Sista Brunch

Jul 1 · 1m

Pull up a chair. This is Sista Brunch.Sista Brunch is a weekly podcast sharing the stories of Black women and Black gender-expansive people thriving in film, TV, and media. Hosted by Fanshen Cox (she/they), co-author of the Inclusion Rider, the show is seven seasons and 140+ episodes deep — and still growing.Every week, our guests pull back the curtain. How they broke in. What their projects really cost. What they earn, and how they negotiate. The tools they can't work without. And the advice they'd give their younger selves.This trailer features the voices of Erika Green Swafford, Felicia D. Henderson, Effie T. Brown, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Rraine Hanson, Tre'vell Anderson, Gina Yashere, Isis King, Luchina Fisher, and Georgia Fort.Every listen helps us build the largest living archive of stories you won't hear anywhere else.New episodes every Tuesday.Watch and subscribe on YouTube: youtube.com/@TruJuLoMediaFollow us on Instagram: instagram.com/sistabrunchpodcastJoin the community on Patreon: patreon.com/sistabrunchLearn more: sistabrunch.comSista Brunch is a TruJuLo Productions show.

Jun 30 · 44m

Four years running, the most-watched films on streaming have been led by Women of Color. So why is Hollywood still treating diverse stories as a risk?On this bonus episode of Sista Brunch, we sit down with Dr. Ana-Christina Ramón and Jade Abston, two of the researchers behind UCLA's Hollywood Diversity Report, to break down what the 2026 data actually shows about who gets to lead, direct, write, and who's actually watching.Dr. Ramón runs UCLA's Entertainment and Media Research Initiative and has spent more than two decades studying equity in Hollywood. Jade Abston is a PhD candidate at UCLA and a co-author on the report, whose own dissertation research looks at Black women's innovation in music videos and visual albums.We talk through the history of the report and why it had to be built independently of the studios, the numbers behind this year's findings for Black women in lead roles, directing, and writing, and the audience data that keeps proving the same point: Women of Color aren't just watching, they're driving the ratings.This conversation also unpacks something the headline numbers don't always show: how streaming algorithms shape what gets seen in the first place, and why visibility and sustainability are two different problems.Read the full UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report at socialsciences.ucla.eduHosted by Fanshen Cox (she/they) Guests: Dr. Ana-Christina Ramón, Jade AbstonSista Brunch is brought to you by TruJuLo Productions. Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/trujulomedia Follow on Instagram: @SistaBrunchPodcast Support the show: patreon.com/sistabrunch GiveButter.com/SistaBrunch sistabrunch.com

Jun 16 · 47m

Show NotesHow does an "army brat" with no Hollywood connections become an Emmy-winning documentarian whose work sits at the center of one of the most urgent conversations in America? In this bonus brunch, filmmaker Luchina Fisher pulls up a chair to talk about the long, unexpected road from journalism to the director's chair—and the craft, ethics, and relationships that carry a story from the page to the screen to the front lines.Luchina is an Emmy-winning filmmaker, educator, and 2026 North Carolina Media and Journalism Hall of Fame inductee. She's the director behind the new feature documentary The Dads—a follow-up to her Emmy-winning 2023 Netflix short of the same name, executive produced by Dwyane Wade—which follows fathers of trans and gender-expansive kids deciding whether to stay and fight or leave the country.If you make things, fund things, or care about stories that move people toward action, this one's for you. Luchina shares the three questions every filmmaker should ask before any project, why "everything starts with the word" no matter how the technology changes, how an 11-minute short sparked a movement and a foundation, and an honest look at the money—including why the starving-artist myth has to go and what it actually took to pay her team.Pull up a chair. Don't cry. Eat your chicken biscuit. (You'll understand by the end.)In This Episode[00:00] – Big news: Sista Brunch joins the 2026 AIR New Voices AMPLIFY cohort (supported by Apple Podcasts), plus shout-outs to cohort shows worth your follow[02:30] – Welcome to the brunch table: meet Luchina Fisher[04:00] – Her Journey: growing up an army brat, the '70s–'80s golden age of screen, and a big brother directing the neighborhood kids in backyard Star Trek[06:00] – Childhood in Germany, learning the language, and watching reel after reel on the military base[08:00] – UNC Chapel Hill, journalism, the Miami Herald, a lifelong friendship with Tananarive Due, and the leap to study film at the University of Bristol[12:00] – The three questions every filmmaker must ask: Why this? Why now? Why me? On bias, ethics, and "can I sleep at night?"[14:00] – Her brother's charge to "do something," her mother's story, and seeing firsthand the power and urgency of story[16:00] – Becoming a mother, parenting a trans child, and how Gloria Allen became Mama Gloria[18:00] – Why The Dads: the fathers who show up, and the narrative we don't hear enough[19:30] – Let's Talk Tech: from journalist to documentarian, shooting on everything from 16mm to digital, and why the story—not the gear—is the thing[24:30] – The short as poetry: getting it under 12 minutes, designing for middle America, and the Netflix call the day after the SXSW premiere[28:00] – Filmmaking is relationships: how the retreat itself grew out of Luchina's idea to film these dads[31:30] – Financials: paying your team a livable wage, the post–George Floyd commission wave, her 2024 Daytime Emmy, the lean stretch after, and teaching at Yale and Fairfield[36:30] – Building the feature: Stephen Chukumba's "let's keep filming," house-party fundraising, Dwyane Wade, and Elevate Studios[42:00] – Support Sista Brunch + a peek at this summer's Sista Sessions[42:50] – Where and how to see The Dads: festival run, Pride Month screenings, and community screenings you can bring to your own town[44:30] – Sista Brunch: Luchina sits down with her 19-year-old self in Chapel Hill—a chicken biscuit, and the words she needed to hear[46:30] – Closing love and gratitudeResource StackLuchina Fisher & her workDirector's site: luchinafisher.comProduction company: Little Light ProductionsThe Dads (feature): thedadsfilm.comThe Dads Foundation: thedadsfoundation.orgThe Dads (2023 Emmy-winning short) — on NetflixMama Gloria — Luchina's documentary on Black trans elder activist Gloria AllenTeam Dream — short documentaryPeople & partners mentionedDwyane Wade (executive producer) and Elevate StudiosStephen Chukumba, producer and Dads Foundation co-founderTananarive Due, novelist, screenwriter, and directorHuman Rights Campaign / Parents for Transgender Equality CouncilAIR New Voices AMPLIFY cohort shows mentioned (links in the episode description)Consider This For Comfort — Eteng EttahReality Blurred — Andy Dehnart (President, Television Critics Association)Femme and Furious — Julia Rose PortelaSuper Sorry — Amber JankeOut of the Ashes — Vince Comegys-DavisWith thanks to AIR (Association of Independents in Radio), Captain TK Dutes, and Lynn CasperSupport Sista BrunchDonate: givebutter.com/SistaBrunchPatreon (including this summer's Sista Sessions): patreon.com/SistaBrunch

