The Mannequin Challenge usually shows people acting out an outrageous scene in good fun — a gymnastics team posing mid-tumble, passengers on a plane stopping mid-flight, a comedian pausing during an intense workout — but this one is a lot more serious. A new Mannequin Challenge orchestrated by Black in Blue Film plays out scenes of police shootings and brutality. It was directed by comedian and YouTube personality Simone Shepherd, who said the post has been removed from Facebook but that she will “just keep reposting it.” It starts with intensity: We hear a police officer say, “I told him to get his hands up!
- 11/10/2016
- by Rasha Ali
- The Wrap
For more than three years, All Def Digital has spotlighted up-and-coming creators through an assortment of digital media, music, and television projects. Now, the network founded by hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons has released its first feature film, too. The film is called Major Deal, and it is currently available for download from iTunes.
Major Deal stars Keraun Harris (also known as King Keraun) as Mike Massacre, a struggling rapper whose lyrical skills are, to put it kindly, less-than-extraordinary. With his 30th birthday approaching, Mike receives an ultimatum from his baby mama, played by Simone Shepherd: Get signed, or give up rapping forever. A trailer for the film is available on the All Def Digital YouTube channel:
With Major Deal, All Def Digital is attempting to take some of the creators who have found success on the Add YouTube channel and turn them into movie stars. Harris portrays the ex-con...
Major Deal stars Keraun Harris (also known as King Keraun) as Mike Massacre, a struggling rapper whose lyrical skills are, to put it kindly, less-than-extraordinary. With his 30th birthday approaching, Mike receives an ultimatum from his baby mama, played by Simone Shepherd: Get signed, or give up rapping forever. A trailer for the film is available on the All Def Digital YouTube channel:
With Major Deal, All Def Digital is attempting to take some of the creators who have found success on the Add YouTube channel and turn them into movie stars. Harris portrays the ex-con...
- 8/29/2016
- by Sam Gutelle
- Tubefilter.com
Exclusive: Torrei Hart, Simone Shepherd, Aeriel Miranda also among cast of Us comedy-romance; production reveals footage.
Empire actress AzMarie Livingston has joined the cast of Us comedy Almost Amazing, which is currently shooting in Los Angeles.
The ensemble cast also includes Torrei Hart, Simone Shephard, Aeriel Miranda, Jazsmin Lewis, Erica Mena, Brian Hooks, Eric Roberts, Billy Blanks and Laura Govan.
Writer-director Justin Price’s comedy follows three men who run a professional breakup agency but who are failing to end their own deteriorating relationships.
Producers are Price, Khu, Reno Rankin, Matthew Simmons and Eddy Herrero. Price and DoP Khu previously collaborated on low-budget horrors Dark Moon Rising (2015) and Forsaken (2016).
Livingston, mononymously known as AzMarie, got her break on America’s Next Top Model: British Invasion in 2012. She currently plays Chicken in Fox’s TV drama Empire, co-created by Lee Daniels.
Almost Amazing marks the model-turned-actress’s most prominent role to date following a minor role in Daniels...
Empire actress AzMarie Livingston has joined the cast of Us comedy Almost Amazing, which is currently shooting in Los Angeles.
The ensemble cast also includes Torrei Hart, Simone Shephard, Aeriel Miranda, Jazsmin Lewis, Erica Mena, Brian Hooks, Eric Roberts, Billy Blanks and Laura Govan.
Writer-director Justin Price’s comedy follows three men who run a professional breakup agency but who are failing to end their own deteriorating relationships.
Producers are Price, Khu, Reno Rankin, Matthew Simmons and Eddy Herrero. Price and DoP Khu previously collaborated on low-budget horrors Dark Moon Rising (2015) and Forsaken (2016).
Livingston, mononymously known as AzMarie, got her break on America’s Next Top Model: British Invasion in 2012. She currently plays Chicken in Fox’s TV drama Empire, co-created by Lee Daniels.
Almost Amazing marks the model-turned-actress’s most prominent role to date following a minor role in Daniels...
