Joy Coalition

"Nothing is more disturbing than young men and women who appear to have no sense of what brought us to where we are.” — Henry Hampton, Blackside Growing up in Yonkers during a charged and divisive time, Eyes on the Prize 1 & 2 changed everything for me. Those 14 hours reshaped how I saw the world—and my place in it. In 2013, I wrote a love letter to Henry’s sister, Judi Hampton, asking if she’d trust me to help bring Eyes to a new generation. Twelve years and so many talented partners later, we are honored to release this six-part series, led by the unparalleled Dawn Porter—who is, without a doubt, the “Henry” of our time. Our team of directors and producers is vast, varied, and brilliant—all gifts. Thank you to the unsung heroes of civil and human rights who’ve given us the privilege of sharing their stories. And to Judi and Blackside, thank you for entrusting us to do this the Blackside way. The HBO Original Documentary?#EyesOnThePrizeIII?premieres February 25 on?#StreamOnMax. Patrisse Cullors, Smriti Mundhra, Leslie Asako Gladsjo, Geeta Gandbhir, Niema Jordan, Mervyn Marcano, Bedonna Smith, Liat Z. Rubin, Kenneth Wu, Anonymous Content, Trilogy Films, Muta'Ali Muhammad, Joy Coalition, Rudy Valdez #samanthaknowles

“There was always something to look forward to, and that made all the work and waiting worthwhile.” – Laura Ingalls Wilder, These Happy Golden Years It was 2020, that scary year of baking and composting when I began re-reading and re-watching Little House with Rosemary who was 8. Dana Fox and I had been making Home Before Dark and convinced Trip Friendly, who loved our show, to partner with us on a reimagining of our favorite childhood books. We soon found out that the brilliantly talented Rebecca Sonnenshine had dreamed of writing a more realistic adaptation of the books since she was five years old. Laura was in her 60’s when she wrote these books during the Great Depression, to inspire Americans to come together in community during the toughest of times. Thank you, Friendly Family Productions, LLC, Trip and Rebecca Friendly for taking us on this journey and trusting me to lead. So proud of our small but mighty Joy Coalition team of Paige McCall and Reid Hensen who, after 6 years and 4 series together, has joined the Little House writers room!! Thank you to our champions at Anonymous Content, Paramount Television, CBS Studios and Netflix. Our industry and our city have seen so much loss and change since this journey began, many executives who helped us get here are no longer in their jobs or homes or both. ????????. It is certainly time for a show about surviving and thriving on love and community.

So grateful to all our friends who came through to support #UnprisonedHulu season 2!

We are facing a crisis in the producing community. Regular listeners of the show are well aware of this fact because I talk about it incessantly. The challenges that make the producing career path unsustainable are now undeniable...and they were only exacerbated by a global pandemic, two back to back strikes, a market contraction, and the technological advancements and disruption of AI. Producers Heather Rae whose latest film, "Fancy Dance", starring Lily Gladstone, drops on Apple in June, and past pod guest Joy Gorman Wettels who is behind amazing shows like "Unprisoned" starring Kerry Washington, stop by Angle on Producers Podcast to explain why they, along with other prolific career producers who make up about 90% of Hollywood's biggest independent, studio, and streamer producers at the top of their game,?have come together to work towards change for us all. The group is called the #ProducersUnited and it's a grassroots collective of 86 career producers who are committed to fight for issues that impact sustainability for the next generation. There are many worthy issues, but the two main ones are: 1) Basic rights, which means payment for services rendered while they are being rendered and 2) Healthcare contributions during prep, production and post periods. At the end of the day, it really comes down to education. It's imperative to educate the industry on what the producer does and how our jobs are inherently different from the important contributions of our multi-hyphenate partners. Actors, writers, directors, financiers— these individuals bring so much value to the process but the biggest difference is that, unlike career producers, their revenue stream is not solely tied to projects. The well being of our entire industry depends on producers not only surviving, but thriving. Together, we can continue to support artist and be a part of the magic that is storytelling. Head over to producersunited.com for more info.

Proud to make shows that create conversation around mental health and remove stigma and shame around tough things. Thank you USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center and Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. #Unprisoned