Media_Beat

In his new book, Who’s Afraid of Post-Blackness?, noted journalist and author Toure says he wanted to explore “what it means to be Black now.” And, no, “post-Blackness” is not the same as “post-racial.”

“Post-racial suggests a world where race does not exist and racism does not exist, and it’s a completely ridiculous term… With post-Blackness, what I’m talking about is a conception of Blackness where the identity options are infinite. So, we’re not saying THIS is what it is to be Black,” he explained in the second installment of our Media Beat interview.

“There seems to be this conception that Blackness must stay in the hood as if Blackness is milk, and the hood is the refrigerator. And the further away you get from the refrigerator, it will spoil. And you go to Yale for four years, somehow you have lost your Blackness, as opposed to if you go to jail for 10 years, your Blackness is hardened?”

In the book, he even asks noted Black academics, celebrities, and activists the best question ever (yes, I said it) about a huge stereotype: “Would you eat watermelon in a room full of white people?”

Watch the full video to find out how ?uestlove of The Roots and Rev. Jesse Jackson answered.

You can also view this video on YouTube.

Part 1: Toure Lights Up the Twittersphere with a Debate on… Tipping?

Part 3: Toure on Pitching, Getting Assignments, and That R. Kelly Interview

Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.

Before they were mainstays on countless bestseller lists, Maya Angelou, Terry McMillan and Alice Walker were all once featured in Essence. And, says editor-in-chief Constance C.R. White, the magazine is always looking to give the next big talent a shot at a byline as well.

“The first thing you think about is what are Black women thinking about. What’s important to Black women?” White explains in our latest Media Beat interview. “And that is really the crux of what we do at Essence and, therefore if you’re pitching us, that’s what you should be focused on too as a writer.”

You can also view this video on YouTube.

Part 2: Tuesday, we discuss the real deal behind that fashion director controversy.

Part 3: Wednesday, White explains how she’s growing Essence.com in the face of steep competition from entertainment blogs.

It’s Devon Franklin‘s job as VP of production for Columbia/Sony Pictures to buy film scripts and see them through the development and production process. So, how can aspiring scribes keep their work out of the slush pile? Take a screenwriting class, enter film competitions, and polish your drafts until they’re perfect.

“Do everything you can to work on these ideas,” Franklin, the man behind Jumping The Broom, explained in our @mediabeat interview. “And I promise you — people think this is crazy — we need good scripts in Hollywood. So, if you write a good script, even if you’re in Nebraska, Ohio — you could be in the most remote part of the world — if you write a good script, I promise you somehow we’ll find it.”

Franklin applied the same principles of diligence and faith in his own life, which he details in his new book Produced By Faith: Enjoy Real Success without Compromising Your True Self (Simon & Schuster).

“The book is a metaphor for your life as a movie, and every movie starts with a big idea,” the author and motivational speaker explained. “My whole big idea for my life is to inspire and encourage, and God has called me to use film as part of a way to do that.”

You can also watch this video on YouTube.

Part 1: Jumping The Broom Production VP Brings Spirituality to Hollywood

Part 3: Columbia Pictures VP Devon Franklin Talks Netflix, Social Media

In the overwhelming world of social networks, it’s easy for a publisher, author, or article to get lost in the crowd. The discovery engine StumbleUpon helps millions of readers sort through the mess–generating some impressive traffic in the process.

This week we interviewed StumbleUpon CEO Garrett Camp for mediabistro.com’s Media Beat video show. In the video embedded above, Camp offered some surprising statistics about StumbleUpon’s traffic.

Here’s an excerpt: “We have just under 15 million registered users doing 800 to 850 million Stumbles a month. In terms of traffic, we refer almost as much traffic as Facebook. Which means–if you think about the number of people that click on an external link in a Facebook feed and the amount of people who click on a link in StumbleUpon is about the same in North America.”

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Akashic Books publisher Johnny Temple joined us for a Media Beat interview this week, talking about how he moved from playing in a band to leading a publishing house.

Here’s an excerpt from the interview: “When the bottom fell out of the music business, suddenly record sales plummeted and musicians had to look for multiple income streams to stay afloat. That’s one of the things I learned as a musician–you can’t keep all your eggs in one basket.”

