Today we’d like to introduce you to Breanna Hogan.
Breanna, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
When I was a senior in high school, I got involved in a “romantic” situation that I never should have been in. I use the term romantic loosely, because, in hindsight, it was anything but romantic. Things were great in the beginning, but things soon got out of control and at the end of it all, I was so far away from who I was that I could barely recognize myself. Five years later, when all the dust settled, I was at rock bottom and acting totally out of character. I had lowered my standards, compromised my values and accepted less than I deserved. It was a feeling that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. It took me years to crawl out of that dark place and when I did, I started to realize that the situation was not unique to just me and that so many other women found themselves in similar situations. Not wanting to let another woman end up in that situation I decided that my story was one which needed to be told.
After doing the PR for the hugely successful digital series Giants, which was nominated for 13 overall Daytime Emmy Awards, I knew that I could write and create my own digital series. I’d always loved writing and had been a natural writer … I just needed to learn how to write for television and film. Because I had never done or even studied screenplay writing, I had to teach myself. I’m a visual learner and I learn by example, so the first thing I did was read scripts. I read about 20 to 30 scripts for the pilot episode of my favorite shows, including Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, Shameless, Homeland, The Good Wife, Being Mary Jane, The Wire, and The Office. That’s how I learned how to format a script and structure a story for television. Once I had that figured out, my natural writing and storytelling instincts kicked in. Nearly two years after I first started writing, I had written six full episodes of what was supposed to be a digital series. Everything after that was nothing short of divine and exactly one year later, I held an exclusive, red carpet screening (complete with press, celebrities, influencers, network and studio executives, a liquor sponsorship by Hennessy and a food sponsorship from Chef Dell Catering) for the pilot episode of Á La Carte, which wrapped production in February of this year.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
This has definitely been the hardest I’ve ever worked in my entire life. I am an entertainment publicist by day, so producing and show-running the pilot episode for my first original scripted series was technically a side project – although it required the time and dedication one would put into a full-time job. That said, it was hard. There were a lot of sleepless nights. Most of my core production team had full-time, day jobs, so we did all our meetings and shoots during the weekends — which meant spending 12 to 14 hours a day on set all weekend AFTER spending 40 hours in the office during the week. Exhausting.
Also, there were typical hiccups — as with any production.
Á La Carte – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from others?
I am the creator, sole writer, and showrunner of Á La Carte, which is a scripted dramedy [Drama + Comdy] about the black millennial dating experience and one girl’s journey to the last place she ever thought she would end up … on the side. The series stars reality TV personality and influencer KendallKyndall (BET’s “Games People Play”), Adriyan Rae (Hulu’s “Light As A Feather”), La’Myia Good (“The Wood”), Moritz Williams from the multi-Daytime Emmy Award-winning digital series “Giants”, newcomers Amanda Frezar, Choni Francis, Ariel Brown and Juan Gil, and guest starring Chauncey Jenkins (BET’s “Boomerang”). The pilot episode, titled “Hoes Are Winning” was independently produced by black-owned production company, Prodigi Arts and directed by Screen Actors Guild Award-winning actor, Dijon Talton (“Queen Sugar”), who makes his directorial debut. The production team for the pilot was made up almost entirely by people of color — and majority women. Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Eric Bellinger served as the music supervisor.
Á La Carte is a show that hasn’t been seen or done before. It’s a combination of all your favorite classic shows. It’s Sex & the Citymeets Girlfriends meets Insecure for twenty-something millennials. Most of the mainstream shows focus on either the college age or 30+, but there’s a sweet middle ground that we don’t really see too often. Well-written, meticulously composed and produced to high-quality, Á La Carte is rich with complex and multi-faceted characters of color who we all can relate to. It’s relatable, it’s funny, it’s everything that’s missing from mainstream television about people of color.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
The proudest moment was watching the finished pilot on the big screen at the Harmony Gold Theater, with a group of over 300 family, friends, celebrities, influencers, press, and TV/Studio executives. It’s been such a long road and to see everything come to fruition and far exceed my expectations was just amazing. I had family and friends fly into LA from all over the country just to attend the screening … and celebrate my birthday, which was the day before on June 7th. The feedback we received was phenomenal. Everyone LOVED the pilot, which made all the sacrifice and obstacles worth it.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alacarte_theseries/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alacartetheseries
CREW ( Above the Line Production Team): L-R: Sierra McDonald (Casting Director), Dot McDonald (Associate Producer), Christopher O’Conner (Executive Producer, Prodigi Arts), Giselle Johnson (Producer), Breanna Hogan (Creator/Showrunner), Jasmine Henry (Associate Producer, Set Designer, Social Media Manager), Jeredon O’Conner (Director of Photography).
CAST: L-R: Ariel Brown (plays Misha Taylor), KendallKyndall (plays Reign Moore), Chauncey Jenkins (plays Rodney Weathers), Adriyan Rae (plays Shyra Clemons), Choni Francis (plays Eric Graham), Ritz Williams (male lead as Kaleb Myles), Amanda Frezar (female lead as Mahogany Rose).
Image Credit:
Kim Preston
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