Stories by @jmcdowell
73 stories
Honey
Honey Daniels is a struggling hip-hop dancer who's got all the moves, talent and relentless passion to succeed. She's been waiting all her life to show the world her dance moves and now her dream is just a step away. Inspired by the energy and music of the streets, she risks her shot at the big time to reach out, take a chance and make it on her own terms.
Hercules
Based on the Greek mythology, Hercules, a son of gods, was snatched as a baby by Hades and forced to live among mortals as a half-man, half-god. Now a teenager, Hercules needs to perform a rite of passage on Earth to prove himself worthy of living with the gods on Mount Olympus.
The Golden Girls Live
A live recreation of The Golden Girls with an all-Black cast.
Chaka!
Chronicles the life and career of Chaka Khan, based on her 2003 memoir Chaka! Through the Fire.
Two Trains Running
A film adaptation of August Wilson's play of the same title. It takes place in the Hill District, an African-American neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1969. It explores the social and psychological manifestations of changing attitudes toward race from the perspective of its urban Black characters.
Tar Baby
A film adaptation of Toni Morrison's 1981 novel of the same title; about a love affair between Jadine and Son, two Black Americans from very different worlds. Jadine is a beautiful Sorbonne graduate and fashion model who has been sponsored into wealth and privilege by the Streets, a wealthy white family who employ Jadine's aunt and uncle as domestic servants. Son is an impoverished, strong-minded man who washes up at the Streets' estate on a Caribbean island. As Jadine and Son come together, their affair ruptures the illusions and self-deceptions that held together the world and relationships at the estate. They travel back to the United States to search for somewhere they can both be at home, and find that their homes hold poison for each other. The struggle of Jadine and Son reveals the pain, struggle, and compromises confronting Black Americans seeking to live and love with integrity in the United States.
Butterfly
Chronicles the life and career of music icon Mariah Carey, based on her 2020 memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey.
Sister Sister Live
A live recreation of "Prom Night" (season 5)
Sunset Boulevard
Norma Desmond, a faded star of the silent screen era, living in the past in her decaying mansion on the fabled Los Angeles street. When young screenwriter Joe Gillis accidentally crosses her path, she sees in him an opportunity to make her return to the big screen, with romance and tragedy to follow. Based on the 1950 film and musical of the same title.
Funny Girl
A remake of the 1968 film of the same title, which was adapted from the 1964 Broadway musical starring Barbra Streisand.
The Color Purple (Musical Movie Adaptation - 2023)
Film adaptation of the Broadway musical The Color Purple based on the 1982 novel of the same name and its 1985 film adaptation.
Good Times Live
A live presentation of "A Matter of Mothers" episode
The Sylvester Story
About the life and career of disco legend Sylvester
Jason's Lyric (Remake)
A remake of the 1994 film Jason's Lyric. Two brothers, survivors of family tragedy, take different life paths: one falls for a high-spirited waitress and dreams of success, the other follows a life of petty crime. Their lives reconnect in shattering fashion.
Mean Girls
An all-Black reboot of the 2004 comedy Mean Girls.
Dinah!
About the life and career of legendary singer Dinah Washington.
Invisible Life
A television adaptation of E. Lynn Harris' 1991 novel of the same name and follows Raymond Tyler Jr's journey of discovery as he struggles to come to terms with his sexuality.
It's About Time: The SWV Story
About the story of the legendary 90s girl group SWV
The Old Settler
Adaptation of John Henry Redwood's play, set in Harlem in the 1940s, about two sisters whose lives are altered when a young Southern man takes temporary lodging in their apartment. Quilly, newly separated from her husband, has come to live with her never-married sister Elizabeth. She is dismayed to learn that her cash-strapped sibling has rented a room in their modest Harlem apartment to a handsome young boarder, Husband Witherspoon. Husband has traveled from rural South Carolina to search for his hometown sweetheart, Lou Bessie. Husband soon learns that Lou Bessie has become a fast-living party girl known as Charmaine. Though he tries, Husband is unable to fit into her world. Desperate for real companionship, Husband reaches out to the much-older Elizabeth and convinces her that their romance can work. The two begin a love affair over the objections of Quilly and Lou Bessie, who dismisses Elizabeth as "an old settler" -- a woman who has reached middle age with no prospect of marriage.
Mahogany
A remake of the 1975 film which starred Diana Ross as Tracy Chambers, an aspiring fashion designer from inner-city Chicago who rises to stardom as a fashion model in Rome.