Don’t Stop Believin’ The musical
The small-town girl living in a lonely world and the city boy from south Detroit both get on trains at midnight…but what happens? They fall in love, of course!
I’ve told the story of these two youngsters having a fantastic love story told by all of journey’s greatest hits with a big twist: the entire cast is going to be Black and we’re going to repurpose all the songs so that they’re hip hop, funk, gospel, soul and more. Award-winning music producer and owner of Level 77 Music, Patrick Avard is already on board to repurpose the music.
Polly: Animated TV Series
Polly is a 30-minute animated TV series for adults (young and old) that showcases the interplay between adorable Polly, a 12-year- old girl, her 90-year-old bitch of a grandmother, and Kristy whose mind is home to both (created during the pandemic to ease anxiety and loneliness).
This dark comedy is meant to shed light on anxiety in a way people can laugh at! My hope is that after watching Polly people will realize that nasty old Granny is just a helpless old biddy who represents anxiety with her nasty negative thoughts. I think it’s going to help people to not take anxiety so seriously/to normalize it—especially helpful for the tweens who may be experiencing anxiety for the first time thanks to the pandemic.
The first episode is genius.
Kakoosh: Animated Feature
Kakoosh, a washing machine who’s been given to a junkyard when his owners go broke, must find a way back home or he’ll be dismantled by the evil junkyard manager.
What’s really unique about this project is that the idea was formed at the Atlanta Mission’s men’s shelter based on two residents’ imaginary friends.
One of them is a co-writer of the script and part of the production team.
There are many, many “life lessons” kids and adults alike can take away from this charming movie.
Sugar: Tv Series (drama)
Sugar, even as an infant, must use her special powers to connect to her real family. If she doesn’t she’ll never be able to reunite with them.
Sugar is a TV series about the ramifications of slave owners stealing a baby from two slaves told in present day with flashbacks of different generations highlighting some moments in history that will surprise many viewers.
It’s an extensive project that required years of research and used tools like creating family trees to connect two family lineages. The result is a fascinating story about two families, one Black and one white, that is forever interwoven.
Crazy Rich Americans is about a group of beautiful, very wealthy blond-haired Southern ladies with an important wedding on the horizon. But when the groom stands the bride up at the end of the 2nd act there’s a dramatic shift that’s in the same vein as Get Out.
Fridays With Lei is about a man with a foot fetish who works at a foot massage parlor. This is very much in the beginning phase so I don’t have a full story yet but it’s going to explore the world of foot fetishes as and jobs that people think are not great but are actually quite lovely.
The Water Brigade is a superhero movie led by Native Americans who are fighting to restore water to their tribe. This is also in the beginning ideation phase.
Sankara is an epic political thriller, similar to Oliver Stone’s JFK, that will capture the story of Thomas Sankara, former president of Burkina Faso, who was assassinated for the very strong and unusual policies he enacted—he took the poorest African country and made it the wealthiest for many reasons. Sadly, it was the rejection of all foreign aid that led to his assassination just four years after taking office.