THE LA WEB FEST WAS AWESOME!!!

What an phenomenal experience we had at the LA WebFest 2011!

I’m proud to say that the Brown Betties Guide: How to Look for Love in All the Wrong Places is now an award-winning webseries!!!!

Peppur Chambers and I arrived at the festival on Sunday in time to mingle with a few people before we went in to speak on the panel “How We Made Our Web Series.” It was so inspiring to be on the “other side of the table” talking about a project I’d directed, produced and co-written. We were in great company. The other panelists included former EP and showrunner of Quantum Leap, Deborah Pratt and her producer Lana Bettencourt, who discussed how they made their sci-fi series Warrior One. The wonderful director Tony Clomax and his equally wonderful producer Emelyn Stuart, whose project 12 Steps to Recovery was fantastic and funny! Also on the panel, former commercial director Tim Devitt, whose project Not! was in the festival. Comedian Andy Lazarus spoke about his hilarious series Man-Teen and Brian Ross, who’s drama Big Country Blues did big things at the festival!

It was interesting that everyone on the panel with the exception of one team, shot on Canon 7D or Canon 5D (we shot on both!) Some people had large budgets of up to $20,000 per episode or for their full series.. Peppur and I have shot 4 episodes on less than 500 bucks total. But the great thing is—you can’t tell the difference because the quality is there! I’m so very proud. As I mentioned on the panel, the biggest thing for me with these webisodes was having a change in my mental processing.

Given my background in film and TV, I at first was hesitant to put something on the web or youtube, because you find so many people have access to a camera and just throw anything up there! But I realized, with all of this new technology, combined with my skills and creativity and a wonderful team to work with, you can do quality work that you’re proud of! Once I realized that I didn’t need a gigantic crew to get the series done, I was all in. I had my own professional light kit, we had access to a camera, I had the experience and skills to direct and oversee the final cut in post. That combined with a great producing and writing partner in Peppur Chambers—who created the Brown Betties Guide.

Still the shoots were difficult, we had no crew except me and Peppur and the occasional PA/friend. We had to remain organized, make sure we casted correctly, that scripts were printed, that, make sure we had props. It was difficult sometimes switching gears from producer, to Production Assistant, to Camera woman to Director to Coordinator--but we did it!

After the panel was the screening. Yemi, the creator of our music soundtrack and theme song joined us for the screening!

There’s nothing like people laughing in the places they’re supposed to! It was the best experience EVER!!!! We were floating with excitement after our series was well-received by the audience. And we had no idea what was in store for us later at the awards ceremony.

It started with the announcement that Peppur Chambers won for Outstanding Supporting Actress! I screamed like a fool. But that was only the beginning! Here’s the list of the awards we won last night:

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN COMEDY SERIES (YASMINE RICHARD)
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN COMEDY SERIES (PEPPUR CHAMBERS)
OUTSTANDING WRITING IN A COMEDY SERIES (PEPPUR CHAMBERS & MORENIKE EFUNTADE EVANS)
OUTSTANDING DIRECTING IN A COMEDY SERIES (MORENIKE EFUNTADE EVANS)
OUTSTANDING THEME SONG IN A COMEDY SERIES (YEMI ADEGBONMIRE AKA EMMI DEBEAU)
OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES (PEPPUR CHAMBERS/CREATOR & PRODUCER AND MORENIKE EFUNTADE EVANS/PRODUCER)

UNBELIEVABLE!!! We’re still recovering from it all!

I wanted to share some of the inside story with you and encourage you to check out ALL of the series in the festival at www.lawebfest.com

This is a revolution. It really is. Producer and Directors and Writers able to tell their own stories and get them out to their audience….

With that in mind, I invite you to check out our lastest episode of the Brown Betties Guide. Tip #1—Be The Last One at the Party!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEvz9dV4auE

Follow the entire series and learn more about the women behind it at www.BrownBettiesGuide.com

Laughs, Hugs & Blessings!

THE BROWN BETTIES GUIDE WEBSERIES!

In April of 2010, I began collaborating with a group of fabulous women, my LA support group that we affectionately call BGRLA--Black Girls Rule LA!!! We meet monthly (if we can) and just catch up on what's going on in our lives, discuss our goals and projects, and support one another along the way.

Well one of the women, Peppur Chambers, has a caberet show called Harlem's Night which features the sexy, sassy and sultry Brown Betties. She wrote the show and then wrote a funny book called The Brown Betties Guide: How to Look for Love in all the Wrong Places! BGRLA realized that it would be great for all of us to make this book into a webseries! I was called in to direct and shoot. Our girl Yasmine Richard provided the kick-ass Canon 7D camera, the location and her fantastic acting skills. Yemi Adegbonmire hooked up the soundtrack for the series, including the memorable theme song, and it was on!

We've been working tirelessly to get this project completed while we do our "day" jobs. We had just begun post production on a few of the episodes when I became aware of the LA Web Festival. I sent the Festival Director, Michael Ajakwe a link to our rough cut and he loved it and suggested we submit. Well, here we are, weeks later and not only has The Brown Betties Guide been accepted into the festival, Peppur and I are speaking on a panel about it!

So excited to do creative, funny and positive projects with such talented people. You can find more information on the Brown Betties Guide at our website.

www.BrownBettiesGuide.com

And here's the link to the debut of our latest episode: Tip #1, BE THE LAST ONE AT THE PARTY!!!! ENJOY!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEvz9dV4auE


Will let you know how the festival went! Stay tuned!