A web series pilot written by and starring Mitch Marchand (writer, actor, comedian, producer, whom audiences remember from his appearance in the cult classic film, JUICE featuring Tupac Shakur, where he uttered the memorable “You got the Juice now, man.” line).
The series is a funny and fictitious version of his life story.
What happens if a Hip Hop one-hit wonder decided to make a comeback… at 40 years old?
Directed by P. Frank Williams. Cast: Cameos by Marlon Wayans, Affion Crockett, and Darmirra Brunson, Brely Evans as Yaya Marchand, Myles Marchand as Tommy 1, Coltrane Marchand as Tommy 2, Rocco Stowe as DJ Rock On.
Watch below;
LOS ANGELES) – March 25, 2020 — A Manny Halley Production has released the official trailer for the urban lit cult classic DUTCH, based on the first book of an epic trilogy by Teri Woods starring Lance Gross (“Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne”), James Hyde (“Monarca”), Tyrin Turner (“Meet The Blacks”), Isabella Ferreira (“Orange Is The New Black”), Melissa Williams (“Tyler Perry’s The Oval”), Macy Gray (“For Colored Girls”) and Jeremy Meeks, (“True to the Game 2”) with appearances by Michael Blackson (“Nobody’s Fool”), O.T. Genasis and Renny. DUTCH opens in select theaters Fall 2020.
Directed by Preston Whitmore (“This Christmas,” “True To The Game”), DUTCH introduces us to Bernard James, Jr. aka “Dutch” (Gross), a player who will use any means necessary to dominate the streets and beyond. For Dutch, survival is the ultimate score and power is the deadliest high of all. When he gains control of an African drug lord’s stolen heroin business, Dutch quickly makes it the most feared drug empire on the East Coast. Naturally, there are plenty of armed and dangerous enemies who would love to take him down, including a vengeful Mafia heir who is also an ambitious DA and former friend.
Dutch knows that as a drug kingpin, his life is on the line which makes him paranoid. He begins to see an enemy in everyone he meets — however he still has to play the game. With his killer looks and charm, Dutch can seduce any woman he wants, but there’s one woman who he can’t resist. She will shake his ice-cold control to its core, making him risk it all for a betrayal he never saw coming.
Supporting cast include Markice Moore (“Snowfall”), Miles Stroter (“The Quad”), Robert Costanzo (“Modern Family”) and Natasha Marc (“Ballers”).
“We really got our hands on an all-star cast,” says Manny Halley, DUTCH producer and founder of Imani Media Group. ‘DUTCH‘ is an iconic story within the urban literary genre, so we had to get every detail right — and I think we did. Fans will be looking for us to finish the trilogy with this one!”
DUTCH is written by Preston Whitmore and produced by Manny Halley, Rodney Turner II and Yolanda Halley.
Another film festival has been impacted due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was announced Tuesday that the 24th annual American Black Film Festival (ABFF) has been postponed and now has new dates.
The fest has been rescheduled to take place from Oct. 21 to Oct. 25th.
“ABFF is a destination event that attracts participants from around the world, which is why we made the difficult but necessary decision to postpone the 24th American Black Film Festival,” ABFF Ventures CEO Jeff Friday said in a statement. “While we remain committed to providing a program for storytellers who rely on ABFF to showcase their work, at this time, our main priority is the health of our staff, attendees, and corporate partners.”
The festival was originally set to run from June 17-21. Mary J. Blige is this year’s ABFF Ambassador.
Netflix has announced some of its new programming for the upcoming month — and one of the new shows is hosted by Kelis!
The singer and chef will host Cooked with Cannabis with Leather Storrs. The six-episode series will chronicle the making of some of the finest delicacies infused with cannabis.
Every episode will see three chefs work to cook a three-course meal with cannabis. The winner gets $10,000.
“Cooked with Cannabis is a show where weed is a seasoning rather than the reason. It’s granular, educational, heartfelt and smart,” Storrs said to Food & Wine. “The contestants had personal and romantic relationships with the herb and they knew its intricacies: medically, chemically, spiritually and as an intoxicant. Further, there was a real sense of community and camaraderie.”
“It [the show] moved your heart in ways you didn’t expect it to, because it is so culturally important,” she said. In this country, there are so many things that have been used systematically to oppress groups of people, so this could be all fun and games, but you look at it and go, you know what, this is important. People’s lives have been affected in a really positive and negative way, and how do we take some control back?”
