Our 1st ZEMIRA fundraiser was a success!

Last Wednesday’s fundraiser for ZEMIRA was a huge success. Yes, Team Zemira got some great donations for the film (thanks again!) as our audience was entertained by our incredible talent:

You can find out more about our benefit’s headliner, Jesse Boykins III at ww.thebeautycreated.com. This young brother had all the ladies in the room smiling, nodding their heads and caught up in the rapture of his music; all the fellahs thought the brother was good too. Talented is too stilted of a word to describe Jesse’s music, so just go to his ‘site and both listen to snippets AND buy his music so that two years from now when this brother is accepting huge awards, you can exclaim to your friends, “I’ve been a fan of Jesse’s for years! Where’ve you been?!?”

Our opening musical act, the ubër-talented hip-hop artist SoSoon - the truest Hip Hop representative of the working & thinking man/woman brought a wonderfully gritty sensitivity to our benefit. Go to www.sosoonmusic.com to hear his music (‘Underclass’ is a personal fave) and see more about who SoSoon is. His music is what ZEMIRA is all about.

The national exploits of renown poet Delana R.A. Dameron can be found at her website: delanadameron.com and at a bookstore near you with How God Ends Us, selected by Elizabeth Alexander as the fourth annual winner of the South Carolina Poetry Book Prize.

You may have missed her performance at our benefit, but feel free to watch one of the tightest young poets on the scene, Kayan Ali James here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUUUE3MZol0) for just a taste of how she flows.

We may have been up in the Bronx, but my man WordSmith Jones killed it our June 17^th benefit Brooklyn style! You can both hear & purchase a CD of his soul-discovering poetry at www.reverbnation.com/wordsmithjones

Not only did she stand out at the literary arts movement for teens UrbanWord NYC

(www.urbanwordnyc.org), but as a finalist at the 2009 NY Knicks Poetry Slam, the (only!) 17 year old Thiahera Nurse ripped it(!) at our benefit. We’re so thankful that she got to represent a key demographic we’re approaching for this movie and she’s a prime example of what guidance and self-awareness can do for a young person from the ‘hood.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz9LAEK6bw0

My partner Mecca’s old friend, and now one of my new favorite poets, Timothy

“Prolific” Jones can be found at www.AndreMauricePress.com, of which he is both founder and CEO. André Maurice Press is an outlet for the published voices of the hip-hop generation and is dedicated to cultivating talent, and providing writers with a means through which to transform their expression into a vehicle for economic empowerment. Being creative and getting paid for that talent – now that’s what’s up.

The smooth yet powerful poetic musings of Charan P a mainstay on Prolific’s Indelible performers/writers crew, flowed sweetly for us as well. A poet/performer/educator transplanted from Chicago to New York, her work uncovers the stigma and effects of racism on modern society. Check her out here in NYC, and in Philly and DC as well. Charan P. is in high demand.

And of course we can't forget to mention my man DJ Prototype who keep the audience both entertained with hot beats, head bopping music and even mad funny sound effects throughout the entire night. You can catch up to him on his blog at: http://thedjprototype.wordpress.com/ where he displays his mindset, critical thoughts on Hip-Hop, and other artistic endeavors.

THANK YOU once again to all of our talented musicians and poets for helping make this fundraiser a big success!

Curtis Caesar John

Co-Writer/Producer/Director - ZEMIRA

ZEMIRA is a reality

As some of you may be fully aware, but others may not, the latest screenplay I've been working on - a collabo with fellow writer Mecca Woods - is going to my directorial debut. Never thought I'd be doing that, but it just feels right and we're going to make that happen.

Check us out at: www.ZEMIRAthefilm.com

Now, it's not that I fully abandoned A SONG FOR MARY. I love that script, but it's just not working out despite the labor of love that I put into it. I dunno. We'll see what happens - but Zemira is the future.

