Exclusive: The new BET+ Original film The Deadly Getaway is set to premiere on May 9. The MegaMind Media-produced thriller stars Jason Weaver, Yandy Smith, Jeff Logan and Princess Love.
The Deadly Getaway tells the story of an upwardly mobile couple traveling to a glamorous campsite destination for a romantic weekend getaway that quickly turns nightmarish. Jacob (Weaver) plans to propose to his girlfriend of two years, Hope (Smith), but the arrival of her obsessive ex-boyfriend, Derrick (Logan), and his girlfriend, Jada (Tressa Azarel Smallwood) complicates things.
Tensions and jealousy mount as Derrick becomes inappropriate with his flirtations. Things get even worse when the owners of the Away Pod go missing and Hope discovers Derrick has a dark secret he’s keeping from them all. Wanted by the police for a botched robbery and murder, there’s nothing Derrick won’t do to protect his secret even if it means killing his precious Hope.
The Deadly Getaway tells the story of an upwardly mobile couple traveling to a glamorous campsite destination for a romantic weekend getaway that quickly turns nightmarish. Jacob (Weaver) plans to propose to his girlfriend of two years, Hope (Smith), but the arrival of her obsessive ex-boyfriend, Derrick (Logan), and his girlfriend, Jada (Tressa Azarel Smallwood) complicates things.
Tensions and jealousy mount as Derrick becomes inappropriate with his flirtations. Things get even worse when the owners of the Away Pod go missing and Hope discovers Derrick has a dark secret he’s keeping from them all. Wanted by the police for a botched robbery and murder, there’s nothing Derrick won’t do to protect his secret even if it means killing his precious Hope.
- 4/26/2024
- by Rosy Cordero
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Tobias Truvillion (The Best Man: The Final Chapters), Leon (City on a Hill) and Jessica “Jess Hilarious” Moore (Hip Hop Family Christmas) are among the new additions to First Lady of Bmf: The Tonesa Welch Story, a new biopic starring Michelle Mitchenor (First Wives Club), which is set to debut on BET+ later this year.
The film currently in production in the Washington, D.C. area, which Vivica A. Fox (Holiday Hideaway) is directing, follows Tonesa (Mitchenor), a young woman raised in 1980s Detroit, who becomes seduced by the limelight and adventure of being in the drug game. She soon meets Harry (Truvillion), an older, sophisticated head of a drug organization who gives her a taste of the good life. Bothered by Tonesa’s ambition, Harry controls her through violence. But when the cycle of prosperity and abuse is about to break her spirit, Harry gets locked up...
The film currently in production in the Washington, D.C. area, which Vivica A. Fox (Holiday Hideaway) is directing, follows Tonesa (Mitchenor), a young woman raised in 1980s Detroit, who becomes seduced by the limelight and adventure of being in the drug game. She soon meets Harry (Truvillion), an older, sophisticated head of a drug organization who gives her a taste of the good life. Bothered by Tonesa’s ambition, Harry controls her through violence. But when the cycle of prosperity and abuse is about to break her spirit, Harry gets locked up...
- 4/27/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: BET Her has greenlit Black Girl, Erupted from director and star, Vanessa Bell Calloway (This Is Us), and executive producer, Tressa Azarel Smallwood of MegaMind Media. The project is the first feature film under the BET Her Presents: The Couch franchise.
Written by Tiffany Yancey, Black Girl, Erupted follows Reina (Khalilah Joi), a woman paying her dues at a law firm while facing microaggressions from co-workers and her boss Mr. Horowitz (Eric Roberts). Reina’s parents, Cassandra (Vanessa E. Williams), and Donald (Rodney Van Johnson), favor their younger daughter, Reilly, (Janeva Stoute), and consistently remind Reina not to be the “angry black woman” at the firm. The pressure to be perfect and uphold the family’s image wreaks havoc on Reina’s mental state.
B.J. Britt, Kareem Grimes, Brely Evans and Asia’h Epperson also star.
