Cover Girl With Ambitious Reality Thinking

Once again I’m a cover girl. While on a weekend vacation I discovered that my Q&A with actress Sanaa Lathan is the latest cover feature for Monarch Magazine. This is my THIRD cover placement with them. I’m surprised because my talk with her was actually brief and mainly focused on her latest work, Repentance, a thriller that is currently playing in theaters. When I do cover features I like to get my Oprah Winfrey on and go a layer (or two) below surface talk. Unfortunately, time didn’t allow such. Still, for those who haven’t seen the film, Lathan lets on  how intense it was just filming it, which is all the more tease anyone needs to feel the ache to see it.

Check out the article here – Playing In Heat: Sanaa Lathan Simmers In New Thriller by Tiffany E. Browne.

 

On another note, in case you didn’t know, I keep up with a few reality shows. I actually stopped looking at a good number of them once I realized the negativity drained me. The fights and pettiness seemed insulting to my brain. I do, however, have my faves I can’t cut ties with just yet; namely The Real Housewives of Atlanta and Beverly Hills; both featured on Bravo. They are ratchet enough to not make me feel so stupid after viewing them.

Around the holiday season Bravo began rolling out promos for a new show; Blood, Sweat & Heels. I was excited because the show centered on a group of women who lead entrepreneurial lives; one of which I realized I went to college with, but never crossed paths (Daisy), two whose work I followed and respected their hustle (Melyssa and Demetria) with the remaining three I wasn’t familiar with (Mica, Bre and Geneva).

As the promos played, it did highlight some drama, but for the most part it seemed to hype up the business lives of each women. I was here for it, until I tuned in every Sunday night at 9 and saw their business lives come second as the drama of their bond spiraled and split into a “prouds vs louds” battle. It was so unnecessary. Initially I thought any drama would be pertaining to whatever is going on with their businesses and perhaps personal lives as that can leak into the business life as well. With that in mind, I thought it would be a show of where the women looked to each other for support. Yeah, they may fuss with each other, but in the end come together. Maybe that’s just too much “Kum Ba Ya” on my part? Come together? Not so much, especially as Mica’s drinking took center stage (in the middle of her grieving her father’s illness and death) and further divided the group as a few of them were concerned and wondered if she had a problem. The reunion show further exposed how taping the reality show may have dampened the bond with Melyssa remaining neutral but the imaginary proud/loud division becoming not so quite imaginary.

As this first (and only?) season of Blood, Sweat  & Heels has concluded, Leftfield Pictures, a New York based production company responsible for bringing the newest reality drama to Bravo’s viewing audience, is scooping the District of Columbia. Leftfield is putting out the call for ambitious women with fascinating TV personalities. The buzz is, whatever this show is, it will be along the same lines as Blood Sweat & Heels.  When I was alerted about this I chuckled and said “good luck.”  D.C., we’re such a fickle and (dare I say) sensitive city when it comes to how we (native and non-native Washingtonians) are portrayed or represented.

During the time when the cast for Real Housewives of D.C. was being put together there was chatter that a few potentials bowed out because certain occupations of the husbands and the wives didn’t want to jeopardize business and social relationships. That’s the federal or “Polliwood” (where politics and Hollywood collide) side of D.C. a side that might be a hard shell to crack and get into if you don’t roll with or work for the right people. Then, when the cast was confirmed and introduced, I felt a collective “WTF?” from my true Washingtonians within the four quadrants of the city. We had only just become familiar with the Salahis, the famed White House party crashers; to which we learned their crashing stunt might have been all for the reality cameras that were rolling and no one in REAL D.C. knew a reality show was in town. If you are in tune to the fashion scene in D.C. then you immediately knew who Paul Wharton is, who popped up in the show from time to time. Aside from the Realtor Staci Turner and model agency owner Lynda Erkiletian who actually lived and worked in D.C. the rest were Northern Virginia or Maryland dwellers that came into D.C. for recreation. That seemed to tick some Washington viewers off whom I heard groan  “they aren’t even real Washingtonians.”  Even I made such comments.

Oh! and remember that scene when the cast went to visit Councilmember David Catania? Wait did you stick around that long, because I know some folks stopped watching out of disappointment and boredom?!?!?!?!  Ummm let’s just say that scene was a set up. As he disclosed to a source close to me, he had no clue who the cast was.  It was just a golden opportunity for face time.

So Bravo, or at least Leftfield, is trying it again with D.C. and reality. I do believe there can be a successful reality show with a the right group of people to represent Washingtonians well. Washington isn’t all Polliwood. Actually Polliwood is just here on loan. People forget that there is a REAL and local D.C. outside of the Washington outsiders know. There needs to be show that taps into that, that puts local D.C. center stage and the people that inhabit it as not just characters but the soul of the city.  Ok, without sounding too poetic, if Leftfield and Bravo want to feature ambitious D.C. women…. spotlight the ones stomping their heels into the cement making their true mark, like the fashion designer born and raised here, went away to school and training, etc and came back to based her fashion house here.  Talk about the native Washingtonian writer who has been trying to find her niche in the competitive communications/journalism field, who has contemplated leaving D.C. for a smaller (or bigger market), but then knows in her heart of hearts she is NEEDED here in her home. Talk about the ambitious singer who is working a day job, just became a mom but still writing songs and trying to get her songwriting career a much needed jump start. Talk about the woman who is behind many of grand events (fashion shows, charity fundraisers, etc) who may not be a native to D.C. but has earned her stripes as a Washingtonian and works her ass off in putting the grandest events for all of D.C.

Some of us may not have the materialistic glamour to boot, but we are D.C. and that’s part of being ambitious and being an entrepreneur.  Yet, how many of us want our lives in shambles thanks to reality TV?  LOL If you think you have a shot, by all means go forth and pitch yourself.

 

 

As Tweeted by Heather B Casting:

NOW CASTING: THE MOST FABULOUS & AMBITIOUS WOMEN IN DC! 

Do you live a glamorous DC lifestyle? Does your social circle sound like a VIP list of the “who’s who” of DC’s elite? Is your group of friends made up of colorful and opinionated personalities? Are you a career-driven woman who is quickly climbing to the top of your industry? If so, we want to hear from YOU! 

A new television docu-series is looking for the most fabulous and ambitious women in DC. The show will document the lives of women who are driven to always have “the best of the best” and who are at the top of their game in their social lives and in their careers. If you’re a DC mover and shaker with a killer personality to match, we want to hear from you!

For more information and to speak with a Casting Producer, please email CastingDCWomen@gmail.com with your name, phone number, location and a brief description of yourself – and don’t forget to include a photo! We look forward to hearing from you!

Tagged: Blood Sweat & Heels, Bravo, journalism, Leftfield Pictures, life, Monarch Magazine, Real Housewives of DC, Sanaa Lathan, Washington DC

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