The Blackhouse Foundation Launches Producer Fellowship For Women With Starz #TakeTheLead

The Blackhouse Foundation and Starz #TakeTheLead have a new fellowship for Black female-identifying mid-career producers.

The Blackhouse Foundation launched a new fellowship with Starz #TakeTheLead that puts Black female producers at the forefront.

Announced on Monday, April 22, the new fellowship is aimed at amplifying female-identifying mid-career producers who work in episodic content creation, Deadline reports. The first-year participants include Sue-Ellen Chitunya, Jessica L. Funches, Moira Griffin, Dahéli Hall, and Trevite Willis.

The Blackhouse Foundation selected participants from its alumni network to take part in a rigorous three-day weekend of educational workshops, personal and professional mentorship and coaching, and meetings with key industry stakeholders.

“We’re thrilled to have found a partner in Starz that allows us to reimagine the year-long programs we’ve done in the past and streamline the experience with a smaller cohort,” The Blackhouse Foundation’s Executive Director, Jenean Glover said.

“The goal of the three-day intensive is to deliver personalized feedback and noteworthy direction, combined with the expertise of our facilitator, to prepare these candidates to enter an episodic room as non-writing or writing producers in the near future.”

As part of the fellowship, a new mentor/alumni interaction model will be implemented to support participants.

“We are excited to partner with The Blackhouse Foundation to help cultivate new talent and drive an increase in Black female producers, which is essential to our business as a network focused on women and underrepresented audiences,” Starz’s President of Original Programming, Kathryn Busby said.

“Our continued commitment to nurturing diverse voices and creating a more inclusive television landscape has resulted in industry-leading representation in front of and behind the camera and throughout our company.”

The new fellowship highlights The Blackhouse Foundation’s continued commitment to supporting Black creatives in film. It follows their curation of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.

“We are truly excited to ignite our alumni engagement at The Blackhouse Foundation in service of Black storytellers,” Glover added. “Having served over 150 fellows, we are thrilled to announce this new, impactful program with our strategic partner, STARZ TakeTheLead.”