article via shadowandact.com
JuVee Productions – the integrated film, television and digital production company created by Viola Davis and her husband, Julius Tennon, is embarking on an effort to raise $250,000,000 in a global expansion plan for the development, production and distribution of diverse and inclusive film and digital content.
The fund will be used to develop, finance, produce and distribute a slate of multiple feature films and branded digital content that will see the relatively young production company expand its footprint globally. “The shift in storytelling should be inclusive and we aim to make it a reality,” says Julius Tennon in a press statement.
Launched in 2012 by Davis and Tennon, JuVee Productions is a Los Angeles-based artist driven production company that develops and produces independent film, television, theater, and digital content across all platforms. JuVee Productions aims to become the go-to creative hub where the next generation of filmmakers and artists have the space to craft dynamic stories spanning the broad spectrum of humanity.
The company’s most recent project is the courtroom drama “Custody” which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2016, and aired on the Lifetime network last week. The short film “Night Shift” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January of this year and continues to tour the film festival circuit.
Upcoming the production company has the film adaptation of “The Personal History of Rachel DuPree” which Davis is starring in; a biopic on Barbara Jordan (the first Southern African American woman elected to the United States House of Representatives), also with Davis starring; and a TV period series set up at ABC titled “The Zipcoders,” set in 1968, about a group of black teenagers form a rock ‘n’ roll band who aspire to be like The Beatles; and there’s also Davis’ Harriet Tubman film with HBO.
To read full article, go to: Viola Davis’ JuVee Productions Raising $250M for Content Development, Production & Distribution – Shadow and Act
Posts tagged as ““The Zipcoders””
article by Elizabeth Wagmeister via Variety.com
Viola Davis is expanding her work behind-the-camera, as she’s put a new comedy series into development with ABC, the network behind her show “How To Get Away With Murder.”
Davis will executive produce the single-cam, half-hour comedy “The Zipcoders” for ABC through her production company JuVee Productions.
Hailing from “Barbershop” screenwriter Marshall Todd, “The Zipcoders,” set in 1968, is about a divorced mother of three who moves her family to the East Side of Austin, Texas, soon after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., in an effort to be closer to her estranged sister. Once there, to the utter bewilderment of friends, family and the community at large, her teenage son forms a rock ‘n’ roll band with his group of friends who aspire to be like The Beatles.
“Zipcoders” is an original idea, which gained traction at JuVee, due to the “humorously iconic” image of a group of African-American teenagers with feathered hair and bell bottoms in the middle of the deep South. Todd became attached to the project, after he did research on the late 1960’s in America and found parallels to the issues our country is dealing with today — politically, racially and musically. He then pitched the family comedy to ABC Studios and the network.
“This project gives me the opportunity to tell a story that, while specific to the African-American experience, doesn’t travel in the usual tropes,” said Todd, who will serve as co-exec producer on the series, in addition to writing. “As a parent, I was inspired to tell a story from the dual perspective of parents and children in a world where the rules are constantly changing. Music has always been a passion of mine and to be able to use it to inform this particular narrative was a provocative challenge. I have found in Viola and the squad at JuVee the perfect co-conspirators dedicated to telling the types of stories that entertain while contributing to the larger cultural conversation.”
To read more, go to: http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/the-zipcoders-abc-comedy-juvee-productions-viola-davis-1201901884/
Viola Davis is expanding her work behind-the-camera, as she’s put a new comedy series into development with ABC, the network behind her show “How To Get Away With Murder.”
Davis will executive produce the single-cam, half-hour comedy “The Zipcoders” for ABC through her production company JuVee Productions.
Hailing from “Barbershop” screenwriter Marshall Todd, “The Zipcoders,” set in 1968, is about a divorced mother of three who moves her family to the East Side of Austin, Texas, soon after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., in an effort to be closer to her estranged sister. Once there, to the utter bewilderment of friends, family and the community at large, her teenage son forms a rock ‘n’ roll band with his group of friends who aspire to be like The Beatles.
“Zipcoders” is an original idea, which gained traction at JuVee, due to the “humorously iconic” image of a group of African-American teenagers with feathered hair and bell bottoms in the middle of the deep South. Todd became attached to the project, after he did research on the late 1960’s in America and found parallels to the issues our country is dealing with today — politically, racially and musically. He then pitched the family comedy to ABC Studios and the network.
“This project gives me the opportunity to tell a story that, while specific to the African-American experience, doesn’t travel in the usual tropes,” said Todd, who will serve as co-exec producer on the series, in addition to writing. “As a parent, I was inspired to tell a story from the dual perspective of parents and children in a world where the rules are constantly changing. Music has always been a passion of mine and to be able to use it to inform this particular narrative was a provocative challenge. I have found in Viola and the squad at JuVee the perfect co-conspirators dedicated to telling the types of stories that entertain while contributing to the larger cultural conversation.”
To read more, go to: http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/the-zipcoders-abc-comedy-juvee-productions-viola-davis-1201901884/