negative and we want to be that positive that drowns out some of the negative.”
The Black Women Book Festival Brunch was integrated into the festival since many books are eventually made into feature films. Hosted by 11 Alive’s Donna Lowry, the book festival featured Rachel Vassel, author of “Daughters of Men,” Shanti Das, author of “The Hip Hop Professional (guide for women),” and Ronda Racha Penrice, author of “African American History for Dummies.”
The educational workshop sessions concluded with a panel on financing films and tax credits. The film festival culminated with networking advice from Jaunice Sills, programming coordinator for the program planning, scheduling and acquisitions department at BET Networks in New York. She offered real-world advice to women in pursuit of getting their film picked up by a network.
“It’s really important that you are constantly hustling to make sure it gets into the right hands and in front of the right eyes. It’s always a two-way street. We’re looking for something that will make the network look good, and we’re looking to make money off of it too, and if you feel your project will do that, it’s really important for you to keep trying to get in and it’s important that you use all your avenues to do it, such as Facebook and Twitter, posting things on people’s walls. Just sharing. The more you share, the more you put it out there, the more eyeballs it’s going to hit. Once that buzz starts, that’s how it gets to the networks. If you keep trying to get it out there, someone’s going to notice,” said Sills.
The Black Women in Film Network also provides ongoing events and workshops for its members and scholarships for young women pursuing careers in film. For more information about the Black Women Film Network, go to www.blackwomenfilm.org.
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