We already know that there’s a dearth of roles out in Hollywood for black women (and women of color overall). When a role did become available a lot of actresses found themselves vying against each other for the same parts. Well, times they are a changing because it seems like sisters are getting tired of waiting and have started to creating roles for themselves. And now they’re using the web to get their ideas out to us instead of relying on some corporate suits to give them the green light. This month, we’re getting two new shows about us within the space of a week. Tatyana Ali (aka Ashley Banks from “Fresh Prince”) stars in “Buppies” will will premiere on BET.com on Tuesday. And “Kindred” which will its NYC launch tomorrow night in NYC (and on a computer near you—see the trailer below).
What’s interesting is that both web series feature women in their 20s—yet they couldn’t be more different. “Buppies” revolves around Ali’s character, Quinci, a black Hollywood socialite and her friends. From the trailer they all seem to be living fabulous lives (I mean fantastically DRAMATIC lives). This is sort of the young, black version of “Sex and the City”.  I’ve actually seen the premiere episode of “Kindred” and the three main characters, Colette, Karma and Angelina, are closer to people we see in our daily lives. But of course they’ve got real life drama (the work, family, love kind). And since they play cousins, their mammas are all up in the mix too. Like “Buppies”, “Kindred” is produced by its stars—Maureen Aladin, Jessica Hartley and Ella Turenne—but they didn’t grow up in front of our eyes. They put their collective heads and dollars together to form Sistapac Productions and get this project done. ( Ali was in a brief legal battle with her writer/director Julian Breece earlier this year so she had her share of challenges too).

So now that we now all the hard work that has gone into getting more of our stories to us, will we watch? I say we should. A web series doesn’t require more than 10 minutes of our time at any given moment and we can get it on demand by clicking a link on our computers anytime we want. And although 10 minutes doesn’t sound like a long time you’d be surprised how much drama a sister (or a few sisters) can deliver is such a short space of time. (Sort of like some of our lives.) And if these ideas take hold maybe many more of our stories will be told. So tune in to both shows and let me know what you think.

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