As NBCUniversal starts its summer movie nights across its linear and digital portfolio, it has launched a partnership with Target and producer Will Packer that aims to spotlight BIPOC creators.
The Scene in Color Film Series will be hosted by Packer, whose many credits include Girls Trip. and Straight Outta Compton. It will feature shorts by three emerging Black filmmakers, Addison Wright, Ewurakua Dawson-Amoah, and Kristian King.
The trio of shorts will play during movie nights on Bravo, Syfy and USA as well as digital properties like the NBC One App, Rotten Tomatoes, and Fandango Movieclips; and on streaming service Peacock. On the cable networks, commercial time during the movie airings will be reduced by 25 to 35 minutes, NBCU said.
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New Hollywood Podcast: 'In The Heights' Star Anthony Ramos Is Set To Soar As Hollywood's New Leading ManIn addition to the unprecedented airtime, filmmakers will get the chance to work alongside NBCU creative executives to develop a TV pilot script. With a grant from Target, Packer will also continue to mentor the filmmakers.
Miguel Rodriguez, SVP, Production Operations, Creative Partnerships, Advertising & Partnerships and Steven Rummer, SVP, Strategy and Creative Partnerships, Advertising & Partnerships, detailed the initiative in a blog post. “Multicultural content—from the shows that air in our primetime, to the ad creative that serves as a connective tissue for the viewing experience, to the connections our own NBCU family members have both in front of and behind the camera—has the power to shape conversations, influence culture, and change our world for the better,” they wrote. “And we’re committed to helping the next generation of artists create even more of it.”
In her film, Hiplet: Because We Can, Wright focuses on Black ballerinas who blend hip-hop with classical pointe. Dawson-Amoah’s To the Girl that Looks Like Me shows Black women that there is space for them in the media industry. King’s semi-autobiographical Twice As Good centers on an over-achiever readying to chart her own path.
Rodriguez and Rummer said the three filmmakers were chosen after an “intensive search through forums and online film festivals for rising BIPOC talent.”