Cooked with Cannabis begins streaming on Netflix in April 2020.
Source: Shadow & Act
Ahead of its release next month, Netflix has released the first trailer for its upcoming comedy film, Coffee & Kareem.
It stars Taraji P. Henson, Terrence Little Gardenhigh, Ed Helms, RonReaco Lee, Betty Gilpin, Andrew Bachelor and David Alan Grier.
With the official trailer comes a new official description for the film: While police officer James Coffee (Helms) enjoys his new relationship with Vanessa Manning (Henson), her beloved 12-year-old son Kareem (Gardenhigh) plots their break-up. Attempting to scare away his mom’s boyfriend for good, Kareem tries to hire criminal fugitives to take him out but accidentally exposes a secret network of criminal activity, making his family its latest target. To protect Vanessa, Kareem teams up with Coffee — the partner he never wanted — for a dangerous chase across Detroit.
The script was written by Shane McCarthy and appeared on the 2014 Black List. Michael Dowse, who directed the Fox comedy Dowser, is directing the film. It will debut on Netflix on April 3.
Watch the trailer below:
Tyler Perry Studios has stopped production on all of Tyler Perry’s projects for OWN, BET and Nickelodeon due to the coronavirus outbreak. Other studios that utilize Tyler Perry Studios have also stopped production as well.
Perry posted a picture of the cover of gospel singer Yolanda Adams’ single “This Too Shall Pass,” with a caption about how he has been dealing with the crisis.
“Been listening to this song over and over to encourage myself, to stay positive, and to remember that this is all in God’s hands and that this too shall pass. But until then, we’ve got to take it seriously,” he wrote. “…Maybe this thing has come to stop all the hate and rhetoric. Maybe it has shown up to remind us that we are all one. Maybe it’s shown up to remind us that we should be looking out for each other rather than using every bit of hate speech to divide us. Maybe it showed up to remind us that hate CAN NEVER WIN! Maybe it showed up to remind us of our humanity. Maybe it showed [up] to humble us.”
“Who knows what the reason is, but whatever it is, I would love to see a lot more prayer and a lot less panic,” he continued. “A lot less finger-pointing and a lot less judgement [sic]. What I would love to see is us being one nation, under God, INDIVISIBLE!! Please listen to your local and state governments. Social distancing should be taken seriously.”
Previously on his Instagram page, Perry also posted a video of him and other stars, including singers Karen Clark Sheard, Dorinda Clarke Cole, Yolanda Adams, Johnny Gill, Fantasia, Jennifer Hudson, Chrystal Rucker, Kierra Sheard, Travis Greene, Rodney East, Jencarlos, A Fall From Grace star Crystal Fox and singers/actors David and Tamela Mann, singing “He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands.”
Source: Shadow & Act
Byron Allen’s $20 billion racial discrimination case against Comcast has gotten a little tougher as the Supreme Court sides with Comcast in a unanimous ruling Monday.
The Court states that Allen “must prove that racial bias was the sole cause the cable giant refused to carry his TV channels,” as reported by The Wrap. The case has now been put back to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
A Comcast representative said in part to The Wrap in a statement, “We are pleased the Supreme Court unanimously restored certainty on the standard to bring and prove civil rights claims.”
But in his statement, Allen said in part that the ruling “is harmful to the civil rights of millions of Americans,” calling the day “a very bad day for our country.” Allen also assured supporters he will continue fighting “by going to Congress and the presidential candidates to revise the statute to overcome this decision by the United States Supreme Court, which significantly diminishes our civil rights.”
Allen initially filed his lawsuit in 2015, alleging that the company refused to license his Entertainment Studios Networks channels such as Cars TV, Pets TV and criminal justice channels because of Allen’s race.
Source: Shadow& Act
Bad Boys For Life is joining in on the early release train for viewing at home during the Coronavirus pandemic. The film will now be available to stream on your favorite VOD platform on March 31st. The film has had a very successful run at theaters since it opened in January, grossing $419 million worldwide and reviving the franchise.
The studio is already in active development on another installment for the Bad Boys franchise, or at least they were before everything that has happened over the last couple weeks.
More news as this develops.