We were lucky to catch up with Deshawn Plair and Sade Oyinade recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Deshawn Plair and Sade Oyinade 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.
We’ve worked on many meaningful projects. Our production company prides itself on telling positive stories that have impact within the community. One of those projects is a short film we wrote and produced called “First Day Back” which Deshawn directed. The film takes an in-depth look at what the first day back to school after a school shooting looks like for faculty and students. We tackle issues like metal detectors, clear backpacks, security escorts, and the school-to-prison pipeline. The film also explores how as a society we’ve become desensitized to tragedies like this and the mental health toll it takes to everyone involved.
Another short we produced, and Sade wrote and directed, is called “Yemi’s Dilemma”. It’s a family drama centered around the repercussions of an inter-cultural wedding. We explore the dynamics of a first-generation family as they navigate a relationship that’s outside their culture norms. It also takes a deep dive into the bonds of sisterhood and how the love of a sister can help you overcome. Simply put, it’s about three sisters, a wedding and family torn apart. This project was important to us because it gives us an opportunity to share other cultures and stories that are a part of the American experience.
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.
We are an African-American female writing and producing team based in Los Angeles. We’re co-owners of Flower Ave. Films, a production company that creates compelling original stories with broad appeal that reflects our diverse backgrounds. This is a story about how a Nigerian and a girl from Kalamazoo met at a bar…nah, we just playing! It’s not that exciting, we actually met working on the award-winning TV One’s docu-series, “Unsung”. Sade was a Senior Producer at the time and Deshawn was the Clearance Coordinator when we decided to collaborate on a short film. After a stressful three-day shoot on half a shoestring budget (more like no shoe-string with the tongue hanging out) we realized we were a strong producing team that could weather any storm and that’s where our partnership began. We’re problem solvers!
Recently, we produced a feature film for BET Her titled “Black Girl Erupted.” This women’s health initiative was centered around mental health. Around the same time, Deshawn served as the Supervising Producer of the upcoming Hulu documentary film “Freaknik: The Wildest Story Never Told.” Prior to that, we served as Showrunners/Executive Producers of the ALLBLK comedy “For the Love of Jason” which we helped pitch and sell to the network. During that time Deshawn also served as a Producer on the Peabody award-winning Showtime documentary “We Need to Talk About Cosby”
directed by W. Kamau Bell. In 2019, Sade was a Showrunner on season one of BET+’s “American Gangster: Trap Queens” where Deshawn produced one of the most popular episodes profiling Delrhonda “Big Fifty” Hood. While working on “Unsung” and “Unsung Hollywood”, we rose through the ranks, Sade to Co-Executive Producer and Deshawn to Producer and Production Supervisor. We helped produce and contribute to an unprecedented visual library of Black music and received six NAACP Image Awards under the series.
We are also emerging directors. Sade directed the cultural family drama “Yemi’s Dilemma” and the AIDS short “Who Do You Know?” which aired on ASPIRE TV. After serving as an apprentice to award-winning director Qasim Basir on his Sundance film, “A Boy, A Girl, A Dream”, Deshawn directed the provocative short film on gun violence, “First Day Back”, starring Loretta Devine and Aisha Hinds. Together we wrote and produced this short that won Best Narrative Short at the International Black Film Festival. Deshawn recently made her television directing debut on the season two finale of “For the Love of Jason.”
In an effort to grow as producers, we participated in the 2019 Producers Guild Fellowship: Power of Diversity Master Workshop. WWe also participated in BET’s Women’s Health Initiatives and were tapped to write two films “The Waiting Room: A Long Look in the Mirror” in 2020 and “The Hotline: Her Lyfeline” in 2021. As a creative team, we aim to tell positive, meaningful stories using our unique upbringings as inspiration. Deshawn grew up in the foster care system and was directly affected by the mass incarceration issue through the imprisonment of her mother. Sade is a first-generation American with traditional Nigerian parents which led her to navigate finding her place in two different worlds. Together we embrace tackling tough issues while highlighting the good in it all.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding aspect for us as storytellers is when a project we created invoked conversation. Our film “First Day Back” about gun violence in schools gave us the opportunity to tour schools across the country to screen the film and speak to staff, students and administrators. This allowed us to connect directly with our audience and hear how it impacted them. We’ve also gotten multiple emails from teachers wanting to show it to their students as a way to educate them on the issue. The project even reached as far as the Pennsylvania state senate office so it was extremely rewarding. We feel it is important for art to reflect the times and explore issues that are impacting us today.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
On the first day of our short “Yemi’s Dilemma” our sound mixer called and said he had gotten into a car accident and couldn’t make it. Crew was arriving and cast was close behind and sheer panic had set in. You don’t have a film if you don’t have sound! We had to think fast on our feet but before anything we stepped away from the entire crew and we prayed together. Mind you, this was our first time working together. After our prayer, we looked at each other and said “man up!” and began calling everyone we could think of, all the while no one on the crew knew what was happening. An hour later, we found an audio mixer who could help us (but he jacked up the price!). After that moment we felt that we could handle anything that came our way on set and it truly showed our resilience as individuals and producers. It’s our job to put out fires and keep the synergy on set.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @floweravefilms
- Twitter: @floweravefilms
- Other: Personal Instagram & Twitter: @deshawnplair @sadeoyinade