Series Logline: During the violent red summer of 1919, a young, ambitious Southern girl migrates to Harlem to live with her bachelor uncle as they navigate the ups and downs of the cultural explosion of the burgeoning New Negro Movement.
Pilot Synopsis: The Harlem Renaissance started with a riot in the 1920s and ended with a riot in 1934. In the pilot are the embers of WWI that relight the fire for post-war black America. It’s the red summer of 1919 and we’re invited into the worlds of both 18-year old Josephine Scott in Birmingham, Alabama and her 30-year old uncle Chester in Harlem, New York. Lynching is rampant across the Southern states while violence is boiling over in cities like Chicago, DC, and New York. Josephine tries to plot her escape to Harlem to live with Chester who encourages her restlessness with his letters of the promised land brewing on Jungle Alley. Meanwhile Chester wrestles with the reality of the struggle of living in the city while trying to survive on his musical talent with his band throwing rent parties. And an underground gang of teenage boys appear to start trouble in the neighborhood but plant the seeds of a restless movement of hope. As Prohibition starts to close in, the developing artistic community of Jungle Alley plot their means of keeping the liquor flowing and the music alive.
Series Overview: Langston Hughes once wrote, “You’ve taken my blues and gone…but someday somebody’ll stand up and talk about me, and write about me…Black and beautiful…I reckon it'll be Me myself! Yes, it'll be me.” Josephine and Chester are the covers of the book retelling the story through their eyes. And the cast of fictional characters like Bootsy, Mable, Slick, Eddie, Honey, and Randall are the pages of the book all moving through the world of the 1920s. While the subject of violence against black folks during this period is dark, the series is an uplifting display of resilience. Jungle Alley will tell the stories of the ushering in of a movement of creativity that led to a period of black empowerment upon which later black revolutions were built. One of the most important elements to this series is music. And music is the vehicle that drives the story showing us the progression of sounds as migration blends in the cultural differences even amongst black folks. Nightclubs along Jungle Alley are the vessels of musical innovation and competitive angst. Restaurants are hotbeds of entrepreneurial spirit. Churches are the spiritual cleansing of guilty souls from the night before. Stumps of wood are the stages for politics and poetry for the passersby. The rooftops are the perches of which the dreams of the youth are hatched. The rat-infested sewers beneath the nightclubs are the peaceful hideaways for plots of resistance. The living room rent parties are packed with dapper and dolled up dancing black bodies where the birthing of creativity begins.
I’m the creator, writer, and director for Jungle Alley. End of July we will be shooting parts of the pilot. Once the pilot is shoot, we'll go through post which will consist of color and sound mixing. From there we will be marketing the piece for pitches, theater settings, and upcoming film festivals. I'd appreciate your donations as both the post and marketing process can get expense. No donation is too small. All are appreciated. Your name will be included in our special thanks credit roll.
Soon you'll be able to visit my website for updates on the progress of Jungle Alley. Please visit ebbylouproductions.com