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Published on September 22nd, 2016 | by Samuel Horowitz

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An interview with Urban America’s hidden creative gem Anita M. Cal

meniceteethdariaAnita M. Cal (@AMCalberg) is an American author,TV Writer, film producer, and international speaker best known for writing on the TBS family comedies, Tyler Perry’s House of Payne and Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns. Cal first made a name for herself as the Writer/Producer of the comedy feature Kinfolks, developed by Showtime, Inc., starring In The House TV daughter Maia Campbell. Cal is also known as, A.M. Cal, the author of the December 2015 historical novel, Eighth Wonder: The Thomas Bethune Story, the true tale of a slave born blind, feeble, and left for dead who began playing Mozart at the age of three. The debut novel was awarded a SELF-e Highlighted Book by Library Journal and made available in libraries throughout the 50 states.

The Hype Magazine got some time from her busy schedule to explore this dynamic creative mind and get to know one of the more prolific behind the scenes personalities!

What brought you to the entertainment industry?

That’s a great question. I came to entertainment on a whim. I always knew I’d have a career that had something to do with writing and media. I thought it would be some kind of broadcast journalists, but as it turned out, I ended up with powerful mentors in print media back in Seattle. Those mentors guided my path and I ended up as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times. While in Los Angeles, working as a general assignment journalist for the L.A. Times, I became acquaintances with another journalist who had a relative making a name for himself in Hollywood. Then, while working as a reporter, I had an opportunity to learn about behind the scenes players, like directors and writers. Plus, Spike Lee was making a splash. I was in L.A. and I caught the entertainment bug. The L.A. Times sent me back east to live and cover education, but I decided I wanted to pursue a career in screenwriting and returned to L.A. to attend graduate school for screenwriting. I ended up winning every writing award and scholarship the university offered.

Your very first screenplay was picked up by Showtime, Inc. Can you give us some insight on how that came about?

My first screenplay was a family hybrid, a holiday comedy-drama, which was very unique at the time. It was called Kinfolks starring Maia Campbell from In the House, Casey Lee from In Living Color, and DeWayne Barnes from Menace II Society. It was made into a movie with independent financing and Showtime wanted to pick up the movie. The executives loved the script and wanted some rewriting done and put a lot of money toward script development and pickups for the indie film. It was an incredible opportunity. Showtime also wanted to turn the movie into a family drama for t.v., but being young, naïve, and full of stars in my eyes, I didn’t want that, I only wanted to work on the big screen. So needless to say, youth and lack of mentors in film, I made some bad decisions early on and a few months after our deal was severed, Showtime bought the family drama Soul Food and made it into a family drama for t.v.. It was a classic case of bird in the hand or not seeing the pot of gold right in front of me, but I was young and inexperienced. It’s ironic that you bring up that project, as it was my first foray into venture capitalism. I put up some of my own money, as well as my partners at that time. I haven’t done that since, until now, with South Beacon Hill.

Tell us about your current project “South Beacon Hill”

South Beacon Hill is an incredible, cutting-edge, independent t.v. series executive produced by my company Atina Enterprises L.L.C. in association with Side By Side Entertainment LLC and Production Accounting Services International. It’s a family police drama set in the 1970s on Seattle’s South Beacon Hill and takes place after community riots demanding the integration of the Seattle Police Department. It’s partially based on true events of the times, mixed with plenty of fiction. I wrote the pilot script two years ago at the urging of some friends and colleagues who wanted to work on something special, regardless of budget. They kept bugging me to also produce it and I finally took a breath of courage and decided to put of some of my own money, as well as raise capital. Right now, I have enough for two episodes and I’m still seeking financing for the last episode. The show is an absolute game changer, dealing with edgy subject matter that is extremely relevant in today’s climate of race relations, sex, gender, politics, and police violence, everything you’re not supposed to talk about at cocktail parties. The best part is, some of it’s based on my real life as well. South Beacon Hill is an area I grew up in as a kid in Seattle. It was a very diverse mix of Asians, blacks, Samoans, Filipinos, middle and working middle class. It had everything, from doctors, lawyers, and engineers to hustlers, the projects, garment workers, all day basketball games, Pee Wee football, track, neighborhood bike rides to the park and race fights.

Can you give us some insight on the cast and the show?

We’ve been blessed with a phenomenal cast, starting with Nicki Micheaux (Animal Kingdom, Lincoln Heights) and Charles Malik Whitfield (Empire, If Loving You is Wrong), who play a married couple struggling to raise their family while balancing careers that have them on different shifts. Daya Vaidya (Bosch), and the lovely Jazsmin Lewis (Barbershop I, II, & III), Rod Rowland who is super talented and kicked butt in Sixth Day across Arnold Schwarzenegger, Don Wallace (Blue Bloods), as well as Cherie Johnson (Eve Show, Family Matters). I’m excited about the crew, we have some heavy hitters on deck and it’s a matter of who meshes with the director. I hired Tamika Miller to direct, who is a name to lookout for, as she comes from the commercial filmmaking world and has a very Ava Duvernay-esqe sensibility. She’s the real deal, a talented, creative director with vision. It was a coup to get her on board to helm this. I’m also excited that Nicki will direct the third episode to continue her journey toward the network or cable directing path.

You wrote a novel by the name of Eighth Wonder: The Thomas Bethune Story can you let the audience know what the book is about?

Based on a true story, it’s an incredible tale of a slave born blind, feeble, and left for dead who begins playing Mozart at the age of three. Known throughout the world as Blind Tom, he became the most famous man on earth and was fought over. I’m honored that the book was voted “Highlighted Book” of the month by the U.S. Library Association and put in their curated selection of outstanding works.
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Roughly how long did it take you to finish the project?

Eighth Wonder is a historical novel, so much of the detail regarding the pre-antebellum and post-antebellum world had to be accurate and that took years of research for every detail from how people warmed their feet in carriages to how slaves made soap.


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