Just returned home from a whirlwind trip to Miami Beach to attend the American Black Film Festival. Our film A Mother’s Intuition was one of the spotlight screenings shown at the festival.
It was my first time attending ABFF and it was such an incredible experience to network with fellow screenwriters and filmmakers who are hustling to bring their dreams to life and tell authentic Black stories. Representation matters.
I caught a screening of The Blackening, which is a hilarious Juneteenth comedy-horror film directed by Tim Story. I had the pleasure of meeting co-writer Tracy Oliver (Girls Trip, Harlem) at the Lionsgate Creative Connect. I ran into Cas Sigers-Beedles, our director of A Mother’s Intuition, at the mixer and we headed to the TV One party later that night.
It was so great mingling with our stars Denise Boutte, Brely Evans, Hazel Renee and Jeff Marcheletta at the Lionsgate event, as well as seeing Errol Sadler from Supremacy/TyCor Films and Dr. Holly Carter, Angela Shin and Keesha Brickhouse from Releve, producers of our film. I’m super proud and humbled by everyone’s hard work on the project. TV One and Releve have really championed A Mother’s Intuition, which will air July 23 on TV One.
My mom accompanied me to ABFF and attended the screening of A Mother’s Intuition. I was so happy that she got an opportunity to see her daughter’s dream become a reality. As I sat in the darkened theater waiting for the movie to begin, I felt so nervous. I’m not sure what I expected. I’m grateful to our director Cas and director of photography Josh Maas for bringing the story of the troubled sculptor Toni Lane to life with compassion and intensity.
It was surreal to see my name in the credits, the first of many more projects. My goal as a screenwriter is to put meaningful work into the world that empowers, entertains and enlightens. I hope I accomplished this with A Mother’s Intuition.