This is a very personal story for me. I was raised in west Baltimore. Moved away from the area as a young adult and didn't return until 2010. 

I have spent a considerable amount of my life in the downtown real estate world in addition to my nursing career. 

In 2010, I purchased a bank foreclosure house in the Ashburton neighborhood.  We spent years renovating it from the ground up. 

In 2016, the city announced massive infrastructure plans for West Baltimore and the entire western region of the city was inundated with predatory real estate agents looking for a quick sale. 

These real estate agents and their unscrupulous behaviors formed the genesis for the series. To help the audience comprehend the concept, I wanted to tell this story assisted by an outsider's point of view along with a long-term residence's perspective. 

EXTENDED CONCEPT

ASHBURTON is a ten-part episodic examining the changing cultural and socio-economic pressure on a middle-class family in west Baltimore.

The story revolves around Dean Reed, investment community marketing genius and his loving dentist wife Terri, as they suffer through the downturn in the California housing industry compounding the loss of their crypto investments. At wit’s end they decide to return to Baltimore to re- calibrate their careers and support Dean’s aging parents.

Terri is a dedicated wife, who supports her husband’s failed attempts at financial success.  Her dental career is stable but second to her role as wife.
Glenn and Rose, Dean’s parents are solid foundations of the Ashburton community. They pride themselves on setting an example for their children. They encouraged honest hard work. They are physically strong, and work on their health on a regular basis.

Returning to the family home stresses Dean because of the success of his sibling, his history of business failure and his internal sense of failing his family.

The environment he returns to is loving and supportive but challenging because of the strong personalities of the family and their naïve attitude towards the pending gentrification of the community. His siblings are all developing dynamic careers while supporting his parents.

Upon returning to Baltimore, Dean realizes that many of the socio-economic realities that he faced in his California career are also pressuring his family and parents into difficult decisions. The primary one being the rapid gentrification of his community - Ashburton.

How will Dean navigate his questionable career in marketing which destroyed Black communities in California with supporting his family and community in Baltimore?

The tone of the series will be:

Positivity

Educational as to how gentrification works on a granular level.

Family love

Exploration of Black middle-class culture in Baltimore.

A deep dive into the history of the Black middle-class development in West Baltimore. 
 

Church Hat is based on personal experiences in my extended family and the family of the book's author. 

It's the heartfelt story of how an Afro-Caribbean middle-class parent deals with the natural gender curiosity of her son.  Does she stick with the traditional Caribbean values and punish the child or does she listen, consider, show respect and guide the child in managing his new feelings?

I met the book's author Debra Williams at the Toronto International Film Festival (2022). She had just self-published the book to much local acclaim.  We discussed the further development of the book into a short, animated film, along the lines of the Academy awarding winning HAIR LOVE (2019).

Since September 2022 an amazing team of Sundance alum, Baltimore creators and Canadian funders have signed on to the project.  

I am of Jamaican heritage. Debra Williams the author and executive producer was born in Jamaica, educated in the United States and currently lives in Toronto Canada.  

We have passionate support from the Jamaican film office which is promising to provide financial support.  

An A- list television actress is currently negotiating to provide the mother's voice- over. 

The Canadian based Sundance/ Tribeca/ SxSW alum production of Sunflower Studios is working to provide production/marketing and festival support. 

Miceal O'Donnell has joined the team as Director of Animation. He has written/directed or produced five features and over 45 short films. He is a skilled stop motion animator. 

I was tasked with adapting the book into a short script and signed on as a producer.  

The goal is having filming completed by August 2024.

This project is supported by the Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund (2023). 

We hope the film can be used as a learning tool and educational moment for parents and children. The story's message is this. In this difficult of world of quick judgement and abrasive comments. That our children need love, gentle guidance, nurturing and to understand they their parents will always accept and support regardless of whether the parents like the decision that the children ultimately make. 

This was a short film concept that had been brewing for several years.  The original concept involved a large budget, cast of fifteen, multiple locations. etc.

The concept is based on observations of many of my family members and their microaggressions whenever any family member experienced any type of individual success.  The range of acting out was usually influenced by alcohol. Several of my successful family members have had to deal with drinking issues. 

Unfortunately, the pandemic stopped all film production. 

As the pandemic slowed down the desire to create was difficult to suppress.   

We adapted the concept to the realities of filming during a pandemic.  A compressed concept, limit the location to one room, reduce the cast to three and the crew to six.  We limited the shooting days to four from the original twelve. Everyone was Covid tested every session.  The reality of close quarter shooting was developed and enforced.

CONCEPT:  

A bitter failed writer is tasked with completing her dead daughter's television treatment but first she has to overcome her demons related to the death of her daughter and husband, which she caused.

DESCRIPTION

A failed female writer has "that child", the child that is the sparkle of the world. The child that you know is destined for greatness.  The mother deals with her own failure with alcohol and undercutting her daughter's success. 

The daughter becomes a media star and much to her mother's chagrin. She lands the lead in a television show about kids her age. The show is called SCRUNCHIES. 

Unfortunately, the daughter never lives to see the show made because she dies in a DUI - her mother was the drunk driver. 

The film's focus is the pain, grief, and dealing with the memories as the grieving mother is offered the opportunity to complete the daughter's script.

This film could not have been made without the faith, patience and professionalism of the cast and crew. 

It played at a number of festivals including the Maryland Film Festival.   

Tori was my first exploration of my skills as a writer/director/ producer with a fully paid professional crew. I paid everyone out of my own funds. 

Concept:

Tori is an existentialist exercise in examining the juxtaposition of reality and fantasy as filtered by career expectations, exhaustion and inherent personal fears.

BACKGROUND

I wanted to examine the pressure that Black professional women feel internally.  I developed the concept after talking with numerous professional Black women and hearing the same refrain - that's it's a daily struggle in their professional life, but then they come home and sometimes the struggles are not easier at home. There is a loss of a safe space during the pursue of success.

I took that concern and converted it into the idea of a Black businesswoman, a world renown security expert, who realizes that her closest threat may be in her own bed. Leaning into a little David Lynch for tone and Rainer Werner Fassbender for concepts of personal isolation we developed the tone and aesthetic of the film.

This film played at over 20 festivals, winning acting and genre awards.  The film played at BronzeLens and the Maryland Film Festival. 

Sea Monster is a writing and directing collaboration between myself and Miceal O'Donnell, who I consider a mentor and friend. 

This was also my first attempt at anything related to the WTF genre. 

The film is a cautionary tale of be careful of what you ask for. 

CONCEPT:  

Two college students invite the big man on campus over based on his reputation. Afterward, they regret fining out why he is considered the BIG man on campus. This was my first experience with gross out humor and over the top visuals. 

Amazingly, this film got accepted into several festivals. 

SIDENOTE:  

I learned so much about efficient shooting from Miceal during this experience. From lighting set-ups to crew and cast management, the entire shoot was a short film 101 class. 

Lucid, written and directed by my good friend Travis Whitworth, was one of my best experiences working on someone else's set. 

I agreed to produce, assist with location and PA but Travis was the master teacher.  

Travis taught me lighting, shooting outdoors, and operation of the Blackmagic camera. 

CONCEPT: 

A paralyzed woman agrees to take a drug to induce a LUCID state where she can interact with her mother. 

This film won best Sci-Fi at the Baltimore International Black Film Festival.