Tag: quincy ledbetter

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The BTFC presents ScreenCraft Works Mentoring Program Info Session

On Friday, July 22nd at 11:00 AM PT | 2:00 PM ET, join us for a virtual informational session with ScreenCraft Works International Mentoring Program for Film, TV and online work.

We will be discussing the program, the requirements and how to apply! RSVP to get more information and see how you can advance your film and TV career on an international scale!

If you’re looking for a mentor in the Film & TV industry this info session is for you!

About ScreenCraft Works

ScreenCraft Works International Mentoring Scheme provides structured career development with an international outlook, to enrich careers in film, TV and online work.

A not-for-profit career, learning and advocacy network, ScreenCraft Works matches under-represented production and post-production talent with international mentors, to share knowledge and experience, widen employment and peer-to-peer networks and bring new cultural perspectives to the mentoring groups’ local and international co-productions.

Meet Our Panelists

Elizabeth McIntyre is Co-Director of SCREENCRAFT WORKS, a career, learning and advocacy network supporting under-represented ‘behind-the-camera’ talent for a culture-shift in local and international film, TV & online production.

With a career across conference, exhibition, commissioning and documentary filmmaking, Elizabeth’s work includes curation for OKRE, a Wellcome Trust-supported story ideas platform, and consultancy for ProQuote Film Berlin (UK and Irish speakers). Previous positions include Director of Sheffield Doc/Fest, Head of Masterschool Documentary Campus and Head of Production & Development (UK Factual) for Discovery Networks International, where she commissioned single films and series for local and global markets, including You Have Been Warned, The Great White Silence and Inside the Gangsters’ Code. Documentary credits include The Lost Children of Berlin for Steven Spielberg, Dangerous Love (BBC), No Place Like Home (BBC) and Five Steps to Tyranny (BBC).

Advisory roles include UK Muslim Film and, formerly BAFTA TV/Learning, Inclusion & Talent committees and WFTV trustee. She contributes to mentoring and masterclass programmes such as Wonder Women and ScreenSkills. Elizabeth is based in Germany and the UK.

Rebecca Del Tufo’s career spans film, law, and charity governance, with a focus on cinema exhibition, conference and learning. Rebecca began her career as a solicitor in a City law firm, specialising in international corporate litigation, working in the UK and Hong Kong, before joining and helping establish a start-up law firm. She then developed a new corporate relations role at the University of Cambridge’s Business School, supporting international students in their career choices and working with companies to organise business projects and speaker events.

Rebecca led the team which set up the successful independent cinema Saffron Screen, for many years running and programming the cinema, giving her a deep knowledge of the industry. She has spoken at conferences about aspects of cinema exhibition and hosted Q&As with a range of industry talent including many in ‘behind-the-camera’ roles. She is now combines freelance film production with exhibition roles.

Rebecca is a trustee of the charity Refugees at Home and chair of theatre-in-education charity TIC Box Productions.

Prince May, a mentee of the ScreenCraft Works Program, is an assistant editor working in HETV and short films, with a focus on drama. Prince has participated in a range of schemes to gain knowledge of the film and TV industry such as the workshop with Signature Pictures and the BBC training scheme. Prince went to college to study animation but discovered film as he was studying and fell in love with editing, which he then pursued as his career. Later he attended and studied film practice at South Bank University in London, UK.

Growing up, he attended a youth centre where he could edit and create his own stories. In his free time, he mentored children in the same centre. During the Covid pandemic, he went online and taught himself some VFX. Prince May has recently worked as an assistant editor on TV shows such as The Watch, The Fear Index and Three Pines.

#MakeYourWork

Join us for this informational session and expand your film career on an international scale. Get the knowledge and inspiration you need to Make Your Work! RSVP today! 

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

Questions? Contact [email protected].

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Deep Focus: Distribution & Festivals

On Thurs. July 7th at 5:00 PM PT | 8:00 PM ET, join us for our new hands-on virtual workshop series DEEP FOCUS! We’re partnering with Distribution Advocates, a movement to reclaim the means of distribution for independent storytellers, to discuss navigating distribution and strategizing festival season.

Deep Focus

Deep Focus is a workshop series centered on filmmaking from acting to cinematography and distribution. In these exclusive workshops, experts teach hands-on techniques coupled with a segment for Q & A and workbooks as takeaways. Those who are unable to attend can take advantage of a replay accessed from our Black TV & Film Collective library.

