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OBS On Tour New York - Left to Right: Jennifer Williams, Warrington Hudlin, Lisa Bolekaja, and Bridgett Michele Lawrence |
OBS ON TOUR COMES TO AN END
We have just completed our 2010 OBS ON TOUR and it was awesome! We began with our kick-off in August with our meeting that featured special guest speakers Tananarive Due and Steve Barnes that lead to OBS On Tour LA. We want to say "Thank You" Tananarive and Steve for all the great information you provided us. We can't wait until the Jamaica Writers Retreat 2011 to really get in to it deeply.
August meeting was followed by two trips; one to New Orleans to participate on an entertainment panel for NBA Conference. The second trip was in early September, after the LA workshops, to the Congressional Black Caucus Conference in Washington, DC. I have to stop here to say thank you to William Marshall Jr. of MJT TV for providing excellent publicity coverage for the CBC Conference and our tours. MJT TV made sure every media outlet in the area knew OBS was in town.
OBS On Tour ~ LA was a series of six (6) classes, 2 nights per week for three weeks. Our main focus was feature film- High Concept, the films that get distribution deals. From there we hit the ground running, well the air running in September making a publicity stop at the Congressional Black Caucus Conference followed by OBS On Tour - New York/CNR-Rosa Parks Campus, DC/Howard University, VA/MABFF, & ATL/UMFF, which concluded this past weekend.
Special thanks to all of our guest speakers that provided Industry Insight from working experience and providing tools to assist writers in navigating the system as well as insight into pitfalls to avoid. In New York we had Tina Andrews, Warrington Hudlin, Craig T & Rosalyn Coleman Williams, and our own Excel Sharrieff. Thank you to Bridgett Michelle Lawrence for stepping in and providing valuable support for the team as in her membership capacity as well as transportation/tour coordinator. We also want to thank our New York host Dr. Barbara Adams and the staff of College of New Rochelle Rosa Parks Campus - they were fabulous.
From there we traveled to Washington, DC on the campus of Howard University. This time our special guests traveled with us from Hollywood; Ayanna Floyd, Supervising Producer of ABC's “Private Practice” and Kellie R. Griffin the writer/creator of the new show on BET “Reed Between the Lines” starring Traci Ellis Ross, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, & Robin Givens. Both ladies provided a virtual look inside the television writer's room for drama & comedy, respectively. We have to thank Ms. Aveta Addison, Program Coordinator Student Affairs @ Howard University. Ms. Addison made everything run smoothly making sure all students that had a desire were able to take advantage of the workshop.
For the first time Mid-Atlanta Black Film Festival held at the Crispus Attucks Theater hosted a screenwriter’s workshop and asked OBS On Tour to present it. With team OBS we were honored not only to present the workshop but also have Producer Monty Ross address our attendees along with our own Board of Directors member Michael Ajakwe Jr. and to host the directorial debut film from Director, Ted Lange, "For Love of Amy". We want to thank our host Gail Easely for welcoming us and making this workshop possible.
Finally, in Atlanta we were a part of UMFF hosted by Cheryle Reynolds. In Atlanta our special guest presenter was our own Sonya Steele, Chair of the WGA Black Committee, former OBS President & active member, and famed writer/creator of the awesome webseries “Celeste Bright”. Sonya presented the advanced segment of our workshop - Writing for Television.
Every tour received raved reviews including LA which had in attendance working directors and producers. The tour added a total of five more Writer's Groups including Baltimore, Harlem/Brooklyn, and additional groups in LA, DC, and Atlanta.
None of this would have been possible without our dynamic OBS On Tour Faculty and PR Team. I'd like to give special thanks to David Byrd, JaSheika James, Phyllis Banks, & Katrina Nelson the people on the ground that connected the dots from LA to DC - However, enough can't be said about David Byrd who sphere headed the DC leg for the second year in a row. I thank you so much for a great job.
And finally, but certainly not least is our illustrious faculty. Many of which wore multiple hats to present an informative workshop – Lisa Bolekaja, Rene Rawls, Tracy Grant, Ron Covington, Hilliard Guess, Kimberly Allen, & Teri Brown-Jackson.
Team OBS is awesome!
Jennifer Williams, President
