We are Lillie Barnett Evans and Crystal V. Rhodes, Executive Producers of The Funeral. We write the Grandmothers Incorporated cozy mystery book series about three crime-fighting grandmothers in their 60s. Our characters have generated four novels and three plays, one of which premiered Off-Broadway. Our Grandmothers, Incorporated script won the 2023 Old Lady Playwriting Competition against 600+ other entries from 36 countries. After that win, we put our hilarious characters from Grandmothers, Incorporated in a film called The Funeral.

The Funeral is a short comedy film (15-20 minutes) in which a conversation about a funeral service becomes hilariously chaotic as it passes from friend to friend. We are the Executive Producers of The Funeral, and we are collaborating with award-winning producer/director Lisa Maydwell of Maydwell Productions in Atlanta, Georgia. We wrote The Funeral to address stereotypes about older African American women and to show that age is not a limitation to creativity.

Our goal is to bring the ladies of Grandmothers, Incorporated to life on screen. Instead of waiting for someone else to make that happen, Evans and Rhodes decided to accept the challenge. As producers, we get things done.

As first-time filmmakers, we had limited knowledge of the film industry, but we knew this was a project that we were determined to pursue. Through observation, research, and networking, we were blessed to find the human resources we needed to make the film. However, before utilizing these resources, a very important item was missing. MONEY. This is where you come in.

We are working hard to raise the funds to produce The Funeral, and the financial and emotional support that we are receiving from family, friends, and strangers is fantastic! If you are unable to contribute financially to our campaign, we would appreciate it if you could spread the word about The Funeral and our GoFundMe fundraising campaign.