LISA DURDEN PRODUCER/CONTENT CREATOR TELEVISION PRODUCTIONS Production Company Broadcaster AfroPOP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange How To Dress Fabu-Less - Reality The Ultimate Soul Food Cook Off - Reality The Newark Project - Docu-Series Soul Food Junkies - Documentary Brick City 1- Docu-Reality Series Project WOW:The Down Low - Short The Down Low Exposed - News Special Neighborhood Journal - Magazine Show Brick City - Magazine Show The Lisa Durden Show-Talk Show Broadcast Manager Creator/Executive Producer Creator/Executive Producer Associate Producer Field/Associate Producer Field/Associate Producer Director/Exec. Producer Correspondent Segment Producer Segment Producer Executive Producer NBPC 12/2015 – Present LD Unlimited LD Unlimited WK Media 2/2013 – 12/2014 God Bless The Child Prod: 6/2010 - 6/2011 Blowback Productions: 6/2008 - 9/2009 LDU Unlimited: 11/2008 - 12/2008 Park Hill Entertainment: 2/2006 - 2/2006 1/2000 - 4/2000 11/1996 - 12/2000 LDU Productions: 1/1996 -1/2012 WORLD Channel In Development In Development In Production National PBS Sundance Ch. BET J Black Stories BET News Cablevision, NJ Cablevision, NJ Cablevision, NJ INDEPENDENT FILM PRODUCTIONS “China & Irvington:Trading Places” “Project WOW:Men On The Down Low” Director/Exec. Producer Director/Exec. Producer LDU Unlimited: 4/2007-9/2009 LDU Unlimited: 10/2004- 8/2006 AWARDS/FELLOWSHIPS/AFFILIATIONS/EDUCATION Awards: Fellowship/s: Affiliation/s: Education: The Ultimate Soul Food Cook Off: Semi-Finalist/A&E Unscripted Pipeline @ NY TV Festival Soul Food Junkies: ABFF’s Best Documentary Award Brick City 1: Peabody Award Winner Brick City 1: Nominated for a Prime Time Emmy for Exceptional Filmmaking Brick City 1: Nominated for an NAACP Image Award 2nd Place Winner in Pitch Competition, Hollywood Black Film Festival Project WOW: “Best Documentary Award,” The Pocono Mountains Film Festival Project WOW: “The Best Topic Award,” The Urban Film Series Project WOW: “Best Audience Choice Award,” The Women Of Color Film Fest. PBS/CPB Producer’s Academy Workshopper Maysles Institute Filmmakers Collective NATPE Diversity Fellow Member of the New York Women In Film & Television BA, Communications, Seton Hall University 2012 2012 2010 2010 2007 2006 2006 2006 2005 2013 2011
Lisa Durden Unlimited Productions is a Multi-Media Company, headquartered in the State of New Jersey, that specializes in creating award winning content across various platforms for television, the web and live audiences. Lisa Durden Unlimited Productions was launched in 2005 by television personality, motivational speaker and Executive Producer, Lisa Durden. Our mission for the organization is to create quality programming and to tell compelling stories, with big, entertaining, characters!!
Y’all KNOW, I NEVER miss opening night of a film!! But I’m a little “Johnny Come Lately” with my blog post of the movie Fifty Shades Of Grey, because I was at #PAFF (the Pan African Film Festival) handling my business as the Broadcast Manager for the #NationalBlackProgrammingConsortium. As they say, “better late than never!!” LOL. So, this Friday, my standing movie date, my #bestie, Ywanakee Allison and I, went to see the move and it didn’t disappoint!! It started out at a snails pace because it took a while to get to the sex scenes, which is the main reason why I couldn’t wait to see the film. But when it heated up, flames were popping off the screen!! In my #ParisHilton voice: “that’s hot!!”
For those of you who haven’t read #FiftyShadesOfGrey, the movie was a hotly anticipated film adaptation of the bestselling book by #ELJames, that has become a global phenomenon. In the movie, directed by #SamTaylorJohnson, Anastasia Steele, (played by Dakota Johnson), is a literature student, who goes to interview the wealthy Christian Grey, (played by the hottie, Jamie Dornan), as a favor to her roommate, Kate Kavanagh, she encounters a beautiful, brilliant and intimidating man. The innocent and naïve virgin, Ana, starts to realize she wants him. Despite his puzzling intensity and unclear advice, she finds herself desperate to get close to him. Not able to resist Ana’s beauty and independent spirit, #ChristianGrey admits he wants her too; but on his own terms!! Ana hesitates as she discovers the singular tastes of Christian – despite the embellishments of success, his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, and his loving family, Grey is consumed by the need to control everything, therein lies his thirst for sexual control as a Sadomasochist, which involves getting sexual pleasure from causing or feeling pain. Although Fifty Shades Of Grey is a trilogy, one doesn’t have to have read any of the books to enjoy the movie. Those visual nuances that you don’t get the benefit of when reading the book, comes alive in the film. Actually, I’m kind of glad that I hadn’t read all of the books because I would have been caught up in comparing them with the film and that’s no fun!!! When I go to the movies, I wanna chill and enjoy myself. I’m not there to make my #BrainBleed!! LOL.
