BET AND TRACY YVONNE PRODUCTIONS ANNOUNCE THE TOP FIVE FINALISTS OF “PROJECT CRE8,” ITS NATIONWIDE SEARCH FOR AMERICA’S NEXT UNDISCOVERED TELEVISION COMEDY WRITER
Memphis,TN - September 14, 2020. Hailing from Arkansas, Texas, California, New York and Wisconsin, BET and Tracy Yvonne Productions announce finalists of its nationwide competition, “Project CRE8.” In partnership with powerhouse writer/director/producer Tracy Oliver (First Wives Club, Girls Trip, Little), “Project CRE8,” gave aspiring and emerging TV writers the opportunity to develop an original comedy for the small screen.
After hundreds of submissions, the contestants were narrowed down to the top five scripts.
Taylor Chukwu (Houston, TX)
Thaddeus McCants (Madison, WI)
Marcus A. Stricklin (Fairbanks, AK)
Naman Gupta (New York, NY)
Janki Parekh (Los Angeles, CA)
Desiree Thomas (Houston, TX)
have advanced to the final round of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. In the next and final round of the competition the finalists will pitch their original TV comedy to Tracy Oliver and a panel of successful TV executives with only one writer earning the title of “Project CRE8,” winner and having their winning TV script purchased for $25,000 and the opportunity to develop a comedy series with Oliver’s Tracy Yvonne Productions for BET.
The “Project CRE8,” finalists in alphabetical order are:
Taylor Chukwu
TV Script Title: “Second Coming”
Synopsis:
Jay is a freshman student attending his dream school Freeman University, the country's foremost historically Black college. His time is cut short when his father, God arrives on Earth insisting he start the rapture and end life on Earth as we know it. With the help of his most loyal friends and roommates, Jay has a week to convince his father that planet Earth is worth saving. Will Jay's teenage urges put all of humanity at risk or will he step up and save us all from eternal damnation?
About Taylor:
Chukwu is a Nigerian-American writer from Houston, Texas, who wants to showcase the variety of the Black experience. Chukwu is a USC graduate and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Inc. since 2016. She spent six months studying in the U.K. at the University of Westminster in London. Chukwu is now based in Los Angeles, CA.
Social Media Handles: Twitter: @taychukwu and Instagram: @fkataylor
Thaddeus McCants
TV Script Title: “Lit Lounge”
Synopsis:
A satire on marijuana’s transition from Schedule-I drug to corporate commodity, LIT LOUNGE is a 30-min series about a young Black man’s troubled climb to the top of the legal world of weed.
About Thaddeus:
McCants is a Brooklyn-based playwright and television writer originally from Madison, Wisconsin. He is currently pursuing his MFA in Playwriting at NYU, where he is a Tisch Graduate Scholarship Award Recipient; he also holds a BFA in Acting from Ithaca College. His Comedy pilot ‘Lit Lounge’ is a finalist for the 2020 Yes, And Laughter Lab partnered with Comedy Central and 3Arts; His Sci-Fi pilot about the Flint water crisis ‘What Doesn’t Kill Us…’ was a semi-finalist for the 2020 ATX Pitch Competition sponsored by Sundance and The Black List, and his 30-Minute Comedy ‘Fakers’ has won festivals on both coasts. As a performer, he was in the original cast of the Disney's ‘Freaky Friday the Musical', working with Tony winners Christopher Ashley and Sergio Trujillo and has worked with HBO, MTV, and was a member of UCB NY (RIP) where he performed with his Lloyd team The Hometown Tigers.
Social Media Handles: Twitter: @ThaddeusMcCan and Instagram: @Sugarthaddy
Marcus A. Stricklin
TV Script Title: “Surviving The 80s”
Synopsis:
After a freak electrical storm in 2019, the Harris family suddenly finds themselves trapped in 1983.
About Marcus:
Stricklin is a self-described "40 year old big kid," screenwriter, and an ardent TV and movie enthusiast. He is a husband, and a proud but tired father to 5 amazing children. He was born in Germany on an American Army base, has dual citizenship and loves to travel, having visited all 50 states and over 70 different countries. He has created several videos that have gone viral during quarantine, and has been featured on Nickelodeon/Noggin, Today.com, Goodhousekeeping.com and Thedad.com, and many offer a glimpse into the fun but chaotic life of this stay at home dad, creative dreamer, and social activist.
Social Media handles: Twitter and Instagram are both @Marcusthetoken
Janki Parekh & Naman Gupta
TV Script Title: “Inconvenient Love”
Synopsis:
A rich Indian girl moves in with her broke dentist boyfriend, defying cultural bias and breaking her strict father’s one simple rule: no black guys.
About Janki and Naman:
Parekh enjoys highlighting social issues and presenting them through comedy. She has lived in India, New Jersey, Mississippi, and Los Angeles. All these places are home to her. Gupta enjoys blending fiction with contemporary social issues. He grew up moving around India (military brat), and now calls Los Angeles & New York home.
Social Media Handles for Parekh: Twitter: @thecurryqueen1 and Instagram: @parekhjan
Social Media Handles for Gupta: Instagram: @nogoodstudios
Desiree Thomas
TV Script Title: “Uncle Cole”
Synopsis:
Cole is an ex-con who scams his way into becoming the caregiver for his young niece in order to avoid going back to prison. But when he's lured back into his old criminal life – this lifelong con artist is forced to balance being a role model with being a hustler.
About Desiree:
Thomas is a born creative. She started directing plays in kindergarten (peers would have to confirm if she was a visionary or just a bossy little kid). She stumbled into writing in junior high school - when the theatre elective class was full. Creative writing was her LAST CHOICE as an elective, and now she loves it. Fun facts: (1) When Thomas was a kid, she forgot how to ride a bicycle - and that's not hyperbole. She has a fantastic memory. (2) The first comedy pilot she ever wrote took one of the top prizes at the Houston Comedy Film Festival. (3) In junior high school, she carried a dictionary with her everywhere she went. Not the pocket-sized - this was all 1550 pages of Merriam-Webster in her verbose and pedantic glory.
Social media handles: Twitter and Instagram are both @DesRThomas
This year’s search for fresh new voices in television was announced during Blackhouse’s panel “Project CRE8: A Meditation on Dreaming – Alieu The Dreamer” at Sundance by Oliver and Connie Orlando, EVP of Specials, Music Programming & Music Strategy at BET Networks. Last year BET and Paramount Players debuted the competition, thrusting contest winner Quincy Ledbetter of Brooklyn, NY into the director’s chair with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to direct his original script, “Alieu the Dreamer,” which was filmed over the summer and will make is world premiere later this Fall on BET.
For more information on “Project CRE8,” and to learn more about the diverse roster of finalists go to BET.com/Cre8. Join the conversation on social media by using and following the hashtag #ProjectCRE8.
About BET
BET, a subsidiary of ViacomCBS Inc. (NASDAQ: VIACA, VIAC), is the nation's leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs television programming for the African American audience. The primary BET channel is in 90 million households and can be seen in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, sub-Saharan Africa and France. BET is the dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse group of business extensions including BET.com, a leading Internet destination for Black entertainment, music, culture, and news; BET HER, a 24-hour entertainment network targeting the African-American Woman; BET Music Networks - BET Jams, BET Soul and BET Gospel; BET Home Entertainment; BET Live, BET’s growing festival business; BET Mobile, which provides ringtones, games and video content for wireless devices; and BET International, which operates BET around the globe.
About Tracy Yvonne Productions
Tracy Yvonne Productions is a production company committed to championing diverse voices of all genres, across TV, film, and digital media.
GH 09.14.2020
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