What We're Loving: Let's Get Animated

This week we’re loving opportunities for animators to shine, women succeeding in majority male-run environments and so much more. Check it out and see if you don’t love it too.

1. Let’s Get Animated

Calling all animators Project Greenlight Digital Studios has an opportunity just for you. It’s latest contest, The Next Great Animated Series, calls for animators to submit animated series in the form of a one to three-minute pitch video. Five animators will be awarded $5,000 to create a proof-of-concept video, but one lucky winner will walk away with a prize of $70,000 to create a pilot. Project Greenlight partnered with crowdsourcing site Tongal for the contest that opened Wednesday Nov. 16th and closes Wednesday, Dec. 14th. The contest is an open to one and all, so all animators should apply.

2. Ain’t no Ceiling High Enough

There’s no ceiling too high for Terri Hines. Former VP of Global Communications for Converse, Hines is now EVP of Communications at Fox Sports. Previously Hines led the branding and communications for Nike’s Jordan brand. In her new role she will lead communications for all of Fox Sports’ programming. With a wealth of experience and a proven track record, there’s no doubt Hines will continue to show and prove women can excel in male-dominated arenas.

3. The Doctor’s In

Though the future of NAACP Image award-winning Doc McStuffins was uncertain for a few months, the series will indeed be renewed for a fifth season airing in 2018. The ground-breaking show features a black six-year-old and aspiring doctor whose patients are actually broken stuffed animals and toys. Doc the character is inspired to pursue medicine from her pediatrician mom but the character has inspired real life women as well. Encouraged by the show, African-American female physicians formed the Artemis Medical Society, an organization of 4,700 women physicians of color from around the world. Doc McStuffins depicts the the etymology of a child’s dream and is a great example of dreaming in color.

4. Murder Was the Case

Newcomer Royalty Hightower (The Fits) and veteran actor Laurence Fishburne will star in the crime thriller Ruby in Murdertown. Hightower plays a young girl who pursues justice for her father, Fishburne, who has been framed for a murder he didn’t commit. Ruby is the directorial debut for Leah Rachel, writer of the script and an actress in her own right as well.

5. 808s and Beats

808 is a feature length documentary that chronicles the 1980s introduction and rising popularity of the 808 drum beats machine to the music industry. The 808 machine orchestrated a revolution in music making, and in the doc, director Alexander Dunn explores its beginnings in Japan. Afrika Bambaataa, Questlove and The Beastie Boys are a few of the artists featured in the documentary narrated by Beats 1’s Zane Lowe.

The Black TV & Film Collective a 501c3 organization that operates as a NYC film collective. In our work, we support all artists of color including but not limited to black filmmakers. We are a collaborative platform that represents diversity in film and supports inclusion in Hollywood and TV. Our professional network of New York City filmmakers gives knowledge to those who want to learn how to produce film, how to make a web series, how to budget film projects and more. We host NYC film workshops that welcome a variety of experience levels from first time filmmakers who are either students in film school or to notables within the television and film industry. See how you can make a difference in the world of cinema by becoming a member of our NYC film collective.

April Guscott is a Brooklyn native and creative writer who has a love of storytelling across all mediums. April has written short stories, poetry, essays and now turns her attention to screenwriting and blogging. April is an active member of the Black TV & Film Collective.