City Girls, Book Releases, and Trailers

I don't know what happened last week.  I went to Atlanta, Georgia for my family reunion so I wrote my post before I left.  I thought I had scheduled it to publish on Monday.  Imagine my surprise when I checked and it wasn't there. 

I was going to use it for this week, but I decided not to do that.  Too many things have happened that I'd like to share. 

I worked on a few projects this past week.  One of them is for Wounded Women Win founded by Minister LaSonya Clark-Bellman to help women recover, learn from, and triumph over the pain of the past.  Her story is amazing and it was really hard to choose which parts to use and condense into a minute and 30 seconds.  I will be working on additional pieces for this group in the near future.  I'm truly grateful to be a part of this much needed organization.  

I am still in pre-production for my new project, City Girls.  It's about five college friends who have managed to maintain their close friendship since singing together in the choir in college.  The ladies go through some good times and bad times but they manage to stay friends and support each other through their trials and tribulations.  There is drama, humor, and singing throughout. 

I finally cast the fifth and final singer/actress for City Girls.  These five young ladies are so talented!  They can really sing!  I am going to do some rewriting so they can really showcase their abilities.  We are going to have our first rehearsal this weekend.  I am so excited.  My director is the bomb too.  I'll tell you about him some time in the near future.  I'll be posting pictures and maybe some video too.

Things are going really well with Red Remote.  I look forward to Wednesday nights and working with the Red Remote team down at UDetroit Cafe.  I love working on this show.  The hosts, Carlos and Ashley, are great, the production team has it together, and we have some of the best guests.  This week one of the guest will be author, Monica L. Jones.  She'll be discussing her new book, and her event at the Franklin Athletic Club this weekend. 

Ashley Elise and Carlos Mayes
Co-host of Red Remote 

I have been thoroughly enjoying The Love Phobia.  The stars, Carlos Mayes and Aaron Toland, II are gifted actors.  I watched episode 2.  Even though it has a lot of profanity, I am enjoying the series.  It is interesting and I am looking forward to seeing what happens in episode 3 on August 5th.  I'm hoping B, Damien's girlfriend, gets herself together and leaves him for good.  It doesn't make sense to stay in a relationship where you are unhappy.  Men and women need to realize that and stop thinking that having someone that isn't right for you is better than being alone.  There's nothing wrong with being alone, and just because you are alone doesn't mean you have to be lonely. 

This weekend I will be going to the premiere for Why Do Men Cheat?  I have been hearing about this movie for several months now and it's finally time to go check it out.  I have been told by a couple of the cast members that this is going to be the best film premiere this summer.  I have no intentions of missing it.  

Middle of Nowhere was written and directed by Ava DuVernay.  She won the Best Director award for this film at the Sundance Film Festival this year.  She is the first black woman to win Best Director at Sundance.  I am so proud of this sister.  This is inspirational for me to keep on going and working towards my dream.

Thank you for allowing me to share a part of my world with you.  
Please leave a comment and share with your friends.

April

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T-shirts, Cookies, and Music

I accomplished quite a bit over the past week.  Writing my first post was a major accomplishment for me.  Thanks to all of the people who encouraged and supported me.  And a big thank you to all of you who read it.  

I finally came to a decision about the design of the T-shirts for "Waffles".  I know DeLano (the owner of Righteous Cre8sons) is glad that I made up my mind.  He's been very patient with me through this process.  I had an idea of what I wanted but that involved too many colors (each color is a different screen which means more money).  He is really working with me so I can get something I want at a price I can afford.  Now I need to get the money together so I can have them ready to distribute to my cast and crew for the screening, which will be sometime near the end of next month.  I have my fingers and toes crossed that editing will be finished soon.  

This is not me

I should have had my fingers crossed when I tried to make these cookies.  I'm trying to have creative and interesting snacks for the screening.  Someone suggested Waffle cookies.  Great idea.  I know my way around the kitchen and I make excellent cookies. This shouldn't be too hard.  I found a recipe.  Usually, I make a few changes to a recipe but this time I didn't.  Also, cookie dough can be "sensitive", changing the recipe can be dangerous.  It was an easy recipe and I had my little guy assisting me.  I have never made cookies on a waffle iron before, so I followed the directions exactly as they were written.  Soon, we were ready to drop the dough on the hot waffle iron.  

