9 minute read
Message from the CEO
Angela Johnson once told me, “You are one of the few people who get me.” I took that as a compliment. I first met Angela at a Black History Month event where she was the main speaker. I was with my eldest son who was a teenager at the time. Angela spoke extremely powerfully and my son was so impressed that he kept asking if he could meet her. We somehow managed to get an introduction, and looking back now, had I any idea the amount of work we’d undertake together over the years, I would have taken her contact information with me that night. Angela was instrumental in the Black to Business’ rise to prominence and was, along with many others, responsible for its quality. A wise, trusted collaborator and entrepreneur with exemplary communication skills, Angela has made my world easier. As I applaud her for her years of service to BBI, I must also mention that Angela is a quintessential hero whose dedication and work for our community goes largely unrecognised and unrewarded. BBI and all of Nova Scotia should be proud of her many talents – I know that I am. Diane Kelderman, CEO of the Nova Scotia Co-operative Council is another great partner of the BBI. She is the force behind the CTV(ATV) top event of the year 2019 in Halifax, “A Conversation with Barack Obama.” She invited us to be a Platinum sponsor of this prestigious event we are ever so glad to have played the part we played. I still feel chills saying it. I must thank Dianne and Jeff Yuill Chair of the Board of the Nova Scotia Co-operative Council for including us from early on. Along with the other great events that evening, the message from Candace Thomas of Stewart McKelvey (Future Leaders Champion) on behalf of the African Nova Scotian community was an absolutely touching one.
With the blessing of Nova Scotia Co-operative Council, BBI teamed up with the Black Cultural Centre (BCC) and Develop Nova Scotia to present the “Cultural Expression’’ opener produced by Brookes Diamond Production. The work of Russell Grosse, Craig Smith and Senator Oliver of the BCC and Anna Marenick from Develop NS made the Cultural Expressions presentation an invaluable addition which was well received as the 9,000 in attendance awaited the 44th President of the United States. Our collective impact included our partnership with Stewart McKelvey, the Future Leaders Champion. In addition, Business is Jammin’ (BIJ) and the Delmore Buddy Daye Learning Institute (DBDLI) partnered on the Future Leaders initiative to invite 100 emerging Black leaders to the event. Along with our community partner the BCC, we distributed over 400 guest passes to youth, community members, business-owners and Board members. Being part of the Conversation with Barack Obama presentation is one of the highlights of my life. The natural excitement in being so closely involved with an iconic hero was made even more memorable by the partnership and collaboration created by Dianne and her team. And so, if I do nothing else for the remainder of my days here on earth, I can say I met the FIRST Black President of the United States of America. History will remember him as one of the best ever. Oh, what a fantastic night! “In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less.”
– Barack Obama 44th President of the United States
Respectfully,
S.I. Rustum Southwell BBI, Founding and Interim CEO
SEEING IS BELIEVING
The Power of Representation in Television
Vinessa Antoine plays Macide Diggs in the series Diggstown
Kane on set for Diggstown
By Georgina Mbamalu Photography contributed
Running home from school, Floyd Kane spent his evenings reading and drawing comics, watching soap operas with his grandmother, and listening in on dinner table conversations between his mother and aunts about their hopes, dreams, and of course – the latest news around East Preston. “Throughout those years of my life, I developed an appreciation for story. It wasn’t aspirational or an escape from where I grew up, it was just something I enjoyed. I loved making up stories.” These formative years helped shape him into the groundbreaking television creative he is today. However, it didn’t come easy. Like many creatives in the early days, he had to make a difficult choice between a stable career and following his passions. Kane chose the stable career. He went to law school. Kane continued to write and create connections in the film world while he practiced law. He returned to Nova Scotia after passing the Bar Exam in Toronto and began working as a researcher in the NDP office of Yvonne Atwell. From there, his known love for law and film got him invited to a meeting with Michael Donovan, the president of Salter Street Films (WildBrain/ DHX Media). One year later, an opportunity for a junior lawyer at Salter Street opened and Kane jumped at the chance. “I faxed my resume over and the day I was supposed to fly home to Toronto, they called me in for an interview. By the time I landed home, they called and offered me the job.” Kane was in the perfect position, a lawyer in the creative space. At DHX Media, he progressed from a production lawyer to an in-house producer and soon after was asked to manage the creative development department. Around the same time, he and his wife adopted their son from South Africa. Kane was now a senior executive at the largest independent owner of children’s television in the industry and had a beautiful family living in Toronto. Many would say he had made it. But a few years later, he quit. “I had this plan,” he reflects. “My whole plan was to stay with the company and hope that we would start making hour-long dramas. I would pull out my script, they would buy it and I would move from lawyer to writer.” Unfortunately, there wasn’t a large desire for the company to produce hour-long dramas. This led Kane to an epiphany. “I couldn’t just do a nice segue into my dreams, I had to put everything at risk – 12 years of my career – and jump off the cliff. And that’s what I did.”