About Distribution Advocates

Distribution Advocates works to collectively reclaim power for independent storytellers in the current systems of distribution and exhibition. We are a coalition-in-formation striving to advocate for filmmakers and maintain plurality and originality in a culture that needs it more than ever. We fight for radical transparency, rebalancing entrenched inequities and blazing a new, more interesting, accessible and inclusive way forward.

Meet Our Moderator

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 at SXSW and won Special Jury Recognition for Writing. Jinn gained distribution through MGM/Orion Classics and continues to be seen throughout the world. Avril has also produced several films including Hosea and the upcoming comedy Dotty & Soul, starring Leslie Uggams, Gary Owen and David Koechner.

Her latest projects include the NAACP Image Award nominated film African America, which is available on Netflix, and the docu-series Black America Is…, which has received support from The Blackhouse Producer’s Lab, the CNN/Film Independent Docu-Series Intensive, and the Kettering Foundation. Most recently, Avril was the Showrunner and Director of the docu-series Uprooted: The Untold Keith Warren Story, which is available on Discovery+. Currently, Avril is the producer of the feature film Pure, which is based on the short film streaming on HBO Max.

Avril has been selected for producing labs with Film Independent, Sundance, IFP, Rotterdam and Cannes, was a 2020 Sundance Momentum Fellow, and is currently a 2022 recipient of the Dear Producer Award. She is also a member of Distribution Advocates and is part of the Executive Committee for the newly formed Producer’s Union.

Meet our Panelists

Whitney Skauge is an award-winning filmmaker dedicated to diverse storytelling and representation. They are Vice President of Development at two-time Oscar-nominated Breakwater Studios, dedicated to the craft of the short documentary. Their debut short film, produced by Breakwater Studios, premiered at SXSW and was distributed by LA Times Short Docs in 2021. Their films act as an extension of social and political activism with hopes of helping audiences understand themselves and the world around them better.

Quincy Ledbetter is a filmmaker, musician, and artist from Brooklyn, New York, by way of Woodbridge, Virginia. As a self-taught jack of all trades, Quincy excels in writing, directing, editing, cinematography, and music composition. He’s made films for notable organizations such as BET, PARAMOUNT PLAYERS, NPR, TIME, COLOR OF CHANCE, MASHABLE, MIC.com, HUFFPOST, VOX, and THE NEW YORK TIMES. His work in media has garnered two Edward R. Murrow Awards (2018 and 2021), a ASME Ellie Award for News Documentary (2018), an Emmy Nomination for Short Format Daytime Program (2017), and two Webby Awards (2016 and 2021).

Quincy is the inaugural winner of BET’s Project CRE8 competition through which he received a one-million-dollar budget to write, direct, and compose the score for his first feature film, ALIEU THE DREAMER. His most recent short film, THE BLACK DISQUISITION, has been accepted into 16 film festivals, has won two awards for Best Narrative Animated Short Film, and one for Best Director.

In 2021, Quincy and his partner Yuki Maekawa-Ledbetter founded their production company, ML-NEBULA.

#MakeYourWork

Join us for Deep Focus: Distribution & Festivals 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!

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Breaking Into Directing

On Thursday, Aug. 5th at 7 PM ET; join us for an interactive conversation on breaking into directing whether it be film, television, digital – or commercial.

 

Did you start out as a Writer? An Actor? Maybe you were on a tight budget so you directed your own short or series. No matter what your journey may look like, many of us find ourselves in the lauded Director’s chair.

This panel will be moderated by Daytime Emmy nominated Filmmaker, Dui Jarrod (“King Ester,” Issa Rae Productions) featuring Okema T. Moore (Creative Director/Producer, OWN; Netflix, Fox, BET),  Stacey Muhammad (Director, “Queen Sugar,” “First Wives Club,” “Being Mary Jane”), and Quincy G. Ledbetter (Director, 2021 Webby Award Winner “Alieu the Dreamer”).

Our discussion will be followed by an audience Q&A – see you there! 