Peace and Dax Hairgrease

- Curt

September 2007 update

From the date above one can see that it's been some time since I've decided to post to my blog updates on my screenwriting forays.

To let you know: I've revamped A SONG FOR MARY to make it focus more on my main characters, everyone's favorite tormented soul singer DeAngelis. I really love this new version even though it's now less of a love story and more of a character focus. But it's stronger and more sell-able I think.

As for my collabo, it's still going. We're in the final stages of editing, finally :) My partner hooked up with an old associate of her's who know owns his own literary agency - with a screenwriting division. However, she's moving out of town to live the good life with her now-fiance. 'Course, I was the last to learn all of this marriage/going to live in Portland, OR stuff, but nonetheless we gotta get representation and either get this thing sold or produce it ourselves.
Whew!

I've started preliminary work on my next feature, a horror/comedy based on a 25-minute short I wrote for this bull$#^! writing contest I entered last year (three guesses on how far I got with them...c'mon...guess!).

My homeboy and fellow writer Ant decided to help each other fully flesh out any new literary ideas before starting to write so we started to do that with this. We had a really good, long, but helpful session for his newly projected screenplay and I can't wait to read his first draft. The story is really dynamic y'all, een though it may be kinda propaganda-based. We'll see. As for my own, we need another session since there are some story aspects that I need to think through before coming back to fleshing it out more.

That's it for now. Hopefully I don't overextend myself and I'm able to keep this blog running.

Curtis Caesar John aka The Media Man

March 24, 2007

I decided sometime early last year to keep a blog about my writing.

That makes this really pitiful as today is March 24, 2007 and this is my first entry.

I’ve been really busy though. Besides my regular j-o and my side business I’ve also been working on my writing and editing skills including a script collaboration and online lifestyle newsletter, respectively. So please, cut a brother some slack and allow him to, oh I dunno…vent about his times, both good and frustrating. Unfortunately, they’re not in that order.

I’m working on the re-write (again) of my love story script. For those not in the know, I sent the previous version out late last year and got some positive feedback on it. And although it is simply these particular insiders’ opinions, I do indeed think my script is overall better with their recommended changes. Ergo, here I am still trying to finish it up. Funny thing, when I finished the previous final version I thought it would indeed be that...the final. Never say final OUT LOUD my fellow writers. Much to my chagrin it needs that extra push.

So here I am on a lovely Springtime afternoon, just one week after I spent 1.5 hours digging out my car from the snow (damn plows!) working on my baby.

The writing is going very well. Aside from toning down one character (technically two), omitting a few others and adding emotional depth to my protagonist and her brood, I’m truly somewhat satisfied with the direction it’s taking. I think any writer saying they’re fully satisfied with their work is akin to an actor saying “Good luck!” to another.

The only negative I find when working on a love story is that it makes me think too much about my past girlfriends…especially my last one. I wasn’t in love with her or anything, and vice-versa, but still, with her being the previous one I guess she still stays on the forefront of my mind when it comes to couple-hood. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve dated since then of course, but I suppose since those were simply that – dates – the resonance isn’t there. But let me not get off topic – I was talking about thinking too much about the past.

My characters, without giving anything away, care for each other deeply and are afraid to admit it. I wonder - Does anyone out there think that way about me? I know I don’t care deeply for anyone right now. But I got to this “thinking too much about the past” stage asking myself the aforementioned question. I did care a lot about my last girl. I really dug her. I enjoyed spending time with her. Sometimes I think I was a bit too laid back with her though. And perhaps that lack of, shall we say…intensity (?) helped drive her away. I was loving, I was spontaneous. But I did perhaps take it too slow.

Is that what’s wrong with the male lead in my script? Is he too careful as well? I know why I was – the earlier part of last year was hellish for me – and I know why he is. And they’re both truly valid reasons, not excuses. But I’m now realizing that I may have taken aspects of his personality in my life. Since my story idea is three years old now I’m forced to wonder: Am I treading on Charlie Kaufman territory here?!?