S3:E4 Stephanie Allain I Content Matters

"Everything is in a cycle, and the cycle is dictated by the audience's needs and wants, the studio's needs and wants in terms of the financial bottom line, right? Those two very evolving organisms are always trying to sync into the right gear. So, I don't worry anymore because it always comes back around. You're in this long enough, you just go, all right, this is a cycle, it'll come back around." Stephanie Allain Stephanie Allain of Homegrown Pictures, is a prolific film and television producer dedicated to creating content by and about women and people of color with authentic stories, depictions, and representation. She began her career in the mid-80s as a reader at the elite talent agency, CAA, a job that required reading scripts and books submitted to the agency and providing coverage of the material, often the first barrier for further consideration and development. In her next position at Columbia Pictures, as one of only two African-American readers, a young USC student found his way to her under the guise of interest in a job. Instead that student, John Singleton, pitched her Boyz in the Hood and the rest, as they say, is history. Stephanie worked with John Singleton on five movies: Boyz N the Hood (1991), Poetic Justice (1993), Higher Learning (1995), Hustle & Flow (2005) and Black Snake Moan (2006). She also produced Something New, Peeples, Beyond The Lights, Dear White People, French Dirty, Burning Sands, Juanita and Really Love. Her work has been nominated for numerous awards with wins from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, Film Independent Spirit Awards, NAACP and others. A few of her projects currently in production include her first documentary Untitled Billy Preston, and a limited series for HBO, Sula by Toni Morrison. Amid a brilliant career, Stephanie became the first black woman to co-produce the Academy Awards (2020) and made history again by becoming the first woman of color to be named as President of the Producer's Guild of America (2022). Please join me, your host, Brad Johnson, on Corner Table Talk with this inspiring woman and Hollywood powerhouse. * * * Instagram: Corner Table Talk and Post and Beam Hospitality LinkedIn: Brad Johnson E.Mail: [email protected] For more information on host Brad Johnson or to join our mailing list, please visit: https://postandbeamhospitality.com/ Theme Music: Bryce Vine Corner Table™ is a trademark of Post & Beam Hospitality LLC See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.