 

ABOUT DUI JARROD

Dui Jarrod is a Daytime Emmy nominated & award-winning screenwriter, director, and playwright residing in Brooklyn, NY best known for BROOKLYN. BLUE. SKY. It is the first acquired web series for BET Networks after winning the Xfinity Best Web Series Award at the American Black Film Festival. His new series, “King Ester” has been nominated for 4 Day-time Emmy Awards. Jarrod’s work focuses on the power of human connection in the landscape of America. duijarrod.com 

 

ABOUT OKEMA T. MOORE

Okema T. Moore is a passionate multi-genre producer turned director who never thought she’d be here! Starting as an actor/singer, she found the roles for Black women stereotypical and monolithic and vowed to figure out ways to change that. Leaving a cushy finance job at 36 to start all over, she worked her a** off to become a PGA Producer and Creative Director working with the likes of OWN, Netflix, FOX, BET, TLC, and more. Okema is committed to proving that good stories come from all corners of life and deserve to be told by the most unlikely people! And as development becomes more and more her calling, she presently revels in bringing the ideas of these unlikely people to the masses. moorethanenuff.com 

 

ABOUT STACEY MUHAMMAD

New Orleans native Stacey Muhammad is a multi-hyphenate artist who has received rave reviews for her cinematic approach and distinctive style to storytelling and for creating emotionally charged character-driven stories. Since directing her first episode of TV on the groundbreaking series, Queen Sugar for OWN, she’s gone on to direct the season premiere and 2nd episode of Tracy Oliver’s First Wives Club for BET+ as well as episodes of the forthcoming Amazon series, HARLEM, starring Meagan Good and Whoopi Goldberg. She recently wrapped episodes of the forthcoming CBS / Paramount+ series, Guilty Party (starring Kate Beckinsale), and is currently directing two episodes of the second season of Love Life for HBO Max. 

Stacey is an alumnus of the esteemed Warner Brothers Directing workshop and was one of thirteen directors chosen by the Directors Guild of America and the Association of Independent Commercial Producers for the inaugural Commercial Director’s Diversity Program. She’s since gone on to direct three commercials for AARP. 

Stacey is currently in development with Malcolm D. Lee’s Blackmaled Productions on her first feature film titled, THE RETURN. staceymfilms.com

 

ABOUT QUINCY G. LEDBETTER

Quincy G. Ledbetter is a filmmaker, musician, photographer, and artist from Brooklyn, New York by way of Woodbridge, Virginia. As a self-taught jack of all trades, Quincy excels in writing, directing, editing, cinematography, and music composition. His work in digital media has won an Edward Murrow Award and an ASME Ellie Award for News Documentary (2018), an Emmy Nomination for Short Format Daytime Program (2017), and a Webby Award (2016 and 2021). Quincy has worked with notable organizations such as BET Networks, Paramount Players, NPR, Color of Change, Mashable, Mic.com, HuffPost, Vox, and The New York Times. qledbetter.com

 

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Building Your Network

On Thursday, Oct. 28th at 7:30 PM ET; join us for another conversation on directing – and this time, we’re talking about building your network – and netWORTH! 

Building your network can be trivial if you’re unsure where to start. Is film school still a better option than going the unorthodox route? How do you distinguish yourself – better yet, how do you even find your voice and brand in such a saturated market? We’re taking the guesswork and self-doubt out of your journey with this panel of creatives who have taken different paths in their journey – but all meet here at the BTFC Director’s Chair!

This panel will be moderated by award-winning filmmaker, musician, photographer, and artist, Quincy G. Ledbetter (Director, 2021 Webby Award Winner “Alieu the Dreamer”). Quincy will be joined by other multi-hyphenate creatives who have chartered unknown territory but are still Making Their Work! This panel features Denzel Whitaker (NAACP Award-Winning Actor & Filmmaker), Lisa Janae (Actor, Filmmaker & Founder of TERRA Visuals LLC), Craig T. Williams (Writer/Producer/Editor), and Yhá Mourhia Wright (Award-Winning Filmmaker & Actor, “#LoveMyRoomie”).

Our discussion will be followed by an audience Q&A – see you there and come ready to take notes!