The film reunites Calloway with Smallwood, who has overseen the production of all the...
Written by Tiffany Yancey, Black Girl, Erupted follows Reina (Khalilah Joi), a woman paying her dues at a law firm while facing microaggressions from co-workers and her boss Mr. Horowitz (Eric Roberts). Reina’s parents, Cassandra (Vanessa E. Williams), and Donald (Rodney Van Johnson), favor their younger daughter, Reilly, (Janeva Stoute), and consistently remind Reina not to be the “angry black woman” at the firm. The pressure to be perfect and uphold the family’s image wreaks havoc on Reina’s mental state.
B.J. Britt, Kareem Grimes, Brely Evans and Asia’h Epperson also star.
The film reunites Calloway with Smallwood, who has overseen the production of all the...
- 4/4/2023
- by Rosy Cordero
- Deadline Film + TV
Bmf has been centering Markisha Taylor (La La Anthony) in season 2. However, the real-life Markisha, Tonesa Welch, is finally getting to tell her own story on BET+. Starz’s Bmf tells the real-life story of Demetrius “Meech” Flenory (Demetrius “Lil Meech” Flenory Jr.) and Terry “Southwest Tee” Flenory (Da’Vinchi), brothers who began their drug organization as teens in Detroit before becoming two of the biggest kingpins in the country.
Welch, a longtime girlfriend of Terry, would become The First Lady of Bmf and will get her own biopic separate from the show.
Tonesa Welch | Paras Griffin/Getty Images Who plays Tonesa Welch in ‘Bmf’ series?
On Bmf, Tonesa Welch’s story is told through the character Markisha Taylor, portrayed by Markisha Taylor. According to Deadline, “Markisha is the smart, sophisticated, and street-savvy wife of a powerful Detroit dealer. Despite the risk, Terry begins to pursue her relentlessly, and they develop a friendship.
Welch, a longtime girlfriend of Terry, would become The First Lady of Bmf and will get her own biopic separate from the show.
Tonesa Welch | Paras Griffin/Getty Images Who plays Tonesa Welch in ‘Bmf’ series?
On Bmf, Tonesa Welch’s story is told through the character Markisha Taylor, portrayed by Markisha Taylor. According to Deadline, “Markisha is the smart, sophisticated, and street-savvy wife of a powerful Detroit dealer. Despite the risk, Terry begins to pursue her relentlessly, and they develop a friendship.
- 3/18/2023
- by Aramide Tinubu
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Exclusive: BET+ has greenlit the biopic The First Lady of Bmf: The Tonesa Welch Story inspired by the true life of Detroit native Tonesa Welch, which was first chronicled in American Gangster: Trap Queens, also from the streamer.
Vivica Fox (Holiday Hideway) is set to direct the film based on a script by Gabrielle Collins; Tressa Azarel Smallwood (All In) and Judge Greg Mathis (Madea Goes to Jail) executive produce alongside Donte Lee and Delece James.
The biopic charts Welch’s rise from teen mom to drug dealer to being labeled by federal prosecutors as “The First Lady of Bmf.” Dreams and desires, craftiness and creativity, hustle and hard work, Welch tells a harrowing story about riches, remorse, personal responsibility, and redemption set amidst the lavishness and extreme violence of Detroit’s crack era and America’s “war on drugs.”
First featured as part of the BET+ hit unscripted series American Gangster: Trap Queens,...
Vivica Fox (Holiday Hideway) is set to direct the film based on a script by Gabrielle Collins; Tressa Azarel Smallwood (All In) and Judge Greg Mathis (Madea Goes to Jail) executive produce alongside Donte Lee and Delece James.
The biopic charts Welch’s rise from teen mom to drug dealer to being labeled by federal prosecutors as “The First Lady of Bmf.” Dreams and desires, craftiness and creativity, hustle and hard work, Welch tells a harrowing story about riches, remorse, personal responsibility, and redemption set amidst the lavishness and extreme violence of Detroit’s crack era and America’s “war on drugs.”
