lifting while she climbs these industry ladders.

 

This event is exclusive to BTFC MEMBERS ONLY.

Members, make sure to use your code to access this event!

Interested in becoming a member? Visit www.blacktvfilmcollective.org/join

BACK TO NEWS & EVENTS

The Download feat. Janine Sherman Barrois, “Kings of Napa,” “Claws”

On Thurs. February 10th at 4:30PM PT | 7:30PM ET, join us 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 features a one-on-one conversation on the foundations of becoming a working showrunner and building a career on your terms featuringJanine Sherman Barrois, an award-winning writer and showrunner under an exclusive multi-year deal with Warner Bros. to create and develop new series.

Barrois was an Executive Producer on all four seasons of Claws, the hit TNT dramedy starring Niecy Nash, and was the Showrunner for the first three seasons. In addition, she was the Co-Showrunner and Executive Producer of Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam CJ Walker, the award-winning Netflix limited series starring Oscar-winning actress Octavia Spencer.

Currently, Barrois is the Creator/Showrunner of the highly anticipated The Kings of Napa, a drama about an influential family who runs one of the most prestigious Black-owned vineyards in the world. The show premieres on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network at the beginning of 2022. Barrois has numerous other projects in various stages of development at Showtime, Apple and HBO Max.

We will also feature BTFC members who will have an opportunity to take a seat at the table with Janine and ask her questions and advice.

Meet Our Moderator

Avril Speaksis serving as our moderator for this insightful conversation. Avril Speaks has been carving out her path as a bold, innovative content creator for several years, not only as a producer and director but also during her former days as a professor at Howard University. Avril produced the award-winning film Jinn, which premiered in Narrative Competition at SXSW and won Special Jury Recognition for Writing. Jinn gained distribution through MGM/Orion Classics and continues to be seen throughout the world. She has also produced several films including Hosea and the upcoming comedy Dotty & Soul, starring Leslie Uggams, Gary Owen, David Koechner and Margot Bingham.

Avril’s latest projects include the South African film African America, which was recently nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding International Motion Picture and is currently streaming on Netflix, and the docu-series Black America Is…Currently, Avril serves as Director and Showrunner/EP of the upcoming docu-series Uprooted: The Untold Keith Warren Story, which will air on Discovery+.

A Seat at the Table

This conversation will also feature screenwriters Olu Odebunmi and Tolu Awosika. Olu and Tolu are currently in the writer’s room for their original series ZULU. The show was picked up straight-to-series at Showtime off of their pilot script.  Antoine Fuqua will EP the series along with Propagate and Spencer Medof. It will shoot later this year. They served as Executive Story Editors on the upcoming Amazon series THE TERMINAL LIST, which stars Chris Pratt. The pilot was directed by Antoine Fuqua. They previously wrote on both seasons of the upcoming AMC series 61st STREET, from creator Peter Moffat and producer Michael B. Jordan. In features, they recently wrote A WHITE LIE for Tristar and Hello Sunshine, with Zoe Kravitz set to star. They previously wrote the psychological thriller ORIGINS for Paramount and Bad Robot. 

Their upbringing as children of first-generation immigrants, both having lived in Nigeria during their formative years, influences the unique views and sensibilities they bring to their stories.

A Seat at the Table

We will also feature BTFC members who will have an opportunity to take a seat at the table with Janine and ask her questions and advice.

Okema T. Mooreis an EMMY nominated, PGA producer as well as a director, writer and actor. She has worked on projects for OWN, Netflix, FOX, Food Network, TLC and more. Most recently she produced on BET’s Klutch Academy, Showran and Directed BRIC TV’s first late-night talk show and was featured in Variety Magazine speaking on the need for Black Producers to have access to finances to support their work. Okema serves on the board of both NY Women in Film & TV and The Black TV & Film Collective and has committed to lifting while she climbs these industry ladders.

As the Executive Producer & Director at third & wonder production house,Diamonde Williamsonis responsible for developing, producing and directing nonfiction formats for and about Black women. Formats include, documentary series, documentaries, competition shows and branded content.

Over the last 10 years, she’s worked with brands like Amazon, CNBC Make It, Essence and Google and networks like OWN, USA and TVOne while continuing to develop and execute creative unscripted formats and stories for entrepreneurs, brands and networks.

Yhá Mourhia Wright is a multi-hyphenate artist from San José, CA. In May 2016, she graduated with her MFA in Acting from the Actors Studio Drama School. Upon graduation, she founded her production company, YháWright Productions, and developed the company’s first original series, #LoveMyRoomie now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. She has produced for MadameNoire and interviewed beloved talent such as Kim Fields, Robin Givens, Dawn-Lyen Gardner, Ester Dean, and Emil Wilbekin.

Additional Credits Include Spot A True Period Piece (Short Film, Producer, Assistant Director); Pillow Talk streaming on BET+ (Supporting); It Stays Here (Short Film, Writer/Producer); The Basement (LABryinth Theater Company, Writer). Yhá Mourhia recently completed her first short film, Don’t Be Desperate, slated to release in 2022. Her most recent podcast, Inside Out Podcast, can be found on iHeart Radio, Spotify, and Apple Podcast.

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

 

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

Members, don’t forget to use your code for your discount on admission to events!