Jun 9 · 21m

What's Greeking? What's a Frankenbite? What does it mean to "package" a project? And why does a Hollywood producer call a sewing machine her most important piece of technology?In this Sista Brunch Season 7 bonus episode, every guest shares the tool, term, or technology from their craft that an outsider would never understand. From set dressing to composing, from location management to unscripted TV editing, from documentary law to the future of AI -- this is the insider language of the entertainment industry, decoded by the people who use it every day.Fourteen guests. Fourteen windows into how this industry actually works. Whether you're trying to break in or you've been in it for decades, you'll learn something you didn't know.Full episode available on YouTube @TruJuLoMedia. Follow @SistaBrunchPodcast on Instagram. Support the show at Patreon.com/SistaBrunch or GiveButter.com/SistaBrunch.

Jun 5 · 26m

How much do you really make in film, TV, and media? Fourteen Sista Brunch guests break the industry's biggest taboo and talk real money — the actual rates, salaries, and budgets behind the careers. You'll hear what a producer's cut of a budget really looks like (and why it's the first thing studios cut), how one executive learned a white colleague was earning six figures more for the same level of work, what showrunners pull in a week, how an independent journalist funded a whole TV show, what composers and location managers actually charge, and why one producer took a job just to keep her house out of foreclosure. From studio offices to indie sets, nobody holds back.Featuring:- Kamala Avila-Salmon — studio budgets, producer pay & executive salary bands- April Reign — consulting, speaking fees & media futurism- Effie Brown — producer pay, backend reality & near-foreclosure- Kai Bowe — showrunning, unscripted rates & the S-corp advantage- Karen Horne — executive salaries, bonuses & the pay gap- Georgia Fort — funding independent journalism- Felicia D. Henderson — self-financing through investors- Aaliyah Williams — documentary budgets- Asha Chai-Chang — cost of living & career strategy- Ashlee Hypolite — free training & community-college pathways- Diana Williams — entrepreneurship & the new creator economy- Kelly Harris — location department & union rates- Marie Douglas — composer rates & contracts- Rraine Hanson — art department minimumsSista Brunch is the podcast building the largest archive anywhere of the stories of Black women and Black gender expansive people thriving in film, TV, and media. Hosted by Fanshen Cox and Shawn Pipkin-West.Watch the full episode on YouTube @TruJuLoMedia.Follow @SistaBrunchPodcast on Instagram for clips, community, and resources.Support the show at Patreon.com/SistaBrunch or GiveButter.com/SistaBrunch.

May 19 · 24m

While working as one of Sista Brunch's season seven associate producers, Charlie T. Savage was quietly making a feature film. Voices the Musical is a 1967 period piece with nine original songs, shot in nine days in Inglewood, now nominated for Best US Narrative Feature and Best Screenplay at the 30th Annual ABFF. In this bonus episode, Charlie shares the full journey -- co-writing the script in one month, fighting against the musical format (and being wrong), shooting a period piece with stunts and a 1965 car on a shoestring budget, and why networking across rather than up is the advice she'd give her younger self over a bag of crawfish and a Pineapple Big Shot. Full episode available on YouTube @TruJuLoMedia.Follow @SistaBrunchPodcast on Instagram.Support the show at Patreon.com/SistaBrunch or GiveButter.com/SistaBrunch.  