I was surprised at some of the random comments I read on YouTube about Fifty Shades Of Grey. I mean, some people were saying things that weren’t even factual!! S. Natashasaid, “the content of FSoG is anti-feminist and outright rape/sexual assault.” NOT TRUE!! So to that I responded, “S. Natasha, there was never any sexual assault, rape or inferred rape in Fifty Shades Of Grey!! The definition of rape is: ‘unlawful sexual intercourse or any other sexual penetration of the vagina, anus, or mouth of another person, with or without force, by a sex organ, other body part, or foreign object, without the consent of the victim.’ The operative phrase here is, ‘without the consent of the victim!!’ There was NEVER a time when Christian Grey, forced #AnastasiaSteele to have sex without her consent. She was always ready, willing and able to participate. As a matter of fact, as I recall, he always asked her before hand if she wanted to go forward and her answer was always YES!!” This chick was just making up stuff that never went down. Then some crazy dude namedKronic Shadesaid, “thank God for this movie, all my life I thought that you were supposed to treat women as adult human beings, if she says she's not interested in sex, then that usually means she isn't. Now I know better, when a women says no, it's just a symbolic gesture as she's really testing you because in truth, all women really want is a man that forces themselves upon her. I am terribly confused to what the rape charges after the fact symbolically represent though?” What is this guy talking about?? He’s a #DISASTER!! So my response to him was, “Kronic, did you watch the film!!!?? Or had you been smokin?? LOL. Because in Fifty Shades Of Grey, it was made VERY CLEAR that if Ana didn't want to participate in certain sexual acts, all she had to do was use the word Yellow for caution and Red for stop and Christian Grey would have stopped!! Yes, No means NO!! And NO meant NO in the film!! So what is your confusion??” #SMH!!
I don’t know what people expected, but reading these kinds of comments about the movie Fifty Shades Of Grey made it very clear, just how closed minded we are in this country around sex and sexuality. Don’t get me wrong, the world of whips and chains ain’t for everybody. I totally get that. But we should be open enough and secure enough in our own sexuality, to be able to understand that two grown, consenting adults, may want to try a little freaky sneaky to spice up their sex life, even if it’s something that we wouldn’t have a desire to do ourselves. This film pushed sexual boundaries that made a lot of people uncomfortable, because it was “in your face” and public!! Most folks prefer to watch their sexual fantasies on the small screen, behind closed, locked, doors, because they don’t wanna be judged!! So they really don’t wanna be sitting in a crowded movie theater, filled with strangers, watching a movie like Fifty Shades Of Grey, because if they react favorably, it might confirm that secretly, THEY ARE CURIOUS!! I know I was!! LOL. #IJS!! In my #ArsenioHall voice; “things that make ya go Hmmmmm!!” LOL.
I won’t give the movie away but one of my favorite lines from Fifty Shades Of Grey was when Christian Grey said, “I’m Fifty Shades of fucked up!!” THAT WAS DEEP!! At that moment, I realized what the title Fifty Shades Of Grey really means; People are flawed! People are messy!! People’s lives are filled with backstory and drama!! Which was in essence, what he was trying worn Ana about. That profound statement humanized him. I began to see Christian Grey beyond the sex. Now my interest is really peaked!!
OMG, the casting was #TheBomb!! #FrancineMaisler, the casting director of Fifty Shades Of Grey, did her thing!! Deciding NOT to use celebrities in those roles was GENIUS!! It gave the audience a chance to watch with fresh eyes, rather than being preoccupied with the actor's star status upstaging the role. #DakotaJohnson nailed the role of Anastasia Steele!! She was the perfect mix of innocence, sweet and aggressive. I believed her!! #JamieDornan killed the role of Christian Grey!! I didn’t think I was gonna love him because he doesn’t have the huge #LLCoolJ presence that I like in a man. But I gotta tell ya, in my #TamarBraxton voice, “he did that!!” In addition to his gorgeous face and killer body, those clothes!! WHEW!! Those clothes stepped up his #SWAG in a masculine, #DenzelWashington kind of way!! Oscar-winning costume designer Mark Bridges knew exactly what he was doing when he selected every piece of clothing down to Christian Grey’s draws!! In my #Beyonce voice, his ties, flawless!! His suits, flawless!! His shoes, flawless!! His work out gear, flawless!! His sneakers, flawless!! His jeans, flawless!! #Yaaaaasssss!!! Speaking of jeans, I have no interest in a man who sags, but in one scene, where Christian Grey was meeting Ana in his sex room, he was wearing some hot, holy, jeans, that were sagging; giving us a nice back shot of the top of his cute little butt and front shot, giving us a peek a boo of his manhood; if ya know what I mean. LOL. Clearly he was going commando!! NOW THAT WAS SEXY!! AND APPROPRIATE!! Ladies, he’s the TRUTH!! The clothes were actually a character in the film. The last time I saw that kind of perfection was in the movie #RomeoMustDie.