First featured as part of the BET+ hit unscripted series American Gangster: Trap Queens,...
- 3/10/2023
- by Rosy Cordero
- Deadline Film + TV
BET+ has an exciting holiday slate.
The streaming service announced Monday it would launch 10 new movies, including family comedies, yuletide romances, and a little musical magic.
The flicks feature Jasmine Guy, Terrence Carson, and Dorien Wilson, Ne-Yo, Serayah, Romeo Miller, LeToya Luckett, and Lala Milan.
Get all the details on the movies below.
A Wesley Christmas - November 3
Adult siblings Chris, Todd, and Cydney Wesley travel to their childhood home to celebrate Christmas with their parents and the entire Wesley family.
With everyone together and all their physical and emotional baggage in tow, the annual Wesley family holiday promises to be a festive, hot-mess of a Christmas with life-changing impacts on the whole family.
Cast: Dorien Wilson, Jasmine Guy, Terrence Carson, Loren Lott, Terayle Hill, Mike Merrill
Director: Patricia Cuffie Jones
Writer: Bree West
Produced by: Octet Productions
The First Noelle - November 10
After twenty years of friendship, Terrance and...
The streaming service announced Monday it would launch 10 new movies, including family comedies, yuletide romances, and a little musical magic.
The flicks feature Jasmine Guy, Terrence Carson, and Dorien Wilson, Ne-Yo, Serayah, Romeo Miller, LeToya Luckett, and Lala Milan.
Get all the details on the movies below.
A Wesley Christmas - November 3
Adult siblings Chris, Todd, and Cydney Wesley travel to their childhood home to celebrate Christmas with their parents and the entire Wesley family.
With everyone together and all their physical and emotional baggage in tow, the annual Wesley family holiday promises to be a festive, hot-mess of a Christmas with life-changing impacts on the whole family.
Cast: Dorien Wilson, Jasmine Guy, Terrence Carson, Loren Lott, Terayle Hill, Mike Merrill
Director: Patricia Cuffie Jones
Writer: Bree West
Produced by: Octet Productions
The First Noelle - November 10
After twenty years of friendship, Terrance and...
- 10/10/2022
- by Paul Dailly
- TVfanatic
Exclusive: BET builds up its holiday movie slate with Sound Of Christmas, starring R&b artist Ne-Yo in the lead role. The TV movie directed and written by Booker T. Mattison hails from executive producer Tressa Azarel Smallwood’s MegaMind Media.
Sound of Christmas is a film adaptation of The Replacement Wife by bestselling author Tiffany L. Warren. The film focuses on a down-on-her-luck woman facing eviction just before Christmas who must navigate budding romantic feelings for a handsome but grieving billionaire when she takes a job nannying for his two children right before Christmas.
Also joining the holiday film are Draya Michele (LA’s Finest), Serayah (Empire), Michael Anthony, Roxzane T. Mims (Greenleaf) and newcomer Alijah Kai. The film was shot in Atlanta and will debut in December.
Serayah plays Montana, a natural haired beauty who seems to be all out of luck after she’s laid off, loses her unemployment,...
Sound of Christmas is a film adaptation of The Replacement Wife by bestselling author Tiffany L. Warren. The film focuses on a down-on-her-luck woman facing eviction just before Christmas who must navigate budding romantic feelings for a handsome but grieving billionaire when she takes a job nannying for his two children right before Christmas.
Also joining the holiday film are Draya Michele (LA’s Finest), Serayah (Empire), Michael Anthony, Roxzane T. Mims (Greenleaf) and newcomer Alijah Kai. The film was shot in Atlanta and will debut in December.
Serayah plays Montana, a natural haired beauty who seems to be all out of luck after she’s laid off, loses her unemployment,...
- 4/20/2022
- by Alexandra Del Rosario
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Actor and producer Morris Chestnut (The Resident) is part of the producing team behind new feature Greenwood Avenue, about the Tulsa Race Massacre of 100 years ago.