- 3/23/2016
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Todrick Hall is at it again! The former American Idol finalist and YouTube personality, who is famous for bringing us hilarious videos like Cinderoncé and this Disney-90s mashup (not to mention that epic Taylor Swift mashup), put his creative juices to work yet again to bring fans an amazing parody based on one of our all-time favorite Halloween films, Hocus Pocus. Titled "Hocus Broke-us," the nearly 4-minute video features Hall, Shanna Malcolm and Simone Shepherd as the Sanderson Sisters, originally played by Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy, and added a little modern twist. There's a Straight Outta Compton reference, a hoverboard, a remix of "I Put a...
- 10/13/2015
- E! Online
Taryn Southern has some candid advice for the selfie-taking crowd. The singer, comedienne, and YouTube star appeared in a segment called “Self-Help for Your Digital Soul” for the Today Show and explained how to better master the art of taking selfies.
Southern, boasting over 400,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel, begins by noting how not everyone can do selfies right, and she’s no exception. After asking her fans on Twitter about her most common selfie-taking mistakes, Southern enlists other popular digital stars (including Simone Shepherd, Davey Wavey, and DJ Flula Borg) to point out improvements she and viewers can make when taking pictures of themselves.
Southern is no stranger to the internet’s online video masses. The multi-talented digital star has hosted several different web series for brands like Look TV and Break. Southern also signed a deal with Vimeo back in August 2014 to release her first feature film on Vimeo On Demand; the flick,...
Southern, boasting over 400,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel, begins by noting how not everyone can do selfies right, and she’s no exception. After asking her fans on Twitter about her most common selfie-taking mistakes, Southern enlists other popular digital stars (including Simone Shepherd, Davey Wavey, and DJ Flula Borg) to point out improvements she and viewers can make when taking pictures of themselves.
Southern is no stranger to the internet’s online video masses. The multi-talented digital star has hosted several different web series for brands like Look TV and Break. Southern also signed a deal with Vimeo back in August 2014 to release her first feature film on Vimeo On Demand; the flick,...
- 7/14/2015
- by Bree Brouwer
- Tubefilter.com
Mr. Worldwide aka Pitbull decided to seek some help from none other than YouTube gaming superstar PewDiePie. The globally-recognized singer and the Swedish digital star (who boasts over 33 million subscribers) created a “Lets Play”-style video to promote Pitbull’s New Year’s Eve Revolution show on Fox.
The one-minute video leverages PewDiePie’s massive audience by placing Pitbull into a Grand Theft Auto-esque game called Pitbull Dale! PewDiePie must work to navigate the singer through all the parties, engagements, travelling, and women so he arrives in Miami in time to perform for the New Year’s Eve bash. The video also features some classic 8-bit visual effects and (of course) PewDiePie’s goofy style of video game commentary as he “plays” as Pitbull.
Mr. Worldwide is no stranger to the digital realm. Though the international star is most well-known for his music and live performances, he partnered with multi-channel...
The one-minute video leverages PewDiePie’s massive audience by placing Pitbull into a Grand Theft Auto-esque game called Pitbull Dale! PewDiePie must work to navigate the singer through all the parties, engagements, travelling, and women so he arrives in Miami in time to perform for the New Year’s Eve bash. The video also features some classic 8-bit visual effects and (of course) PewDiePie’s goofy style of video game commentary as he “plays” as Pitbull.
Mr. Worldwide is no stranger to the digital realm. Though the international star is most well-known for his music and live performances, he partnered with multi-channel...
- 12/22/2014
- by Bree Brouwer
- Tubefilter.com
Rainn Wilson has dropped Vine video star Curtis Lepore from his new scripted series. Earlier in the week Wilson announced comedy “Hollywood and Vine,” noting that it would feature five popular video creators from the six-second video platform. Produced by Wilson's SoulPancake, the series was set to star Jerry Purpdrank, Lele Pons, Simone Shepherd, Christian DelGrosso, and Lepore. There was a huge outcry at the selection of Lepore after it was learned that he had a rape charge involving by his ex-girlfriend, fellow Vine star Jessi Smiles, at the beginning of the year. The charges were later reduced to felony assault.
