Georgia Hollywood Review March 2022

LA VIBES

A Woman with a Mission By Ti e r r a Jone s

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR CURRENT AND UPCOMING PROJECTS? If you look at WOCU’s mission statement, you will see how thorough and precise it is. Shoutout to Gregory Zide, board member, director of operations for WOCU for helping me write it. Women of Color Unite is now a non-profit production company. We have a slate of proj- ects, features, and digital series, including #VoteLove , and interracial lesbian romcom, Beauty for Ashes , about colorism, from the brilliant mind of 14-year-old Anah Ambuchi, my youngest mentee; She’s Too Fat about fatpho- bia in entertainment; Happily Ever After , Diana Elizabeth Jordan’s one woman show about a disabled Black woman’s journey to find true love; and finally, I am working on a project based on the book, Death Row Chaplain , which is Reverend Earl Smith’s story about being the youngest prot- estant minister at San Quentin. As you can tell, our entire slate tells the story of a marginalized person. As my friend, Dr. Joely Proudfit, says, “Narrative Sovereignty: Nothing About Us Without Us.” WHO HAS BEEN YOUR BIGGEST INFLUENCE? That is absolutely my mother, Joan Theresa Curtis. She was an activist and statistician when I was younger. Moved out to LA, to be with me. I am an only child and my parents were separated by the time I was 2 months old, and later divorced. It was always me and my mom. The first time I marched, I was 2 and on my mama’s hip, it was the Baltimore Riots in 1968. She taught me so much, like authenticity and standing in your truth. To break things down to the lowest common denominator. She said that will let those steeped in racism know that you know the truth and the damage that is done to Black people. Always know statistically the impact of racism. Today, we would call it not letting people get away with “gaslighting.” She would tell me that Black folks who deny problems have internalized racism, and we forgive them in this household. Now, she said, that doesn’t mean you want to fuck with them … (laughs), but we forgive them. She taught me body autonomy and marched for a woman’s right to choose. No one ever has the right to put their hands on your body without permission. She taught me to care about those most marginalized in our community, people of color with disabilities. Mainly, she reminds me that I stand on the shoulders of all our ancestors. I say remind me, because I hear her in my head, my heart, and my spirit to this day.

Bedford, a Baltimore native, has lived in Los Ange- les for 32 years. She graduated from NYU Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA and the American Film Institute with an MFA in Producing. A true leader in the industry, Bedford has worked on countless film/TV/digital proj- ects, including 17 independent features as a production manager, line producer, and producer, and has served as CFO and supervising producer for a boutique studio. In addition, she was the first “Chair of Diversity Development” and producing instructor at the New York Film Academy, and she has also taught at UCLA Westwood. Georgia Hollywood Review sat down with Bedford to learn what’s next on her horizon. GHR: WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO CREATE WOMEN OF COLOR UNITE? CB: I always say that I didn’t mean to become the leader of a grassroots movement. In February of 2018, I just threw an event for WOC. And those invited were encouraged to bring other WOC. I just wanted to get all of us in the same space to share community. We started signing up WOC to The JTC List, the database, that day. It was a simple Google doc. Today, we are on AIrtable, and it is filterable. By the end of 2018 we were an official non-profit. When it came time to name the non-profit, the invite for that very first event said, “Women of Color … UNITE” and it seemed like the perfect name. We are a moment that became a movement. WHAT DREW YOU TO FILM AND TV IN THE FIRST PLACE? When I was 8 years old my mother took me to see my first Broadway show. It was the musical, A Little Night Music . When I heard Glynis Johns sing “Send in the Clowns” and felt the electricity in that audience, I whis- pered to my mother, “I want to do that.” What I meant was that I wanted to make an audience feel. I wanted to move people collectively. As I grew up, I realized film/TV was the best way for me and to tell stories that reminded me of … me. WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR PAST PROJECTS AND WHICH ONES ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF? Oh, that is easy, Dark Girls about colorism that Bill Duke and D. Channsin Berry directed. It is the project that gave me my NAACP Image Award nomination. That movie is as popular today as it was 10 years ago when it originally came out. Schools and universities globally still show the film now. Colorism is a global problem.

Cheryl O. Bedford

C heryl O. Bedford is a producer, educator, and founder of the 501(c)(3) Women of Color Unite (WOCU), an organization whose mis- sion is to open doors and provide opportuni- ties to all women of color—and to get their content distributed. The members of WOCU are all on The JTC List, a database of 5,000+ women of color above and below the line in entertainment, which is being shared throughout the Industry. The list is named after Bedford’s mother, Joan Theresa Curtis (JTC), an activist and warrior who passed away in 2016. Bedford is also the founder of #Startwith8/ Startwith8Hollywood, a diversity, equity, and inclusivity mentorship program available to all WOCU members. As part of the initiative, WOCU matches eight mentees to established industry mentors. This program has provided invaluable education, developed countless industry friendships, and has resulted in referrals, regardless of the different stages mentees are in their career. The program now has three cycles: Hollywood, Canada, and UK. “ We are a moment that became a movement. ”

IG @cheryl_clbp | wocunite.org | startwith8.com

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