May 12 · 37m

Effie T. Brown is an award-winning producer, CEO of Game Changer Films, and a Governor of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Her producing credits include Real Women Have Curves and Dear White People, and she made history when she challenged the lack of diversity on HBO's Project Greenlight -- a moment that helped spark the creation of the Inclusion Rider.In this season seven finale of Sista Brunch, Effie delivers one of the most transparent and unfiltered conversations we've ever had: -- Growing up as a latchkey kid in New Jersey and seeing Alien as a child -- the moment she realized women can save themselves and storytelling can bring everyone together -- Getting into the LMU film school on sheer audacity: "I'm gonna be bigger than Jerry Bruckheimer and Oprah Winfrey" -- The first class of Film Independent's Project Involve -- The full Project Greenlight story: what happened at the premiere, reading Matt Damon's microexpressions, and learning that she'd never hear from them again -- How that moment led directly to the Inclusion Rider and now state-level inclusion policy through the California Film Commission -- Real producer pay: $75K on Real Women Have Curves, underpaying herself on Dear White People, and doing Project Greenlight because her house was about to be foreclosed on -- Why producers should never defer their 5%: "You know who doesn't put their fee back? The director. The actors. The writers." -- Producers United and the fight for development fees and commencement fees -- Her quilting practice, Conjure Quilts: putting disparate pieces together to make something whole -- What verticals are and why they're the future: "Candy Crush with a narrative" -- Her vision for a collective fund where multiple companies pool resources and replenish the pot -- 18 years sober, gumbo, and the advice to her younger self: have a lot of sex and learn about distribution because they eat first and eat the most Effie was born at Fort Dix, New Jersey, attended Loyola Marymount University on a theater scholarship, and has spent her career making sure overlooked voices get heard, seen, paid, and credited.Keywords: Effie Brown, Sista Brunch Podcast, Game Changer Films, Project Greenlight, Inclusion Rider, Real Women Have Curves, Dear White People, producer salary, film producer, Academy Governor, micro drama, verticals, AKUNA, Idris Elba, Conjure Quilts, Film Independent, Project Involve, Producers United, independent film, Black women in Hollywood, distribution, entertainment business, HBO, diversity inclusion, California Film Commission, LMU, circular leadership

May 12 · 37m

In our Season 7 finale, Effie T. Brown holds nothing back. The CEO of Gamechanger Films and producer of Real Women Have Curves, Dear White People, and The Inspection tells the full Project Greenlight story — and learns, for the first time on mic, that her stand on inclusive hiring is the spark behind the Inclusion Rider and the state-level policy that grew out of it. From there she gets real about money: what she actually earned on her best-known films, why producers have to stop deferring their fees, and how she nearly lost her house between projects. Then she turns to what's next — building micro-drama verticals with Idris Elba, why Black creators have to own the platform, and where AI fits in. Plus her quilting practice Conjure Quilts, 18 years of sobriety, and the advice she'd give her younger self over a bowl of gumbo. One of the most candid conversations we've had in seven seasons.In this episode: - The making of "with love in my heart" — the full Project Greenlight story, in Effie's words - The Inclusion Rider's origin, and the live reveal of where it led - Real producer economics: development and commencement fees, the 5% rule, and why you never defer - Micro-dramas and verticals explained — and why ownership is the whole game - Building with Idris Elba's Akuna, plus a clear-eyed take on AI - Conjure Quilts, 18 years sober, and her brunch-table advice to her younger self Shop Effie's quilts — Conjure Quilts: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ConjureQuiltsWatch the full video on YouTube: @TruJuLoMedia Follow on Instagram: @SistaBrunchPodcast Support the show: Patreon.com/SistaBrunch | GiveButter.com/SistaBrunch sistabrunch.com Sista Brunch is building the largest archive anywhere of Black women and Black gender expansive people thriving in film, TV, and media.

May 5 · 37m

Diana Williams is the CEO and co-founder of Kinetic Energy Entertainment, a multi-platform venture studio building franchise IP across film, TV, video games, and immersive experiences. She is the former Creative Development and Franchise Producer for Star Wars at Lucasfilm, where she co-founded ILM Immersive -- the lab behind Vader Immortal and the Academy Award-winning Carne y Arena. In this conversation, Diana shares her path from a farm community in New Jersey to Georgetown to becoming the youngest person ever admitted to the DGA Assistant Directors Training Program, to building franchise worlds at Lucasfilm, to launching her own venture studio. She breaks down the difference between an idea and real IP, why every project should be run as a business, why the entertainment industry has fundamentally changed since 2019, and what collaboration, craft, and curiosity have to do with cheeseburgers. This episode also features co-host Shawn Pipkin-West, who shares an unexpected DGA Training Program connection with Diana. Full episode available on YouTube @TruJuLoMedia.Follow @SistaBrunchPodcast on Instagram.Support the show at Patreon.com/SistaBrunch or GiveButter.com/SistaBrunch. The Spotify description closes with "what collaboration, craft, and curiosity have to do with cheeseburgers" -- which is the kind of line that makes someone press play because they need to know the answer.