- 10/25/2014
- by Gina Hall
- The Wrap
Rainn Wilson loves keeping his finger on the pulse of new media. As such, the founder of multimedia company SoulPancake and former star of The Office is producing the aptly-titled Hollywood and Vine, a new television comedy starring five celebrities from Vine. Hollywood and Vine will follow the lives of Lele Pons, Jerry Purpdrank, Simone Shepherd, Curtis Lepore, and Christian DelGrosso as they try to move from social media fame to mainstream Hollywood. In real life, these five Viners have built a massive following (they collectively boast over 30 million followers and 5 billion views) around the comedic shorts they upload to the six-second video site. Sometimes they even collaborate on the clips, as you can see in this Vine from DelGrosso and Lepore featuring fellow Viner Josh Peck. “We believe this show is going to be the first to celebrate these amazing, talented Viners in an authentic way and bring their...
- 10/21/2014
- by Bree Brouwer
- Tubefilter.com
Mike Epps will not face criminal charges for allegedly punching a woman in the face at a movie premiere party ... but he's not completely off the hook -- and neither is the alleged victim.We broke the story ... Simone Shepherd says she got into it with Epps' wife at the "Haunted House 2" premiere party ...and claims Epps hauled off and smacked her in the face.Mike insists he never laid a finger on her ... but...
- 5/11/2014
- by TMZ Staff
- TMZ
The woman Mike Epps allegedly punched at a movie premiere wasn't an annoying fan -- she's a comedic actress who says she has history with Epps ... and claims this photo proves he smashed her face up pretty badly. TMZ has learned the alleged victim is Simone Shepherd, and according to her rep she's worked as Mike's ghost writer in the past. We're told she was at the "Haunted House 2" premiere because she was invited by the Wayans.
- 4/18/2014
- by TMZ Staff
- TMZ
On November 8, New York-based comedian Kerry Coddett (pictured, left) fired shots at Saturday Night Live with an editorial published on the Atlantic’s website. In it, she blasted the notion that the show’s cast hadn’t featured a black woman in years because — as longtime repertory player Kenan Thompson said in a widely-circulated interview last fall — “in auditions, they just never find ones that are ready.” Coddett contended instead that SNL’s diversity problems were endemic and ingrained. “Perhaps it’s not that black women aren’t ‘ready’ for SNL; it’s that SNL isn’t ready for a black woman,...
- 1/10/2014
- by Hillary Busis
- EW - Inside TV
It’s official: Come January, SNL will be adding a black woman to its cast. (And possibly two, though Lorne Michaels is reportedly wary of having too many broads on set. Sigh.)
That woman could be one of the 11 comedians who apparently auditioned for SNL in a special showcase at L.A.’s Groundlings Theater. Comedian Simone Shepherd tagged them all in an Instagram photo that has since been taken down — and after looking into each one, it’s safe to say that there’s a lot of talent here. So much for black women not being ready for the Not Ready for Primetime Players.
That woman could be one of the 11 comedians who apparently auditioned for SNL in a special showcase at L.A.’s Groundlings Theater. Comedian Simone Shepherd tagged them all in an Instagram photo that has since been taken down — and after looking into each one, it’s safe to say that there’s a lot of talent here. So much for black women not being ready for the Not Ready for Primetime Players.
- 12/13/2013
- by Hillary Busis
- EW.com - PopWatch
Behold the power of the Internet: It looks like Saturday Night Live is going to add a black female castmember in the new year. Saturday Night Live executive producer Lorne Michaels told The New York Times that the show will add its first black female castmember since Maya Rudolph left the show in 2007. "All told we've seen about 25 people," Michaels said. "A lot of the people we saw are really good. Hopefully we'll come out of the process well." News of SNL's search for a new castmember broke when Simone Shepherd took to Instagram to share a photo of her and fellow comedians at an audition for SNL. "The hilarious Black women who just rock the SNL audition....
- 12/13/2013
- E! Online
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