Queen sugar story5/19/2023 “She literally slipped into my DMs on Twitter,” says Davis, “because she never sleeps and she researches everyone and she finds people.” Today, Davis has an overall deal at Warner Bros. Nothing happened.” For the next 16 years, Davis made commercials, penned potential film and TV scripts, and worked as a freelance advertising copywriter in Boston-until, out of nowhere, DuVernay sent her a message. “I hadn’t fathomed being a television director at all,” says DeMane Davis, whose 2001 film Lift premiered at Sundance and starred Kerry Washington in her first solo lead role. “Neema Barnette, Julie Dash, Patricia Cardoso, Cheryl Dunye-these were legendary women of color filmmakers who were not working anymore,” she says. DuVernay’s insistence on finding and resurrecting neglected talent has jump-started the careers of iconic filmmakers. At last count, 42 of them held the job, 39 of them first-time episodic television directors. For seven seasons, Queen Sugar has employed only women directors. “She insulated us from any challenge,” says DuVernay, “allowing me to work like my white male counterparts do.” Only someone like Shonda Rhimes gets to do that, DuVernay adds: “Shonda says, ‘I’m not taking notes,’ and network executives say, ‘Yes, ma’am.’ ”ĭuVernay has, in turn, used her platform to fuel diversity and inclusion behind the camera. Winfrey has divested herself of most of her OWN holdings (she reportedly retains 5 percent), but having a Black woman in a position of creative decision-making power has been pivotal. Only BET and OWN have had a substantive impact, with OWN even outranking TV One, a major Black-owned cable network launched in 2004. Marlon Jackson and Evander Holyfield joined the team behind the Major Broadcasting Cable Network Quincy Jones invested in New Urban Entertainment. Other fledgling Black-owned networks have dipped a toe in the water, but not even those with prominent backing have succeeded. It is difficult to overstate the importance of this point, which has largely been overlooked during the past 11 years of OWN’s existence. “In order to do a Black family drama for any significant length of time,” says DuVernay, “you better own your own network. The show airs on the Oprah Winfrey Network, which has been inseparable from its success. Based on the novel by Natalie Baszile and adapted for television by Ava DuVernay, the series tells the story of the Bordelon siblings (played by Rutina Wesley, Dawn-Lyen Gardner, and Kofi Siriboe), who inherit their father’s troubled Louisiana sugarcane farm and face the racism of powerful white landowners as well as their own internal struggles. It wasn’t so long ago that Black family dramas were virtually nonexistent on television-a fact that makes Queen Sugar, now in its final season, an even more extraordinary feat.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |