News

Exclusive: The Writer’s Colony is an LA-Based three month screenwriting residency where writers have the chance to develop an original script that showcases their writing voice and vision. Throughout the residency they workshop their scripts and have access to network with a variety of entertainment professionals at all levels to prepare them to launch into the industry. The residency is an opportunity for underrepresented writers, with cohorts made up of those who have not been on staff with a studio or been in a scripted television’s writers room. The goal of the colony is to amplify the voices of those who have not yet had the chance to bring their ideas to the page.

The spring cohort will include Duran Jones, who is building his independent film slate under his company Blk Mgc Content as a writer, producer and director. Dorado Quick, whose storytelling style has received international recognition from Cannes Lions,...

Exclusive: Luke Tennie (Shrinking) has boarded Oscar nom RaMell Ross’ feature The Nickel Boys, based on Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer-winning novel of the same name.

The film from MGM’s Orion Pictures is based on the true story of a Florida reform school that damaged the lives of thousands of children over more than a century. Its protagonist is Elwood Curtis, a Black boy growing up in 1960s Tallahassee who is unfairly sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called the Nickel Academy, then finding himself trapped in a grotesque chamber of horrors.

Tennie will play Griff, a student boxer at Nickel Academy. He joins an ensemble including Aunjanue Ellis, Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Hamish Linklater and Fred Hechinger. Ross and Louverture Films’ Joslyn Barnes adapted the screenplay. Plan B Entertainment, Anonymous Content and Barnes are producing, with Whitehead serving as exec producer.

Tennie will next be seen starring opposite Jason Segel...

In 2004, I remember hearing about the Guy Hanks and Marvin Miller writing program at USC School of Cinematic Arts. However, I never pursued my curiosity about the benefits of the program, yet I was intrigued.   Fast forward to 2012, and through various connections, I met the programs current African-American history and culture visiting professor Shahari Moore. It was through that meeting that I realized that she was both an assistant professor of African-american history, writing, and a new filmmaker. Her film, Swimmin' Lessons (trailer below) which she wrote, and co-directed with Christine List, will screen at the Cannes short film corner. ...