Program Details

We're elated to launch our second mentorship cohort which offers emerging filmmakers an opportunity to build relationships and develop their skill set alongside seasoned professionals.

The Black Film Space Mentorship Program will pair 10 mentees with 10 mentors from June 5th to November 22nd, 2024.

Mentees will have (6) 45 minute meetings with their mentor during the program to discuss their work, develop their projects, and careers as it pertains to their short and long term goals.

Mentors will give one round of feedback on the mentees work over the course of the program.

Mentees are selected based on: Quality of prior work, project goals, personal statement, career objectives and virtual interviews. Mentees must work towards a short term goal over the course of the program.

We are looking for mentees who are committed to developing their craft. Mentees are matched with mentors based on their expertise.

You must be a Black Film Space Member to apply.

Before applying, read our mentors full biographies and review the frequently asked questions below.

Applications Open: March 27th

Virtual Orientation: April 4th - 9 to 9:30 PM ET | WATCH THE REPLAY

Application Deadline: April 24th - 11:59 PM ET

Finalist Interviews: Mid to Late May

Program Begins: June 5th

Program Ends: November 22nd

Log into our membership portal to fill out the application.

Questions? E-mail us at mentorship@blackfilmspace.com

2024 Mentors

  • Bruce Francis Cole

    Cinematographer

    (IFC Films’ Farewell Amor, Searchlight Pictures’ Suncoast)

  • Princess Hairston

    Documentarian

    (Co-Director/Producer of PBS’ Breaking the News, Producer/Editor of Netflix’ LADIES FIRST: a story of Women in Hip Hop on Netflix)

  • Kristian R. Hill

    Documentarian

    (Editor of BET’s Welcome to Rap City, Director, Co-Writer, Co-Editor, Co-Cinematographer of God Said Give ‘em Drum Machines - the Story of Detroit Techno)

  • Lauren Beckett Jackson

    Editor

    (Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress)

  • Tamika Miller

    Episodic, Commercial & Film Director

    (CBS’ The Equalizer, ABC/Shondalnad’s Station 19)

  • Kelly Park

    Episodic Director

    (Netflix’s Grace & Frankie, CBS’ The Neighborhood)

  • Charnelle “Cha” Quallis

    Documentary Editor

    (HBO’s Obama: In Pursuit of a More Perfect Union, Fantastic Negrito: Have You Lost Your Mind Yet?)

  • John Simmons, ASC

    Cinematographer

    (ABC’s Greys Anatomy, Netflix’s Family Reunion)

  • Angel Weaver

    Screenwriter

    (Nickelodeon Writers Program 2021 Fellow, Niceklodeon’s That Girl Lay Lay)

  • Loy A. Webb

    Screenwriter

    (Hulu’s Reasonable Doubt, BET's The Ms. Pat Show)

MENTOR BIOS

Bruce Francis Cole is a bicoastal cinematographer who has worked worldwide. Early in his childhood, he was an exceptional student in the form of visual art. Raised in the inner city, his art carried him to places beyond his immediate surroundings. After traveling around America, working for non-profit social justice programs, and being inspired by the late Haskell Wexler, he decided to explore film as an art form. Eventually, after studying cinematography at both UNCSA (David Gordon Green, Jeff Nichols) and The American Film Institute, he worked his way up from electrician to gaffer and eventually DP. Bruce was named an ASC Rising Star in 2021 and works in both Features, Television and Music Videos. His work on the music video for Grammy winning Best Rap Performance - Family Ties by Baby Keem and Kendrick Lamar garnered him a nomination for MTV VMA best cinematography in 2022. He also set the look for the TV series QUEER AS FOLK for Peacock and shot the feature film FAREWELL AMOR, directed by Ekwa Msangi, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival. Bruce’s most recent project is the Searchlight feature SUNCOAST, a personal story of the writer/director Laura Chinn. It’s set in the early 2000s, based on Laura’s teenage self having to go with her mother, played by Laura Linney, to admit her brother into a facility and ends up bonding with an eccentric activist, played by Woody Harrelson.

Ideal Mentee: Aspiring to break into Film, TV, Music Video Cinematography

Tamika Miller is an episodic, award-winning commercial and film director/writer. She directed the NBC television drama QUANTUM LEAP, THE EQUALIZER for CBS and STATION 19 for ABC/Shondaland, as well as directed and co-produced the indie feature HONOR STUDENT, starring Emmy-Nominated actress Kelly Jenrette (All American: Homecoming, The Handmaid's Tale) and actor Hudson Yang (Fresh Off the Boat). HONOR STUDENT won the 2023 Best Feature Film Award at the Martha's Vineyard African.