Below we’ve included more interview excerpts with Temple–a publisher and Girls Against Boys bassist. Visit Akashic Books to explore the publisher’s long and varied list.

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Akashic Books publisher Johnny Temple joined us for a Media Beat interview this week. In today’s installment, he shared advice for aspiring writers hoping to pitch his literary press.

Here’s an excerpt from the interview: “All of us book publishers these days are inundated with submissions–so many people are writing and there is a great diversity of voices being published. But the flip-side of that is that it is crowded. I think the best way to reach Akashic (or really any publishing company or literary agent for that matter) is to do an end-around–to find someone who we know and trust to recommend you.”

Below we’ve included more interview excerpts with Temple–a publisher and Girls Against Boys bassist. Visit Akashic Books to explore the publisher’s long and varied list.

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Akashic Books publisher Johnny Temple joined us for a Media Beat interview this week, talking about how he transitioned from rock star to literary publisher over the last 10 years.

Here’s an excerpt from today’s installment (embedded above): “I had no publishing background, but looking back, I think it gave me a boost … I was unburdened by this morose attitude in book publishing, [thinking] ‘Nobody reads books anymore, our business is in decline’–all these doom and gloom attitudes. Unfortunately, I’ve never had that.”

Below we’ve included more interview excerpts with Temple–a publisher and Girls Against Boys bassist. Visit Akashic Books to explore the publisher’s long and varied list.

Read more

Novelist James Ellroy joined us for a Media Beat interview this week, talking about his recent memoir (The Hilliker Curse) and outlining his upcoming six-part television series.

Here’s an excerpt from today’s installment (embedded above): “I had a blast as a kid writer … Nobody told me I couldn’t write a novel first crack. Nobody discouraged or encouraged me. I had no family. I had good, clean outdoor work. I caddied at country clubs …  I got sober preceding this. So I was clearheaded, healthy, and very, very ambitious. It took me six published novels to tenuously earn a living as a writer. But I don’t view it as a struggle.”

James Ellroy’s LA: City of Demons premieres on Wednesday, January 19th at 10 p.m. on Investigation Discovery. Follow these links to watch the rest  of the Media Beat interview:

Part One–James Ellroy On His New TV Show
Part Two: James Ellroy on Los Angeles

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Jonathan Ames has written short stories, newspaper columns, and novels in his over twenty years as a writer and author.

In our Media Beat interview, he revealed how he added another title to his resume:  screenwriter and executive producer of HBO’s Bored to Death, a series based on his own short story about a writer turned private investigator.

“I read a number of scripts and I just quickly gleaned that you want to make the descriptions short and to the point and the dialogue lively,” Ames told mediabistro.com founder Laurel Touby. “I did learn as I went along to begin scenes late and end early. You don’t want people walking across the room a lot and ringing doorbells. You know, all that’s gonna chew up screen time and get thrown out anyway. It was just sort of adapting to a form, like adapting to a poetic form like a sonnet. What’s another one? A siesta. No, that’s a nap.”

Watch the full video for more tips (and humor) about Ames’ writing process and to find out why, despite his success, he’s still not ready to settle down.

Part 1: Bored to Death‘s Jonathan Ames on Sex, Insecurity and…Boxing?

Part 3: Jonathan Ames Brings “Jonathan Ames” to HBO’s Bored to Death

With millions of books sold and fans already salivating over news that a film version is in the works for her latest release Getting To Happy, Terry McMillan has accomplished feats in publishing that most scribes could only dream of.

So, what’s the one piece of advice she’d give to those looking to emulate her success?

“I tell a lot of young writers that they should be more concerned about their stories and characters than being famous and even getting published, because when they’re ready they will be published,” she said in the final installment of our Media Beat interview. “Too many of them now all they think about is how much money they’re gonna make, being famous, getting on The New York Times, that’s their goal. And that’s such a phony, superficial, shallow goal to have as a reason for writing.”

Watch the full video to get more of McMillan’s insights on the screenwriting process and to find out why she’s not a Kindle fan.

Part 1: Terry McMillan: From Waiting To Exhale To Getting To Happy

Part 2: Terry McMillan Puts the ‘Ugliness’ of Divorce Behind Her