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Kane’s cliff dive into writing would not come easy. “In the entertainment industry, when you’re known for one thing, it’s hard for others to take you serious in another role,” he said. “People would look at me and wonder ‘Aren’t you the lawyer? Why are you pitching me a script?’ You have to pay your dues. So, I left everything behind. I stopped practicing law and producing. I just focused on writing,” he narrates. For five years Kane worked on getting into writing rooms, building relationships, and writing scripts. He was able to score small jobs and sporadic placements throughout the country, but it wasn’t sustainable. He decided it was time to create independently. An opportunity arose to work on a project with a past collaborator, Amos Adetuyi. The deal fell through and the funder asked Kane if he had any other projects. This resulted in the release of Kane’s feature film Across the Line in 2015. Directed by visionary producer
BLACK to BUSINESS Winter 2020 8 BLACK to BUSINESS and director, Director X, the film which depicted the 1989 Cole Harbour High race riot won Best Atlantic Feature at the Atlantic Film Festival. Since that project, Kane’s company, Freddie Films, has gone on to create a feature film every year and further collaborate with Adetuyi on Kane’s most recent CBC series, Diggstown. The series follows titular character Marcie Diggs, a top corporate lawyer in Toronto who moves back to Dartmouth, Nova Scotia to work in a legal aid office after a family ordeal. The office’s star-studded team of lawyers work directly in the community to find justice while exploring issues of racism, poverty and gender bias. The television show is also the first-ever drama led by a Black Canadian woman on mainstream network TV. Distributors have told Kane that there are places and countries that may never buy into
the show because it is a series that focuses on a Black woman. For Kane, the choice of a Black female lead was natural. “I live an inclusive life. So, I try to do that on the show and work to ensure the projects I create are as inclusive as possible,” he says. “It’s important that with a show with a Black lead, I have those uncomfortable conversations to ask why we don’t have more diversity in not only the show, but, our crew. I need to be the person to take that to task or voice my disappointment when I believe we haven’t done enough.” When creating Diggstown Kane wanted the show to be aspirational in its depiction of Nova Scotia and the legal system in Canada. The challenge that Freddie Films is working on is: getting Marcie and Diggstown to audiences in Canada. “We want to ensure that young Black women know about Diggstown. We want them
to know there is a show that exists with someone that looks like them who’s doing something aspirational, but still has a complicated life.” “Representation is so important because when you see people that are like you going through similar things, you believe you can too,” Floyd remarked. “One of Marcie’s hobbies is surfing and because of this show, a group in Preston created a surf program for young women. When we shot one of the seasons, we invited the girls to participate in filming. It was incredible seeing how excited and eager they were to be there. It was great to see the power of television and the positive impact it can have in our lives.” Kane currently resides in Toronto, Ontario with his family. His next projects include working on a new pilot to pitch in early 2020, the production of a thriller film for May 2020, and the development of a third season of Diggstown.