American Film Festival, 2023 Indie Spirit Award at the Boston International Film Festival, 2023 Best Feature Film Award at the Morehouse Human Rights Film Festival, 2023 Best Actress Award at the Los Angeles IFS Film Festival, and garnered Tamika the 2023 Best Director Award at the Harlem International Film Festival.

She is currently in pre-production for her much-anticipated feature film UNDERCARD, starring actress/comedienne Wanda Sykes in her first dramatic role.

An advocate for storytelling where women and people of color are at the center, Tamika co-founded Black Films Travel - a conscious initiative that dispels the myth that Black films don't make money overseas. A gifted filmmaker, Tamika is a tremendous talent and truly a triple threat.

Ideal Mentee: Aspiring to break into TV, Film and/or Commercial Directing

Director Kelly Park is from Philly. Her early years were spent attending Quaker schools, which helped shape a unique life perspective. After launching her career as a marketer and project manager in the technology and advertising industries, she decided to switch things up. Inspired by her actress mother to listen to her "funny bone", she took a leap of faith, and moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in comedy.

She began studying at Second City and The Groundlings, which led to commercials, short films, and sketch comedies. However, she soon realized being in front of the camera wasn't what fed her soul, teaching was. This eventually would lead to teaching children and young adults the fundamentals of acting and improv. Kelly quickly became one of the most sought-after acting coaches in television, working on numerous pilots and television shows for Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, Amazon, and Netflix.

From there, Kelly transitioned to Director, debuting on the Emmy Award-nominated Netflix show, ALEXA & KATIE, ultimately directing multiple episodes. She has since directed numerous episodes such as GRACE & FRANKIE, THE NEIGHBORHOOD, STATION 19, and the upcoming FRASIER revival, as well as becoming a pilot Director for COUNTRY COMFORT (Netflix), BLACK DON'T CRACK (ABC), LOPEZ VS. LOPEZ (NBC), and most recently, NON-EVIL TWIN (NBC).

She is also a writer/producer and is currently developing several projects with her producing partner husband, John, having recently sold a multi-cam comedy to Universal Television, as well as to CBS Studios.

Ideal Mentee: Aspiring to break into Television Directing

Born and raised in Chicago, John Simmons, ASC came of age at the height of the politically charged 1960s. His talent as a photographer was identified and nurtured by Robert “Bobby” Sengstacke. In 1969 Bobby received an artist in residence at Fisk University and presented John’s work to David Driskell and John was given a scholarship . It was a life changing experience where John studied with Carlton Moss, Aaron Douglass, Earl J. Hooks, Martin Puryer, Stephine Pogue and Greg Ridley. His next educational milestone was receiving a scholarship and attending graduate school at The University of Southern California with support from Carlton Moss to study cinematography. He has been a member of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) since 2004, serving as a Vice President in 2017 and 2018. John has worked behind the camera since the early 1970’s shooting documentaries with film director Carlton Moss. He then moved to music videos, commercials and features. He served as an Adjunct Professor in the Television/Film and Theater Department at UCLA for twenty-five years and continues to mentor many up and coming cinematographers.

At age 15 Simmons began shooting photos for The Chicago Defender newspaper — the oldest Black-owned publication established in 1906. After leaving Chicago he studied fine art at Fisk University and completed a Master’s degree in cinematography at the University of Southern California. In 2004 he was inducted into the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) where he currently serves as the co-chair of the ASC Vision Committee. He is also on the Board of Governors of the Television Academy and champions increased diversity on-set. Simmons’ introduction to television began with movies made for TV. The Killing Yard, The Ruby Bridges Story, Selma Lord Selma and numerous independent and network documentaries including PBS, Showtime and HBO. His first multi-camera prime time show was The Hugley’s which began an illustrious career in multi-camera sitcoms. Simmons has earned three Emmy nominations; twice for the Disney series PAIR OF KINGS for two consecutive years. In 2016 John won the Best Cinematography Emmy for the Nickelodeon primetime multi camera series NICKY, RICKY, DICKY AND DAWN. He is presently shooting and directing for various networks.

John Simmons, ASC and has had a prolific career as both a still photographer and cinematographer. He has filmed numerous music videos and commercials for artists such as Stevie Wonder, Britney Spears, Snoop Dogg and many more. Through it all John Simmons has continued to carry a still camera everyday and his photographs are held in the collections of the Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Harvard Art Museums, Harvard University; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA; Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; the Center for Creative Photography at The University of Arizona; American Society of Cinematographers; and the David C. Driskell Center, University of Maryland; Weasley and Missy Cochran Foundation, The Museum of Contemporary Photography of Chicago, IL.