This is what I expected

This is what I got

I ended up with a pile of crumbs.  They tasted pretty good.  My assistants and other household members ate all the crumbs so all I need to work on is my cooking technique.  I have an idea of what went wrong so I am going to make a few modifications and try again.  I'm expecting better results, next time.  I'm determined to have cute, delicious, waffle shaped cookies for my screening.  

My friend, Lamar Anthem, brought me over an advanced copy of his soon to be released CD.  He's using my photos for the front and back covers.  I'm super excited about that.  I'll also be working on his video for "Next to Me", the first single from the album.  We talked about his concept for the video and we'll most likely be shooting some footage for it at his Release Party on July 29th.  Click here to listen to the single.

I want to encourage you to support The Love Phobia, a new web series about the battle of the sexes.  Episode 1 introduces the characters.  It's under 10 minutes long so I won't say more than that.  I am looking forward to watching episode 2, which according to my sources, will be up and ready to view on July 22nd.  From, what I've seen so far, and from what I've heard through the grapevine, it should be a really good series with some interesting and unexpected things happening.  

Thank you for allowing me to share a part of my world with you.  
Please leave a comment and share with your friends.

April

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Jumping in the Deep End

Welcome to my blog.  This is my first post and already I have gone through enough changes to give me another patch of gray hair.  I finally decided to actually enter this world of blogging after a big push by Sylvia Hubbard (I've been attending her workshops on Social Media for Authors and Business and she says I need a blog).  One of the hardest part of starting this blog was trying to come up with a name.  I consider myself a creative person so choosing a name should not have been as difficult as it was.  I changed my mind at least 50 times.  I'm still not sure I made the right decision.  Oh well, too late now.  

So, I named my blog Anything and Everything Film because I am a filmmaker and I love almost everything about films.  That doesn't mean I love every film.  However, I do appreciate the amount of work it takes to make a film.  My friend Royce once said, "It takes a lot of work to make a film.  Even a bad one."   I totally agree with that.  There are so many things that can go wrong during the process of making a film that can turn your wonderful film into a less than stellar piece of work. (I'll be discussing some of these things in future posts.)

I love going to the theater and watching a movie on the big screen with the sound coming at me from all directions loud and clear.  As much as I love watching movies in the theater, I rarely get to enjoy the experience because my "real" life tends to require too much of my time.  My real life includes my two sons, affectionately referred to as "my eldest" and "my little guy".  In addition to my boys requiring so much of my real life attention, I also have my sister, my brother, my mom, "the girl" (she's not my daughter but I'm somewhat responsible for her), Bookie (my not grand baby and that is pronounced Boo-key not Book-ee), Niecy Pooh Pooh (she's not my biological niece), and other relatives and friends who are nameless right now but depending upon circumstances might be named in future posts.  

I also love reading and writing.  Reading has been one of my favorite pastimes since I can remember.  My mother says I learned how to read at the age of three.  I have memories of taking my books with me every time I left the house.  I treated my books like other kids treated their dolls, stuffed animals, and blankets. 

Writing is a relatively new passion.  I write screenplays, short stories, magazine articles, and eventually I am going to get a novel written, sooner than later.   Writing releases tension and stress for me.  I get ideas from everyday occurrences.  Sometimes the smallest thing will inspire me.  Yesterday, something that seemed insignificant kept replaying in my head.  I finally figured out a way to incorporate it into a story.  I stayed up all night writing it down because I didn't want to forget.  That happens a lot, the staying up all night because I have to write or finish writing something.  I love writing more than sleep, and sleeping is a wonderful thing to me.  

My experience includes being part of the editing team on a feature film, an associate producer on an award winning short film, a production assistant and associate producer on a Internet television show, several positions on various independent films, and even a few minor acting roles.  Currently, I am working with a summer media arts program, a live web cast entertainment show, "Waffles" my first short film, is in the final stages of post-production, and I'm in pre-production for my next film, "City Girls". 

I will be posting regularly about film, web series, television, writing, and other things that inspire, motivate, and catch my attention.  

Thank you for allowing me to share a part of my world with you.  
Please leave a comment and share with your friends.

April

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To learn more about "Waffles" or to see photos click here