Producer Stephanie Frederic On Working With Bill Duke On ‘Light Girls’Posted by Wilson Morales
January 19, 2015
Coming tonight is the world television premiere of the OWN original documentary “Light Girls” will air on Monday, January 19 at 9 p.m. ET/PT featuring an in-depth look into colorism and the untold stories of lighter-skinned women around the globe.
Opening with sincere commentary from fellow OWN employee-slash-life coach Iyanla Vanzant, Light Girls promises introspective conversations with celebrities like Amber Rose, Soledad O’Brien, Raven Symone and Pat Cleveland. In addition to this much-talked about project, the OWN Network will air programming that honors civil rights legends, look at the historical context of the movement, and discuss the merits of its legacy.
Last year, the Oprah Winfrey Network aired Bill Duke and D. Channsin Berry’s Dark Girls, which looked into why African and African American women don’t feel comfortable in their own skin.
This time, Duke, 71, will tell the stories of these fair-featured females from around the world and will attempt to tackle the question of whether having light skin makes a person’s life easier. The series will also have Russell Simmons, Soledad O’Brien, Diahann Carroll, India Arie, Iyanla Vanzant, Michaela Angela Davis, Kym Whitley, Salli Richardson-Whitfield and more.
Blackfilm.com recently spoke with producer Stephanie Frederic on working with Bill Duke and D. Channsin Berry to put this documentary together after the success of ‘Dark Girls.’ Through her company FGW Productions & Transmedia, Frederic produced BET’s award-winning biography series, “Journeys in Black” as well as behind-the-scenes movie specials for Universal Pictures, FOX Searchlight and New Line Cinema plus one-hour network specials for NBC, HGTV, and BET.
How did you get involved with the project?
Stephanie Frederic: Legendary director Bill Duke called and asked me to help produce ‘Light Girls.’ Duke and co-director D. Chanssin Berry had just wrapped the critically-acclaimed doc, ‘Dark Girls,’ and the film struck a nerve with black women everywhere. In fact, when the doc aired on OWN it became a world-wide trending topic. OWN requested the follow-up and Duke reach out and the journey began. Initially, I wanted to turn down the project because I had just wrapped all of the behind-the-scenes content for RIDE ALONG with Ice Cube and Kevin Hart and had been working that project for a year straight, but when I got home and thought about it – I couldn’t sleep. Something kept saying – you need to do this. When I allowed myself to seriously think about it, I realized how much of this is my family’s story and it’s my story. I know the issues, I have lived them and knew I could help tell the story and help shepherd the project.
How different is this from Dark Girls besides skin color?
SF: It was clear after ‘Dark Girls’ that light-skinned women had something to say too. We’ve had experiences too and were called names and hated on all because of the color of our skin, the color of our eyes or the texture of our hair.Light Girls explores skin color from historical, sociological, psychological, and scientific perspectives. The documentary is a truly a global analysis of skin color addressing contemporary issues like bullying, skin bleaching, defining beauty, and the ongoing rivalry on Social Media with all of this #teamlightskin versus #teamdarkskin – which has to STOP! As one of our talent so eloquently stated, “black girl pain and black girl madness is profitable” — and we have to stop this war. The goal of the doc is for black girls everywhere to sit-down and have honest conversations with each other and move toward healing.
Any challenges in getting the right people to go on camera?
SF: Not at all. Women from around the world were so willing to share their experiences and their pain. Normally we’d interview 30-40 people, but when Bill Duke saw the response, he expanded the interviewing sessions. We interviewed more than 250 women and men. And something that was very telling and very powerful was seeing how the hurt and pain was so easy to access. These woman wanted to get these stories off of their chests. At every interview session, someone was crying.
How long did it take to gather enough material before the editing process began?
SF: ‘Light Girls’ has taken just about one year to produce and our post-production was a six-month process. This was one of the hardest docs I have ever worked on and I’ve produced docs on gangs in South LA and docs on some A-List celebrities.
Will there be more footage included in the DVD?
SF: Right now all the focus has been on completing and broadcasting the upcoming show for OWN, January 19th at 9pm ET/8pm CT/9pm PT. Bill Duke is handling the DVD.
What do you want people to take away from this?
SF: My message to black women is that we cannot be happy if we’re still at war with each other. Let’s sit down and work out our issues. There’s power in sisterhood and imagine what we can accomplish if we work together. Someone asked me what does healing look like? Healing only comes from heart to heart conversations. So – let’s talk about this and move forward. I don’t want to have this conversation in 1 year, in 5 years and certainly not 20 years from now. I love my sistahs and think we’re all (new word here) — Hue- tiful.
What else are you working on?
SF: Exciting times ahead. My company, FGW Productions, produces behind-the-scenes of the movies and we just wrapped ‘Ride Along 2’ with Ice Cube, Kevin Hart and mega producer Will Packer which hits theaters in January 2016. There are two other projects I’m thrilled to announce. One is a documentary film about how color came to Hollywood. Forty years after the EEOC threatened to bring a lawsuit against film industry, we examine how African Americans behind the scenes were first hired in Hollywood. This revealing doc explores theresistance the minorities candidates faced, the successful careers which emerged, how their careers enriched their lives, as well as, how they have contributed excellence in their specific fields; having been awarded many honors, including Oscars and Emmys. Finally, we will reveal why the program ended and where the industry stands today on the issue of diversity.
Our other project is a children’s TV sitcom, CITY OF ANGELS – NAIJA STYLE, features three young Nigerian girls who are discovered on YouTube and are whisked away to Hollywood to pursue their dream of musical stardom. The girls are sisters and sisters and they look like 3 little Lupitas. They are beautiful and their experiences in this show will remind you of “Coming to America” with more 21st Century references.