Ideal Mentee: Aspiring to break into Film, TV, Music Video Cinematography

Lauren Beckett Jackson was born and raised on Long Island, NY and earned her Bachelor’s degree in Drama and Mass Communications & Media Studies from Tufts University. She began her career interning for ABC News and the Daytime Emmy Award winning talk show The View during college summers. Upon graduation, she shifted to Reality TV, starting as an Executive Assistant for Vh1’s I Want to Work for Diddy, which spearheaded her work in production as a Production Coordinator for VH1’s TRANSform Me, HGTV’s Battle on the Block, TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress and Randy to the Rescue. 

Leaving Production behind, Lauren transitioned into Post Production, where she found her niche as an Editor and received an Outstanding Achievement in Editing Award from New York First Time Fest for the documentary feature Beneath the Olive Tree, and a Miami Web Fest Award for the web series Not F*cking Around Crew. Lauren has gone on to edit notable Reality docu-series programming including TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress and Four Weddings, MTV’s My Super Sweet 16 and Promposal, Vh1’s Basketball Wives, and Bravo’s Summer House. Lauren has been a staff Editor for The Daily Show on Comedy Central since 2020 and has been nominated for 2 Emmy Awards and won an NAACP Image Award for her work.

Ideal Mentee: Reality TV or Documentary Editing

Charnelle “Cha” Quallis (she/her) is a film editor. She began her career editing creative and promotional content for broadcast and digital platforms at NBC Sports & Olympics. But after three emmys and six years in sports production, she decided to follow her passion for documentary storytelling. Cha has since worked on a handful of documentaries that re-examine history and highlight the journey and achievements of marginalized individuals. More recently, she edited Fantastic Negrito: Have You Lost Your Mind Yet? which won the Executive’s Award for Best Documentary Feature at the Pan African Film Festival in 2023. She also was an editor on Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy which was a 2022 duPont-Columbia Award Finalists. 

Ideal Mentee: Aspiring to break out of Assistant Editing and into the lead editing role

Kristian R. Hill, an award-winning documentary filmmaker, has over 25 years of experience in film, television, and entertainment media. Born in Detroit, the city and its history defines much of his work. Thanks to the encouragement of his parents, Kristian found an early affinity with computers and love of video editing, which served as an entryway to television. As an editor, he earned television credits, such as “Icons Among Us: Jazz in the Present Tense” and other projects with the NFL Network, HBO and Apple. Driven by a thirst to tell authentic stories, Kristian eventually began focusing on producing and directing in addition to editing.

In 2014, Kristian garnered an NAACP Image Award Nomination for Best Children's Television Program for “Postcards: Mandela.” Later that year, his short film, "Electric Roots: The Detroit Sound Project," was selected to screen at the Court Mértage of the Cannes Short Film Corner. He
directed, shot, and edited both projects.

Kristian made his feature-film directing debut in 2022 with “God Said Give ‘em Drum Machines - the Story of Detroit Techno” at the world-renown Tribeca Film Festival. Through the making and rollout of the film, he has earned speaking engagements at the School of Cinematic Arts at DePaul University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Documentary Lab, British Film Institute at the London Film Festival, and the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum to name a few.

Kristian is currently living and working in Los Angeles where he is in-demand as an editor and growing his reputation as a director and executive producer. Still closely engaged with his hometown, he was recently the recipient of the Detroit Diaspora - Cultural Titan Award. His next project, “Welcome to Rap City,'' is a three-part docu-series presented by BET and Mass Appeal premiering on the BET Network in October 2023.

Ideal Mentee: Aspiring to break into Directing or Editing Documentaries

Princess A. Hairston--is a director and Emmy-nominated editor in New York City. Princess has produced and directed films such as BREAKING THE NEWS a feature-length documentary that is currently distributed on PBS and LADIES FIRST: a story of Women in Hip Hop on NETFLIX. She is one of the editors for a new hybrid documentary titled Songs from the Hole premiering at SXSW 2024, She also edited This World Is Not My Own which premiered at SXSW 2023 and the highly ranked Amazon doc series LulaRich in 2021. She edited a one-hour special for the 2020 BIDEN/HARRIS campaign, a five-part 81-minute documentary series for Prudential titled Masterpiece of Love, was supervising editor for Pier Kids, an editor on FRESH DRESSED, an official 2015 Sundance Film Festival selection and editor for the Emmy-nominated series Capture with Mark Seliger. In 2020, she produced a digital campaign for “GET OUT THE VOTE” for Black Lives Matter. Princess was selected as one of 25 filmmaker nominees for the 2020 Lynn Shelton Of A Certain Age grant. She is a 2018 recipient of the Karen Schmeer Editing Fellowship and a 2018 Winner of the NYTVF + WEtv Producer Pitch which led to a development deal. Her work has been recognized with nominations and awards from the Emmys, The Webbys, and many film festivals.

