[“All In”\Tressa Azarel Smallwood]
Smallwood: “I believe ‘All In’ will inspire young, single African-American women after seeing the financial and emotional restraints that Keema struggles with as a single mom, and how she overcomes those challenges.”
Photo: Brithney Buchanan
Tressa Smallwood’s “All In,” which tells the story of the struggles of a Black single mother, premieres on Bet Her on Saturday, July 18.
Today, Tressa Azarel Smallwood and Megamind Media announce the award-winning original movie adaptation “All In” has been acquired for BET Her as part of their “Her Stories” initiative — a platform to empower Black women filmmakers. Starring Natia “Lil Mama” Kirkland (Female Rapper), Elise Neal (“Hustle & Flow”), Robert Christopher Riley (“Dynasty”), Jim Jones (Male Rapper), and Traci Braxton (Singer – “Braxton Family Values”), the movie is directed by Ibrahim Yilla (“Secrets”), written by Iman Smallwood, and executive produced and written by Tressa Azarel Smallwood.
“All In” will premiere on BET Her on July 18th, 2020 at 8pm PT/ET.
“All In” is a gripping and relentlessly compelling story that follows a 26-year-old, Keema Newell (Lil Mama), a single mother of three who is a victim of her own circumstances. Stuck in the welfare cycle, after having her kids taken away Keema is desperate to build a better life for her family even if it means going back into a world of crime to make it happen. With help from a praying mother, and a caring social worker who urges her to get into a job training program, Keema struggles to save those she loves. However, everything spins out of control when Keema’s past comes back to haunt her, and her ten-year-old daughter, Treasure, is forced into survival mode. Now, Keema must come face-to-face with her reality and she will not be the only one who pays the price.
“I believe ‘All In’ will inspire young, single African-American women after seeing the financial and emotional restraints that Keema struggles with as a single mom, and how she overcomes those challenges. Life is about finding your support system. This movie will open the eyes of many,” says Smallwood.
Director Ibrahim Yilla says, “Even though Keema is a single mother, the characteristics within that character, exists in a lot of us. determination, caring, protection of family and perseverance is what is exposed in this film. For what it is worth, Keema is in all of us!”
About BET Networks
BET Her is an American basic cable television network owned by ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks. The network is a spin-off of BET with a focus on general entertainment targeting African-American women. The channel originally launched in 1996 as BET on Jazz, a spin-off from BET with a focus on jazz music programming targeting African-Americans. In 2006, the network was re-positioned as BET J to expand its scope to include other music programming of interest to the audience as a companion to BET’s soul and hip-hop-oriented digital networks. In 2009, the network relaunched as Centric, with a focus on lifestyle and music programming targeting an upscale African-American audience. In 2014, the network re-positioned its programming to target African-American women, and in 2017, re-branded under its current name BET Her in an effort to reinforce the network’s commitment to its new target audience.
About Tressa Azarel Smallwood and MegaMind Media
MegaMind Media is an American film and production company specializing in book to film adaptations and original television series and programming. The company was founded by Award Winning Book Publisher, Tressa Azarel Smallwood. Tressa Azarel Smallwood is an award-winning Book Publisher and Movie Producer. She is CEO of Life Changing Books (LCB), and co-founder of MegaMind Media LLC. In 2003 after writing her first novel, Tressa resigned from her teaching tenure in the Maryland school system to fulfill her dream of becoming an entrepreneur. Since then, LCB has published over 162 titles in print and digitally, becoming one of the leading independent publishing companies thriving in the literary industry today. Since launching MegaMind Media, Tressa has produced several award-winning movies which have been adapted to film and TV series for networks such as Viacom/BET Networks, TV ONE, URBAN MOVIE CHANNEL and more. With such a large volume of content, Tressa has positioned MegaMind Media to become the fastest growing film production company from book to film adaptations in America.