OMG, the sound track to Fifty Shades Of Grey is #FIYAAAH!! TRUST ME!! According to #ThisWeekInPop, the Fifty Shades Of Grey soundtrack enters at number 2 with 258,000 units. That’s the best first-week sales for a soundtrack since Michael Jackson’s This Is It. Fifty Shades is also the biggest multi-artist soundtrack debut since the 50 Cent vehicle Get Rich Or Die Tryin.’ It features two songs by #Beyonce. Her song, Got Me Looking So Crazy Right Now, was slowed down and sexed up, which made the scene super steamy!! Songs by other artists like #AnnieLennox, #TheRollingStones, #FrankSinatra, #JessieWare, #The Weekend, #LauraWelsh, #EllieGoulding, #Sia, #Awolnation, #Vaults, #SkylarGrey and DannyElfman, were also a part of the sound track. VERY NICE!!
Since it’s African American History month, just for kicks, I wondered what black actors could have been cast in the roles of Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele and my picks would be Newark’s own, #MichaelBJordan, who starred in the hit HBO series, The Wire and the critically acclaimed movie, Fruitvale Station and my home girl, #NaturiNaughton, star of the hit Showtime series, Power. They are both young, hot, talented, up and coming and would have killed it!! Just a thought!! Anywhoo, despite the mixed reviews, Fifty Shades Of Grey, made $85 million opening weekend, making it the top opening movie ever, for a February release. WOW!! “Now that’s entertainment!!” By the way, the ending, is just the beginning, so Ladies, Go See Fifty Shades Of Grey TODAY!! Cause you WILL wanna be in the building for part 2.
Y’all KNOW, I NEVER miss opening night of a film!! But I’m a little “Johnny Come Lately” with my blog post of the movie Fifty Shades Of Grey, because I was at #PAFF (the Pan African Film Festival) handling my business as the Broadcast Manager for the #NationalBlackProgrammingConsortium. As they say, “better late than never!!” LOL. So, this Friday, my standing movie date, my #bestie, Ywanakee Allison and I, went to see the move and it didn’t disappoint!! It started out at a snails pace because it took a while to get to the sex scenes, which is the main reason why I couldn’t wait to see the film. But when it heated up, flames were popping off the screen!! In my #ParisHilton voice: “that’s hot!!”
I don’t know what people expected, but reading these kinds of comments about the movie Fifty Shades Of Grey made it very clear, just how closed minded we are in this country around sex and sexuality. Don’t get me wrong, the world of whips and chains ain’t for everybody. I totally get that. But we should be open enough and secure enough in our own sexuality, to be able to understand that two grown, consenting adults, may want to try a little freaky sneaky to spice up their sex life, even if it’s something that we wouldn’t have a desire to do ourselves. This film pushed sexual boundaries that made a lot of people uncomfortable, because it was “in your face” and public!! Most folks prefer to watch their sexual fantasies on the small screen, behind closed, locked, doors, because they don’t wanna be judged!! So they really don’t wanna be sitting in a crowded movie theater, filled with strangers, watching a movie like Fifty Shades Of Grey, because if they react favorably, it might confirm that secretly, THEY ARE CURIOUS!! I know I was!! LOL. #IJS!! In my #ArsenioHall voice; “things that make ya go Hmmmmm!!” LOL.
OMG, the sound track to Fifty Shades Of Grey is #FIYAAAH!! TRUST ME!! According to #ThisWeekInPop, the Fifty Shades Of Grey soundtrack enters at number 2 with 258,000 units. That’s the best first-week sales for a soundtrack since Michael Jackson’s This Is It. Fifty Shades is also the biggest multi-artist soundtrack debut since the 50 Cent vehicle Get Rich Or Die Tryin.’ It features two songs by #Beyonce. Her song, Got Me Looking So Crazy Right Now, was slowed down and sexed up, which made the scene super steamy!! Songs by other artists like #AnnieLennox, #TheRollingStones, #FrankSinatra, #JessieWare, #The Weekend, #LauraWelsh, #EllieGoulding, #Sia, #Awolnation, #Vaults, #SkylarGrey and DannyElfman, were also a part of the sound track. VERY NICE!!
