The Shadow Returns

Hi, there! It’s been a hot minute, right? Hope you’ve been doing well...

I was in L.A. for a while and found myself at a gathering in a park, attended almost exclusively by Black people. You may be wondering why I’ve made the editorial choice to “see color” in this instance. Well, it’s worth mentioning because there was no food at this function.

Fam…when we outside and there’s no fire on the grill, the ancestors are not present. Having an outdoor party without food is a nefarious execution of “the ol’ switch-a-roo” — skullduggery at the highest order!

We need to do better.

To be clear, I still had a great time. The vibes were good and there was line dancing (because we do that now), but still… Come on.

Anyways, let’s get into this newsletter.

The Shadow Chronicles

A mentor of mine graciously invited me to L.A. to shadow him for just over a month as he directed two episodes of the show BEL-AIR. 

For those outside showbiz who don’t know what I mean by “shadow”, it’s when you closely observe a director on a TV show or film. It’s full access and insight during all stages of production, on set, in meetings, etc. You don’t necessarily work on the show in a credited role, per say, but having gone through the process, I would qualify it as invaluable hands-on experience.

Here is, literally, the only picture I took of me and my mentor together on set:

As you can see, I went full Method with my role as a shadow.

The experience was rewarding in ways I could never have imagined. I felt myself becoming a more capable and confident director each day.

Tribeca Takeover

BIG NEWS: Yuki produced two films that premiered at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival, EL TIGUERE and THE REBIRTH. There is no collection of words adequate enough to express how proud I am of Yuki and the great strides she’s making with our production company.

Here are some badass images of the filmmaking teams (aggressively brought to you by ShutterStock):

Team “REBIRTH” (L to R: Justine Sweetman (prod.), Stephanie Bonner (prod.), Connie Shi (writer, director, producer, actor), Yuki Maekawa-Ledbetter (prod.)

Team “EL TIGUERE” (L to R: Amalia Broadstreet (EP), Andrew Rodriguez (writer/director), Matt D’Amato (EP), Justine Sweetman (EP), Yuki Maekawa-Ledbetter (prod.)

The Skin Memoria Teaser is here!

Frequent readers of this newsletter may know a little bit about Skin Memoria, my inaugural step into multimedia art. The full piece is esoteric, but it means a lot to me and I do hope you connect with it in some way.

Here’s a teaser of the first installment:

If you want to share the teaser with anyone you can find it HERE.

The official release is July 15th (my birthday), so expect it to hit your inboxes. I’ll also provide some assets that you can share around if you want to help get the word out.

Okay, that’s it. As always, thank you so much for subscribing. Your ongoing interest and support means a lot to me.

Take care!