Holly Carter Inks First-Look Deal With OWN

Holly Carter

Holly Carter, a powerhouse producer of faith-based programming for mainstream audiences, is getting into business with OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network. Carter has signed a first-look deal with the network to create and produce unscripted series and specials via her Relevé Entertainment, an All3Media America company. The content will be targeted at the network’s audience of Black women viewers with programming that explores faith, love, sisterhood, relationships, and unity.

Under the pact, OWN has ordered two-holiday gospel music specials from Carter, the first-ever music specials for the network. Additionally, OWN has picked up two unscripted series to development: Back to the Altar (working title), about divorced couples working to mend their broken relationships, and Love & Faith (working title), following the women behind some of the faith community’s best-known pastors. Series details follow below the story.

The first project under the deal is Our OWN Christmas, an all-star holiday gospel music special, set to air December 1 at 9 p.m. on OWN. Hosted by Meagan Good and DeVon Franklin, the one-hour special will feature holiday moments, acts of giving as well as performances by Grammy-winning gospel singers Kierra Sheard, Erica Campbell, Tasha Cobbs-Leonard and Le’Andria Johnson, legendary award-winning gospel group The Clark Sisters, and more. You can watch a teaser trailer below. A second-holiday gospel music special currently in production will air on OWN for Easter 2021.

“Holly is a force in the industry with a deep connection to our audience,” said Tina Perry, president, OWN. “We are excited to premiere music specials on OWN for the first time and to create new original unscripted programming that will lift up the spirits of so many viewers through the power of storytelling.”

Carter is the founder of Relevé Entertainment, which specializes in television/film production focused on family and faith-based programming, along with talent partnerships and brand development. Most recently, Carter created and executive produced The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel, the highest-rated original TV movie of 2020.

“OWN’s mission to inspire and entertain, while empowering viewers to live their best lives is one that aligns perfectly with my own,” said Carter. “I’m looking forward to working with the OWN team to create engaging content that’s driven by faith, family, redemption, and the inspiration that compels us to live out our dreams.”

Unscripted Series in Development

Love & Faith (working title) follows a diverse group of women whose husbands are some of the faith community’s best known and most successful pastors. They are wives, mothers, and professionals who, despite their husbands’ larger than life personalities, are determined to live life on their own terms and are stepping into the limelight to pursue their dreams. The faith community is a tight-knit group, and these women are never short on opinions. Whether gathering for a First Ladies tea in Beverly Hills, working together on a ministry conference, or embarking on a shopping excursion, these ladies keep it very real with each other, and there is always plenty of advice – and drama – to go around.

Back to the Altar (working title), which is being produced in partnership with Kevin Bartel and Best Production Company, an All3Media America company, centers on divorced couples working to repair their broken relationships in order to determine if their love for one another is worth a second chance. It’s a voyage to self for couples to rediscover the love and passion that brought them together in the first place. Each episode will focus on the journey of one divorced couple and concludes with a dramatic decision at the altar – to remarry right now or walk away and call it quits forever.

**Story courtesy of Deadline

Alexander Zonjic's Is "Playing It Forward'

It’s been 11 years since contemporary jazz flutist Alexander Zonjic dropped a new album, making Friday’s release of his 13^th collection, “Playing It Forward,” an event album. A genuine multi-hyphenate, Zonjic is a longtime multimedia personality (he hosts television and radio shows) and artistic director for nearly a dozen music festivals and concert series throughout Detroit and the Michigan region in addition to being a recording artist, explaining the lengthy gap between albums. Finishing the new Hi-Falutin Music release produced by GRAMMY-winning keyboardist Jeff Lorber was made possible because COVID-19 forced the cancellation of most of the calendar of live music events that Zonjic produces.       

 

Whetting the appetite of both radio programmers and fans alike is the disc’s first single, “Motor City Sway,” a tune written and produced by Pieces of a Dream’s James Lloyd. A fun video shot on stage and on the streets of Detroit (the Canadian-born Zonjic’s adopted home), including at the Motown Museum, reveals a “Motor City Sway” dance to go along with the funky R&B instrumental track currently climbing the Billboard Top 25 (https://youtu.be/Cba0NStZM_M).

  

“Playing It Forward” is an energetic blend of jazz, funk, fusion, and soul comprised of five Lorber originals along with a handful of reimagined classics. The outing showcases the work of top-shelf musicians, including guitarists Chuck Loeb (one of his final recordings before his passing), Paul Jackson Jr. and Michael Thompson, drummer Gary Novak, horn player, and arranger David Mann, and 14-year-old South African keyboard phenom Justin-Lee Schultz, who can be seen performing a talkbox solo in the “Motor City Sway” video.   

 

The album title intentionally riffs on “paying it forward,” which is something the benevolent Zonjic does generously throughout metropolitan Detroit and the Michigan region. The award-winning musician is organizing and headlining a November 13 fundraiser for Mariners Inn, a shelter and treatment center for the homeless.   

 

 

For more information, please visit http://www.zonjic.com.