THE PROJECT BREAKDOWN

When I decided, "This is a film!” I instinctively knew I needed to get 'down and dirty' on issues that I thought white and black women should talk about with each other. That's when I decided on a name for my film: "The DIRTY DISH"

THE SYNOPSIS OBJECTIVE
I wanted a film that said: "Listen Up! Forget about all of those other 'Reality Shows' this film is REAL and in your face."

The objective of The DIRTY DISH was to get Black and White women who didn't know each other to share their similarities, differences and personal experiences on: Racism and Prejudices, Skin Color, Interracial Families, Employment, Beauty and Body Image, Sexual, Physical, Verbal and Emotional Abuse, Men, the Media, Rape, Pop Culture and more.

The focal point of The DIRTY DISH was centered specifically on Black and White women, because they appear to be the closest in peers, yet they seem to be the most distant from each.

The documentary explores their experiences and examines if these women are as far apart from each other as they seem...

THE STEPS
I first went about compiling research. I visited Chat Rooms, Black and Interracial web sites, Racist and Hate web sites [there's a LOT of hating out there at EVERY color], Organizations, Political, Statistical and Activism web sites, Discussion Boards and Black Studies web sites.

I culled through gender-segregated comparative qualitative and quantitative data, as well as other socio-economic studies that looked at race and gender as a criterion.

I reviewed statistics on specific female topics such as: welfare, sex abuse, education, higher education, women in prison, crime, women who own businesses, professional and labor work force, home owners, single parents, drug and substance use.

I approached white and black women in social settings [clubs, films etc.] and asked them to think about being a part of my film. I sent out calls for actors and non actors explaining the film and it's content

THE DEFINITIONS
A "Candidate" is someone short-listed for the film
A "Participant" is one who's involved in ALL discussions
A "Contributor" is one who's involved in a particular discussion that's relative only to them, i.e. adoption, mixed race...

THE SHORT LIST
Initially, I was only interested in 8-10 candidates for the film.

Each short-listed candidate was interviewed. Then I conducted 'on camera' post interviews on the short listed candidates and asked uncomfortable questions relative to answers from their interviews. I filmed the callbacks in the style that we would eventually see it on film.

THE CASTING
I dropped only 2 candidates from the callbacks and put a couple of Participants on Contributor status. However, I told only 2 of the Participants about their status.

The short-listed group was never introduced to each other before filming. They were briefed on the types of questions that would be asked and they had the option to participate and share or not.

Interestingly enough, when some of the Participants figured out that they couldn't be involved in the main discussions at the Big Table while being a "Coffee Klatch" girl, they staked a claim for the "Big Table" by shoving themselves into any sliver of room they could find. They fought for their position at the table...

That's how we wound up with 15 Vibrant Females!

That’s the project called The DIRTY DISH…