The film will chart the story of a Philadelphia lawyer who follows a mysterious lead to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to discover the events of the Black Wall Street massacre of 1921 and her family’s connection to it.
Chestnut is teaming up with Tarek Terk Stevens of Terk Entertainment Group and Tressa Azarel Smallwood (All In) of MegaMind Media to produce the feature, which is scripted by Daryl Spivey (Black Pumpkin). The film is slated to begin filming in fall, 2021, with casting currently underway.
The Tulsa Race Massacre took place on May 31 and June 1, 1921, when mobs of white residents, some of them deputized and given weapons by city officials, attacked Black residents and destroyed homes and businesses of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The...
The film will chart the story of a Philadelphia lawyer who follows a mysterious lead to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to discover the events of the Black Wall Street massacre of 1921 and her family’s connection to it.
Chestnut is teaming up with Tarek Terk Stevens of Terk Entertainment Group and Tressa Azarel Smallwood (All In) of MegaMind Media to produce the feature, which is scripted by Daryl Spivey (Black Pumpkin). The film is slated to begin filming in fall, 2021, with casting currently underway.
The Tulsa Race Massacre took place on May 31 and June 1, 1921, when mobs of white residents, some of them deputized and given weapons by city officials, attacked Black residents and destroyed homes and businesses of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The...
- 6/22/2021
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
BET has released the trailer for the upcoming original Christmas movie “Holiday Heartbreak,” starring Maryam Basir and Michael Colyar.
Basir stars in the film from director Charles Jones as Monica McCoy, a helpless romantic unknowingly cursed with relationship problems passed down from her father’s bad luck of mishandling women.
LisaRaye McCoy, Aj Johnson, DeWayne “Kountry Wayne” Colley, Tiffany Black, B Simone, Kenneth Wayne and Lonnie Bee.also star in the film, which will debut on BET on Wednesday, Dec. 16 at 6 p.m. Et/Pt. Watch the trailer above.
Produced by Tressa Azarel Smallwood’s MegaMind, the romantic comedy was shot in the Washington D.C. area earlier this year under Covid-19 safety protocols. Charles Jones directed from a script by Tiffany Yancy, with Smallwood and Ibrahim Yilla producing.
MegaMind Media recently teamed with BET for a series of narrative shorts directed by Kim Fields, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Sheryl Lee Ralph...
Basir stars in the film from director Charles Jones as Monica McCoy, a helpless romantic unknowingly cursed with relationship problems passed down from her father’s bad luck of mishandling women.
LisaRaye McCoy, Aj Johnson, DeWayne “Kountry Wayne” Colley, Tiffany Black, B Simone, Kenneth Wayne and Lonnie Bee.also star in the film, which will debut on BET on Wednesday, Dec. 16 at 6 p.m. Et/Pt. Watch the trailer above.
Produced by Tressa Azarel Smallwood’s MegaMind, the romantic comedy was shot in the Washington D.C. area earlier this year under Covid-19 safety protocols. Charles Jones directed from a script by Tiffany Yancy, with Smallwood and Ibrahim Yilla producing.
MegaMind Media recently teamed with BET for a series of narrative shorts directed by Kim Fields, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Sheryl Lee Ralph...
- 12/3/2020
- by Reid Nakamura
- The Wrap
Umc, the first-to-market, Black-targeted streaming subscription service launched in 2014, picked up The Available Wife out of the recently wrapped American Black Film Festival. The romance pic, which will hit the streamer on December 17, was directed by Jamal Hill and stars Kj Smith, who currently stars on the Tyler Perry BET series, Sistas. Written by Tressa Azarel Smallwood, Hill, and Kyjuan Cleveland, the drama follows Nicole Wright (Smith), a beautiful and successful music CEO whose life is about to crumble in front of her. While having an affair with the sexy artist on the rise who promises her everything (Terayle Hill), Nicole learns the hard way that looks can be deceiving and his motives are as dark as the secrets she keeps. Clifton Powell and Roger Guenveur Smith round out the cast. Smallwood produced through via her MegaMind Productions along with Audrea Topps Harjo. “Early last year, Umc premiered Tressa’s...
