Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Arthur James Solomon. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Arthur James thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I am a huge fan of romantic comedy. Being Black and Queer and having my own experience, I felt the need to create rom com magic and wrote the web series “Shady Bishes – The Series”. The series showcases an unconventional Black Queer character as the romantic lead, a role we rarely get to portray in film and television. The protagonist of “Shady Bishes” has all the fallible qualities of any character we like to root for in their quest to find love. It shows the lightness of a Black, single, gay man in Los Angeles at a time when finding love, romance and intimacy is now on an app. “Shady Bishes” proves that romantic experiences in film are hilarious and universal to all racial and gender identities.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I knew from an early age that I wanted to be an Actor because I would enlist my older brothers to perform skits at every family event. Thankfully, my Parents encouraged my creative side and enrolled me to study acting at Arts High School in Newark, NJ before obtaining a BFA in Theater from Rutgers University. After years of touring and performing Off-Broadway, I moved from New York to Los Angeles where I started screenwriting. I fell in love with screenwriting because it allows me to use my own voice. It feels like magic creating new worlds and casting a light on characters who haven’t been seen in film and television. It’s also helped me generate creative opportunities for myself and my community.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn that the right opportunity was going to present itself. This was a lesson that started with taking improv classes at the Groundlings School. With improv, I am encouraged and allowed to create characters from my own imagination. It’s freeing artistically! Once released from the perception of my limitations, I decided to create my own projects to nurture my artistic growth. I enrolled in a course at the New York Film Academy to learn filmmaking which led to the creation of the pilot of “Shady Bishes – The Series”. It was empowering to learn that I had to create my own space in order to be heard and seen at my fullest potential.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Several years ago, the pilot of “Shady Bishes – The Series” premiered on a streaming service and received a great response. Due to its popularity, the streaming service wanted to produce the entire series. It was a dream come true! However, as with most Hollywood fairytales, the streaming service shut down which ended the opportunity for more episodes. Instead of letting my dream go, I asked for help from my community and fundraised to independently produce the first season of “Shady Bishes”, which was shot at the end of 2019. Sadly, the global pandemic occurred a few weeks into post-production and the project was put on hold once again. I kept the raw footage for a year before I was able to hire a new editing team. “Shady Bishes – The Series” was released on YouTube later that year! There have been a few opportunities for “Shady Bishes – The Series” to be behind a paywall, but my dream has always been to have the show accessible to everyone, especially the Black and Queer folks searching for a fun and entertaining reflection of our community.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shadybishestheseries.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shadybishestheseries/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shadybishestheseries
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWba38Tn2LEierzZiw0awHw

Image Credits
Bench Screenshot from Shady Bishes – Anthony Cloyd and Arthur James Solomon Shady Bishes Cast Photo – Alvaro Gomez, Charmee Taylor, Arthur James Solomon, Gabriel Sedgemore, Anthony Cloyd