Allison Shillingford, Darius Clark — Macon Street Residents – win top BET Urbanworld Filmwriting Awards

At BET’s recent Urbanworld Film Awards ceremony in TriBeCa, Macon Street residents Allison (Bonner )Shillingford & Darius Clark Monroe received the top writing awards in this year’s Urbanworld Film Festival.

Their scripts, “Mel & Missy” (Shillingford) and “Year of Our Lord” (Clark) won for Best Teleplay and Best Screenplay, respectively, in the writing categories sponsored by BET Networks.

“BET believes the Urbanworld Film Festival is an undeniable platform for emerging (artists),” said Loretha Jones, President of Original Programming at BET.  Urbanworld Executive Producer Gabrielle Glore said that Urbanworld strives “to keep shining a light on the diversity of stories that the world needs to see”.

Bonner Shillingford’s winning teleplay introduces us to Mel, a fortyish Black woman who is trying to balance life after divorce, co-parenting and dealing with relationship issues, & Missy, a recently divorced white woman and concerned single mother starting a new life.  The two women now live together in gentrified Brooklyn after Missy rents an apartment from Mel.

Monroe’s winning script tells the story of a young Black couple living in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, grappling with the fact that their 7-year-old son is possibly the second coming of Christ.

In its 17th year, Urbanworld is one of the largest internationally competitive festivals dedicated to the exhibition of independent cinema by and about people of color.  BET continues its partnership with Urbanworld to find promising writers with original ideas for potential television series.  A highlight of this year’s festival includes the premiere of David E. Talbert’s “Baggage Claim” starring Paula Patton.