Ideal Mentee: Aspiring to break into Directing, Producing or Editing Documentaries

Angel Weaver grew up in Southern California, graduated from UC Berkeley where she ran track, and became an engineer in the Tech Industry before realizing she was most passionate about comedy writing. In 2021 Angel was selected as a fellow for the Nickelodeon Writers Program. And went on to staff on their hit show That Girl Lay Lay. In features, Angel’s romantic comedy spec script, GHOSTED, sold to Paramount with Idris Elba producing. In TV, Angel just went on to a new BET+ adult animated series, staffed as a Story Editor.

Ideal Mentee: Aspiring to Write for Television

Loy A. Webb is a Chicago-born TV Writer, Playwright, and Attorney. Her TV writing credits include the Hulu/Onyx Collective Series Reasonable Doubt, AMC's NOS4A2, and BET's Ms. Pat Show.  Her plays include The Light (MCC Theater 2018/2019, Outer Critics Circle nomination for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play, The New Colony, 2017/2018, Joseph Jefferson Award), and His Shadow (16th Street Theater 2019/2020, Joseph Jefferson Award). She was an inaugural Tutterow Fellow at Chicago Dramatists. Additionally, she holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a J.D. from The John Marshall Law School.

Ideal Mentee: Aspiring to Write for Television

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What makes an ideal mentee?

We are are looking for mentees who can display a high level of commitment to their craft, have a goal within a specific project they will work towards during the program and are seeking a similar career path as their mentor.

How much experience does an ideal mentee have?

The ideal candidate is an emerging filmmaker. If you are brand new to filmmaking or don't have any past work to submit in your application, we recommend that you wait for future programs to apply. We're looking for filmmakers that have completed a project whether it's a script, edited a short, directed a film, shot branded content specs, etc... Mentees will be selected based on quality of their past work, have a goal within a project they are working towards during the program and how committed they are to improving their craft.

How do you pair mentees with mentors?

We will pair mentees as close as possible to the career path of the mentor. It doesn't have to be exact, but in the ball park.

When does the program start and end?

Mentors/Mentees will be connected on June 5th and the program ends on November 22nd. This means Mentors/Mentees will meet with each other (6) times and the mentor will give one round of feedback on the mentee’s work before November 22nd.

Does my project need to be completed by the end of the program?

Your project does not have to be 100% complete by the end of the program. However, we are looking for mentees who have a specific goal within their project that they will be complete by the end of the program. For example: shoot 10 interviews for your documentary, edit two cuts of your short film, complete 2nd draft of TV Pilot, etc…

What does success look like for this program?

At the minimum, success looks like the mentee completing their goal with the guidance of the mentor and having their questions answered with regards to improving their craft and navigating the industry. At the beginning of the program, each mentee will fill out a sheet to track their progress on their goal and to help facilitate conversations with their mentor. In addition, mentors and mentees may continue their relationship beyond the program.

Does the project need to be mine in order to participate?

No, the project can be in collaboration with another filmmaker or you can be commissioned/in agreement to work on someone else’s project. However, you do need to have a goal that is aligned with the timeline of the program.

What do I need to prepare for the mentorship application?

  • Links to past work (Reel, Scripts, Completed Shorts, etc...)

  • Links to the project you'll be working on during the program (Scripts, Deck, Outline, Treatment, Rough Cut, or letter of intention describing what you’ll be working on)

  • Your resume

  • A personal statement

  • A headshot

How will mentees be connected with each other?

Mentees will connect virtually at the beginning of the program and will able to communicate via our membership portal. Mentees will be encouraged to meet with each other throughout the program.

What else is included in the Black Film Space Membership?

Free access to:

  • Apply to our exclusive grants and pipeline programs

  • Our monthly virtual panels

  • Our Screenwriting Workshops

  • Discounts and invites to exclusive screenings

  • our recorded webinars

  • our directory/community threads and much more!

Can I apply if I'm not based in the United States?

Yes, but you must make yourself available to meet with your mentor. Our mentors are based in East Standard Time and Pacific Standard Time. If it's not realistic for you to make yourself available, we recommend that you apply for future mentorship programs.

I’m already a member. Where do I find the application?

Log into our membership portal. The application can be found on the community sidebar.