Jonathan Daviss and Carlacia Grant are two of the Black actors at the center of Netflix’s Outer Banks , and both are using the show’s final season to talk about what five years on set taught them about building a career, not just booking a role. Every project is a classroom Daviss, who plays Pope Heyward, told AFROTECH™ Culture he treats every project as a classroom. “I compare it to college in a way, it was just a teaching experience,” he said. “I was learning how to be on set, learning how to come to work prepared, learning how to expand my range as an actor, learning the things I was good at, learning the things I, more importantly, wasn’t good at and could get better at.” That’s the standard he said he now holds every new project to. “I think that’s what I want with every project, I want everybody, every project I go on, I want to learn something new,” he said. “I want to feel like I’m expanding myself. I want to feel like I’m coming to set a student. That’s been my biggest...
MACRO and Andreessen Horowitz’s Cultural Leadership Fund debuted work from the inaugural class of The Epigraph Creator Fellowship on July 30 at MACRO Foundation’s Summernight event in Los Angeles . The program pairs culturally grounded creators with AI production tools. Announced in April 2026, it ran eight weeks and gave fellows direct access to platforms from OpenAI, ElevenLabs, Gamma, Promise Studios, Descript, Coactive and Curious Refuge, along with instruction on integrating each tool into their filmmaking process, the release states. Summernight served as the program’s public showcase. The inaugural class includes Bianca Lambert, Chazitear Martin, John Burr, Justice Whitaker, Nick Barili, Sulayman Tahir and Tedra Wilson. Their projects have been featured in and recognized by the Tribeca Festival, the American Black Film Festival, Slamdance and the Essence Film Festival. What the organizers said In a statement, MACRO Chief Brand Officer Stacey Walker King said, “Storytellers...
Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson has taken his television production company international. Through his G- Unit Film & Television banner , Jackson executive produced Fightland , an eight-episode boxing crime drama shot entirely in London , marking the first time G-Unit has produced a series outside the United States. Fightland is Starz’s first wholly owned original series since the network’s split from Lionsgate. What Is ‘Fightland’ about? The series follows Maduka “Duke” Kilroy, a disgraced, formerly incarcerated heavyweight boxing champion who returns to London after his brother is murdered. Duke serves eight years in a U.S. prison before coming home to seek vengeance against the crime family, led by former promoter Kingsley Marshall, he believes betrayed him. Howard Charles ( Top Boy , Whitstable Pearl ) stars as Duke, leading a cast that includes Nicholas Pinnock, Deborah Ayorinde, Charles Babalola, Tahirah Sharif, and Tyler Conti. The series was created by Daniel Fajemisin-Duncan and...
Just one year after launching Glizzy Street with a single bacon-wrapped hot dog cart and a $400 investment, 16-year-old twin brothers Chazz and Chaze Clemons are already thinking about what’s next. The Long Beach entrepreneurs, whose business has amassed more than 450,000 social media followers by documenting their journey, recently celebrated Glizzy Street’s first anniversary with a community giveaway in partnership with Raising Cane’s and the City of Long Beach. But for the brothers, the milestone isn’t just about looking back on their first year in business; it’s also about preparing for the next phase of growth. “We want to actually scale, expand the team,” Chaze Clemons said. Chazz Clemons said the business spent its first year learning the fundamentals. Photo Credit: Courtesy Photo Provided “Year 1 was just about learning the business, how to cook the hot dog, building the SOPs,” he said. “But year two is taking it further, start scaling. We want to be all over California and...
When audiences head to theaters for Toy Story 5 on June 19, they’ll see Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Jessie, and a new generation of toys navigating a world increasingly shaped by technology . Helping bring those characters to life is Donald Brooks, a Philadelphia and New Castle, DE native whose own journey to Pixar reflects the power of creativity, persistence, and continuous learning. Brooks joined Pixar as an intern in 2021 after earning a BFA in Animation from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). Today, he’s an animator on Toy Story 5 , contributing to one of the most anticipated animated films of the year. “My contribution to Toy Story 5 was as an animator,” Brooks told AFROTECH™ Culture. “I animated characters such as Woody, Jessie, Buzz, and Lilypad. I shape their performances and how they express on screen.” While the film explores the growing role technology plays in everyday life, Brooks says the heart of animation—and storytelling itself—will always belong to people....