 

ABOUT QUINCY G. LEDBETTER

Quincy G. Ledbetter is a filmmaker, musician, photographer, and artist from Brooklyn, New York by way of Woodbridge, Virginia. As a self-taught jack of all trades, Quincy excels in writing, directing, editing, cinematography, and music composition. His work in digital media has won an Edward Murrow Award and an ASME Ellie Award for News Documentary (2018), an Emmy Nomination for Short Format Daytime Program (2017), and a Webby Award (2016 and 2021). Quincy has worked with notable organizations such as BET Networks, Paramount Players, NPR, Color of Change, Mashable, Mic.com, HuffPost, Vox, and The New York Times.  qledbetter.com

 

ABOUT DENZEL WHITAKER

Born in Torrance, California, Denzel Whitaker is best known for his award-winning role in THE GREAT DEBATERS, performing opposite of his two namesakes, Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker. Numerous film and television shows list Denzel’s name including fan favorites: BLACK PANTHER, CUT THROAT CITY, BET’s ALIEU THE DEAMER, THE PURGE TV series, WARRIOR, U SHOOT VIDEOS?, and TRAINING DAY.In 2011, Denzel simultaneously began developing his skillset behind the camera as a filmmaker. Since then, he’s garnered millions of views in the music video space, worked 5 years at Cartoon Network on hits shows including BOONDOCKS and BLACK DYNAMITE, and is a published fashion photographer. His latest film ‘5150’, is an official selection at this year’s Hollyshorts Film Festival and Tribeca NOW Creators Market. Co-written and directed by Denzel, starring Jovan Adepo and executive produced by David Oyelowo, the film is currently being developed into a TV series. Denzel is a dynamic, young filmmaker with a unique voice and a burning desire to tell stories about people of color we haven’t seen before. View Denzel’s work

 

ABOUT LISA JANAE

 

Lisa Janae is a director, cinematographer, actor, and editor from Los Angeles, CA. She has most recently co-starred on CBS in the shows FBI: Most Wanted and Law and Order: Organized Crime. Lisa moves with intention and is drawn to create art centered in the black, LGBT+ cultural experience. She is a SONY Alpha Female+ grantee, and her film work behind the lens has been featured on Amazon, Hulu, TedED, AfroPunk, The Los Angeles Herald, and other outlets. terravisuals.com

 

 

ABOUT CRAIG T. WILLIAMS

Craig and his extraordinarily beautiful and patient wife are approaching their 20th wedding anniversary. They have a spirited 16-year-old son and they make their life in the heart of New York City. Craig serves on the Board of Directors of FilmShop, a Media Producers and Independent Filmmakers Collective. He is also a member of the Harlem Dramatic TV Writers Workshop and the Black TV and Film Collective. Craig is a screenwriting mentor for the Craft Institute, the Writers 50/50 Screenwriting Fellowship, and for Reel Works, a teen filmmaking program in Brooklyn. Craig’s one-hour TV pilot “How Ya Like Me Now”, about the 80’s rap rivalry between Kool Moe Dee and LL Cool J, won 2nd Place in the 2020 Page International Screenwriting Competition. It was also a finalist in the 2020 Film Independent Lab, 2020 Cinestory TV Retreat & Fellowship Competition, and the 2020 Stowe Story Lab Fellowship.  It was also selected for the 2019 IFP Episodic Lab. And was a finalist in both the Sundance 2019 Episodic Lab and the 2019 Tracking B TV Writing Competition. His feature screenplay “Hanging By A Thread” is about a man diagnosed with bipolar disorder who doesn’t believe in taking medication, but when he discovers his 11-year-old nephew has the same condition, he kidnaps his nephew to show him a life free of pills. This project will be directed by Rosalyn, Craig’s wife and it has Viola Davis attached as Executive Producer. “Allergic” a 30 minute comedy, won the ABFF/Turner best original 30-minute comedic pilot in 2018. It also made the 2nd round of Austin Film Festival. His latest 30-minute pilot “Call Me Daddy” about an emotionally stunted 40-year-old Black man, tired of waiting for Mrs. Right, who decides to have a baby on his own to be the father he never had,” has won praises from industry execs. He is currently working on a new Black family drama and a Christmas movie musical. Craig has traveled the world. He loves tennis and makes a kick-ass Mac and Cheese that has brought guests to their knees. redwallproductions.com

 

ABOUT YHÁ MOURHIA WRIGHT

Yhá Mourhia Wright is a bicoastal, 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. During her previous time as the Senior Video Producer for MadameNoire, she simultaneously led production for three digital shows: Listen to Black Women, In This Room, and Healthy Her.

Yhá Mourhia has had the pleasure to interview beloved talents 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). Her most recent podcast, Inside Out Podcast, can be found on iHeart Radio, Spotify, and Apple Podcast. She is currently the Programs Director of the Black TV & Film Collective. YhaWrightProductions.com

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