JAMES E. CHEEK

James E. Cheek, recipient of ABC 2005 New Talent Development grant for $20,000, is compelled to write. Upon completing his bachelor's degree from Howard University, he lived and worked in locales as culturally rich as Egypt, the Dominican Republic, St. Kitts and Nevis, South Africa, Mauritius and Mali. While working, raising two children, and building a wealth of experience, James has been developing his craft of writing privately.

Returning to Howard as a graduate film student in the John H. Johnson School of Communications, James is demonstrating that his world travels have groomed him into a screenwriter with a niche for period pieces that capture the essence of the black experience. Under the tutelage of renowned professors Haile Gerima and Michael Holman, James has honed his screenwriting into a tool that elucidates change. Enter Umu (mother), the screenplay James is developing, tells the story of a weak adolescent African girl who grows into a formidable adversary who fights against all of those who desire to enslave her.

Out of hundreds of applicants, it was James‚ treatment for Umu that made him another one of the three Howard student who have received the prestigious ABC New Talent Development grant. During the 2005 school year, James will use the grant to conduct research which will ground his screenplay in historical fact. At the end of the grant, James will attend a four day workshop in Los Angeles and pitch his completed project to creative executives.

"This is an opportunity of a lifetime," says James. "I write screenplays for films I wish I could see. There are many compelling stories that must be told and cinema is the most powerful medium to reach the most people. ABC's expressed interest in my development of Umu is just the foundation I need to turn my vision into film."