Award-Winning TV Pilot Impacted by Strikes, but Still Gaining Traction

Winter 2024 Issue
Feature Story

Award-Winning TV Pilot Impacted by Strikes, but Still Gaining Traction

老司机福利社 professors reflect on experience, excited for what's next.

By Loukaia Taylor '22

Aaron Moss and Donni Allison each hold an award
Aaron Moss and Donni Allison are proud of the awards their pilot episode has garnered so far. | Photo by Lizzie Nealis

 

T wo faculty members from the School of Arts & Humanities scripted, filmed and screened an original television pilot that explores the challenges of being a young Black professor in a predominately white institution.

Donnetrice Allison, professor of Communication Studies and chair of the Africana Studies program, and Aaron Moss, assistant professor of Theatre/Directing, worked to create and film the pilot episode of 鈥淭eaching While Black,鈥 a project that is based on Allison鈥檚 experiences as a young professor in the 1990s.

鈥淭eaching While Black鈥 has been recognized with awards by the Big Apple Film Festival, Filmteenth International Film Festival and the International Black & Diversity Film Festival (IBDFF), in addition to screenings across the United States, including Los Angeles, New York City, Washington, D.C., and Houston. The awards from Filmteenth and IBDFF are now on display in the School of Arts & Humanities on the Galloway campus.

Close up of Donni Allison's hand holding an award
The "Teaching While Black" pilot won the 2023 Opal Award from Filmteenth. | Photo by Lizzie Nealis

In one word, both Allison and Moss described the process of finding their leading lady out of more than 3,000 submissions, filming the pilot in 10 days on campus and recruiting both current students and alumni to work both in front of and behind the camera as 鈥渇antastic.鈥

鈥淔or me, this was a dream come true 鈥 I鈥檝e been wanting to do something like this for many years,鈥 Allison said.

鈥淵ou have us two people coming together, and there鈥檚 an alchemy element to it: we didn鈥檛 know exactly how it would all come together with so many hands in the pot and a lot of people involved,鈥 Moss said. 鈥淲e were just amazed at how much our vision remained intact and how supportive people at the University, actors, technicians and designers who were involved were.鈥

The plan was then to submit the pilot to various TV and film festivals in order to get the show produced for platforms like Netflix, Hulu or Max, as the pair has already written two episodes and have five seasons mapped out. Considering the awards they have won already and the positive response they received at exclusive on-campus screenings, it seemed like a no-brainer that the show could be available for the world to enjoy fairly soon.

For me, this was a dream come true 鈥 I鈥檝e been wanting to do something like this for many years.鈥
Donnetrice Allison

Then, the infamous summer of strikes began.

As hospital workers, delivery drivers, fast food workers and more started to realize their power as collective unions, demands such as better wages and more power in decision-making began to proliferate and resulted in strikes.

It soon spread to the entertainment industry 鈥 writers represented by the Writer鈥檚 Guild of America (WGA) and actors represented by the Screen Actors Guild/American Federation of Television & Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) went on strike throughout the summer of 2023. Both groups had reached contract agreements by the end of 2023.

Allison and Moss are in solidarity with the union members and hope that the pause on 鈥淭eaching While Black鈥 will be just that 鈥 a pause in their journey of getting the show on viewers鈥 screens.

They plan to continue pitching to different film festivals to build momentum and held a screening for Cinefest in Atlantic City in October, which the pair both said was well received by audiences.

鈥淲e were fortunate enough to be able to pitch a couple of times during the strikes, but it was really difficult because there's just not any movement that was really allowed. It was kind of just getting feedback. We're going to keep meeting with people and keep leading with a lot of heart and a lot of intellect to share the story, the power of the story and the universality of the story. And hopefully, it'll strike a chord with the right network and distributor, and we'll get in one of the desired networks for streaming services.鈥

鈥淲e're also looking into literary agents, writing agents and all of that to see if we can also get some opportunities that way. So, right now, it's about networking,鈥 Allison said. 鈥淭he show is funny, and I think people will very much enjoy watching it or even relate to it.鈥

馃幀 Watch the trailer here!

Learn more about the Africana Studies program