EXCLUSIVE: BET has acquired the short Why Not?, exec produced by Los Angeles Laker Russell Westbrook. The film showcasing the culture of Crenshaw will kick off the network’s new digital edition of its Black Film Friday series, celebrating Black artistry—debuting on BET Digital on February 4.Why Not?
aims to expose youth in marginalized communities to the ever-growing technology space through the story of a top high school basketball player that finds another way to impact his community when basketball is taken away from him.
Westbrook developed it through his production company Zero World Media, in partnership with The Incubation Lab and filmmaker Jordan Brand, to elevate storytellers from the Black community, including co-writer-director Tevin Tavares and co-writer Lance Holloway.The short is one of two recent projects exec produced by Westbrook, the other being the History Channel documentary Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre.“A lot of the youth in Black and Brown communities look at the tech space as an almost impossible field to exist within.
They don’t often see themselves represented at the major tech companies of the world and they don’t see it as the ‘cool’ thing to do.
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