Last night, during one of my usual rounds of procrastination, I came across
Black & Sexy TV's new webseries
Hello Cupid. Its writer Lena Waithe describes the show as "
Catfish meets
School Daze,"and I would have to agree. The first three episodes were no more complicated than two women (actresses Hayley Marie Norman and Ashley Blaine Featherson) in an apartment setting having very realistic and hilarious dialogue about black men, black women, and the world of online dating. The show is fresh and funny and I definitely suggest checking it out and seeing where it goes with its upcoming episodes.
Click to link to the first episode of the series
Writer Waithe is not new to the writing world as she worked on
Girlfriends,
The Secret Life of Bees and
I Will Follow. She is the writer of Chescaleigh's viral video
Sh*t Black Girls Say, and is also the co-founder of the newly create
Table Read Initiative at WGA West, which aims to get black writers pilots to the table for a read so they can hopefully get backing and some excitement behind them. Waithe also has some directing credits under her belt and will soon debut as a film producer with the independent feature
Dear White People, which is definitely on my list of films to check out upon release.
Lena Waithe
It is good to see webseries that focus on black content and allow black directors, writers and producers to get their work before an audience. We have to make sure to watch (and
support) the shows that we enjoy so they can last though the question of where the shows desired direction does come to mind. Is the goal of these webseries to make it on to network television or to stay on the internet? Clearly, there would be more money to be made on a network (and who doesn't like financial security?) as well as promotion. But, with networks comes pressure to write a certain way, censor certain topics and to please advertisers. In a recent Annenberg Research Symposium at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, Northwestern professor
Aymar Jean Christian gave a talk titled "Off the Line: Independent Television and the Expansion of Creative Economy" focusing on how independent producers have been using the web to distribute their tv series for over a decade and how it is a space for autonomy and experimentation outside of Hollywood often conformist walls. But, want content producer doesn't want their show to gain as much exposure as possible? Who doesn't want to "make it?" I guess that depends on one's definition of "making it" at the end of the day, but I will say that I am enjoying these unencumbered series. They feel honest and remind me of a time when there were multiple shows (not reality shows) featuring many black actors and actresses. They feel like they're for me, and of course, for you too.