- 9/8/2020
- by Amanda N'Duka
- Deadline Film + TV
Showtime has secured the right to Surge, a documentary that will play on the premium cabler’s newly established a co-branded multiplex channel SHOxBET on September 8. Co-directed by Hannah Rosenzweig and Wendy Sachs, the film details the historic 2018 midterm elections where a record number of first-time female candidates ran and won. From executive producers Alyssa Milano, Regina K. Scully, Dara, Jedd Canty, and Tanya Selvarantnam as well as advisor Katie Couric, the film sets to expose the double standards, biases and brutal realities women face running for Congress, some without the support of their own party. The doc centers on three congressional candidates in Texas, Indiana, and Illinois, who were each looking to flip their deep red districts to blue, including Lauren Underwood, the youngest Black woman ever to be elected to Congress. A registered nurse and public health expert, Underwood is now on the frontlines of the Covid-19 pandemic...
- 8/19/2020
- by Amanda N'Duka
- Deadline Film + TV
Producer Tressa Azarel Smallwood of MegaMind Media has teamed with BET Networks on a new BET Her initiative for four female-centric original short films, which will be directed by prominent African American Hollywood stars Sheryl Lee Ralph (Sister Act 2), Kim Fields (Living Single), Vanessa Bell Calloway (Coming to America) and Victoria Rowell (Dumb and Dumber).
Shooting began this week in Maryland. The 20-minute dramatic shorts will cover a range of vital topics to today’s Black families ranging from breast cancer to mental health. The films will live under the BET Her “Her Stories” franchise, a platform to empower the next generation of Black women filmmakers.
“Even though I’ve licensed films to BET previously, being chosen to produce these crucial initiatives with all African-American women is such an honor,” said Smallwood.
“BET Her is dedicated to telling stories that support and celebrate Black women in front of and...
Shooting began this week in Maryland. The 20-minute dramatic shorts will cover a range of vital topics to today’s Black families ranging from breast cancer to mental health. The films will live under the BET Her “Her Stories” franchise, a platform to empower the next generation of Black women filmmakers.
“Even though I’ve licensed films to BET previously, being chosen to produce these crucial initiatives with all African-American women is such an honor,” said Smallwood.
“BET Her is dedicated to telling stories that support and celebrate Black women in front of and...
- 7/1/2020
- by Amanda N'Duka
- Deadline Film + TV
This year’s American Black Film Festival lineup is stacked with some of the top names in Hollywood as well as emerging voices including a screening of Reginald Hudlin’s The Black Godfather, a conversation with Spike Lee and his protege Stefon Bristol as well as the five finalists for HBO Short Film Competition, which is now in its 22nd year. The fest takes place June 12-16 in Miami.
The program will also include the previously announced opening night film Shaft. New Line Cinema’s reboot of the iconic character will screen at the fest ahead of its June 14 release. In addition, Netflix will screen the Chris Robinson-directed Beats, a coming-of-age drama set in Chicago’s South Side hip-hop scene starring Anthony Anderson.
“Beyond the Spider-Verse: What’s Next for Sony Pictures Animation” will be a conversation between Academy Award-winner Peter Ramsey (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), Matthew A. Cherry...
The program will also include the previously announced opening night film Shaft. New Line Cinema’s reboot of the iconic character will screen at the fest ahead of its June 14 release. In addition, Netflix will screen the Chris Robinson-directed Beats, a coming-of-age drama set in Chicago’s South Side hip-hop scene starring Anthony Anderson.
“Beyond the Spider-Verse: What’s Next for Sony Pictures Animation” will be a conversation between Academy Award-winner Peter Ramsey (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), Matthew A. Cherry...
- 6/6/2019
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
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