Private Project

Where's the Love?

WHERE’S THE LOVE (original working title 'Babygirl Blues and Other Colored People') is an original dramatic comedy that follows D. D. Baldwin--a well-trained, working African-American actress--as she and her musician husband Justin first meet marriage therapist Dr. Dave to discuss their abysmal sex life. The counseling sessions quickly change when Justin consistently shows up late, and D.D. becomes more and more uncomfortable with Dr. Dave asking D.D. questions about her hair, culture, and her sense of self. It’s then up to D.D. to educate Dr. Dave on “Blackness” and Black pop-culture, as she continues to muddle through her personal struggles, which intensify even more when D.D.’s mother--none other than Broadway and QVC royalty, Magdalena--invites herself to D.D.’s therapy sessions. Dr. Dave is her number one fan, and Magdalena never disappoints a fan.

While living in the shadow of Magdalena, desperately trying to forge her own career, and wrestling to patch up her marriage, D.D. vents her travails onto the only man she trusts, Dr. Dave. Dicey twists loom when Dr. Dave falls into the strange allure of Magdalena, and all this leaves D.D. on the verge of a breakdown, or a breakthrough.

  • Tia Dionne Hodge
    Director
    BN4 Real, Dirty Laundry, UnCorked: A Slightly Irreverent Look at Wine, The Legend, Once Upon a Once Upon
  • David Wasserman
    Director
  • Tia Dionne Hodge
    Writer
    Dirty Laundry, The Legend, Once Upon a Once Upon
  • Tia Dionne Hodge
    Producer
    Crutch, Dirty Laundry, Uncorked: A Slightly Irreverent Look at Wine, The Legend, Once Upon a Once Upon
  • Bebe Ellison
    Producer
    Romeo & Juliet in Harlem (Makeup Dept. Head), A Miracle in Spanish Harlem (Makeup Dept. Head),We Are The Hartmans (Key Makeup)
  • Mirsada Abdool-Raman
    Producer
    Seven Ten Split, Tim, Help Wanted
  • Tia Dionne Hodge
    Key Cast
    "D. D. Baldwin"
    Land of Steady Habits, Forever, STEPS, 666 Park Ave, One Live to Live, Law & Order
  • Dave T. Koenig
    Key Cast
    "Dr. Dave"
    The Following, Daredevil, Allegiance, Alpha House, Nurse Jackie
  • Frankie Faison
    Key Cast
    "Frankie Faison "
    Luke Cage, Forever, Banshee, Silence of the Lambs, Coming to America, The Good Wife
  • Justin Anthony Kennedy
    Key Cast
    "Justin"
    STEPS
  • Frankie Faison Phynjuar
    Key Cast
    "Magdalena"
    The Village, Blue Bloods, STEPS, Meet the Browns, Crowning Glory: A Psycho Killer,
  • Julia Rosenberg
    Key Cast
    "Andrea"
  • Daniel Rosenberg
    Key Cast
    "Marcus"
  • Sunny Rain
    Key Cast
    "Iggy"
  • Project Type:
    Web / New Media
  • Genres:
    Drama, Comedy, satire
  • Completion Date:
    July 3, 2016
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Tia Dionne Hodge, David Wasserman

Tia Dionne Hodge is a writer, actor, director-producer, and acting instructor. She is the author of Play. Speak., a workbook and collection of 40 challenging monologues for young actors ages 13 to 18 (OddInt Media, publisher, May 29, 2014 release.) She is also the inaugural recipient of the Adrienne Kennedy Society’s Louis Kent-Hope Award for Excellence in Creative Writing & Poetry, and a National Poetry Slam Team Champion (Cleveland Team). Her Cleveland Trilogy, Puddin’, A Spider in Wine and Love… Like Lemonade received workshops by New Jersey Dramatists & Waterfront Ensemble (Hoboken, NJ). Puddin’ , was accepted and produced at the New Perspectives Theatre Company Voices From the Edge 6.0 & 7.0 Festivals (NY, NY), was an alternate for the NY International Fringe Festival in 2003, was accepted into the 2009 New Moon Reading Series at Luna Stage (Montclair, NJ,) and the 2009 NY International Fringe Festival. A Spider in Wine was accepted and read at The Classical Theatre of Harlem's Playwright's Playground (January 2014). Some of Tia Dionne’s monologues and essays can be found in New Monologues for Women by Women, Volume II and Black Comedy - 9 Plays. She earned her M.A. and B.A. in English Literature from Case Western Reserve University in 1990 and is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, New York Women in Film and Television, SAG-AFTRA, AEA, and the National Association of Professional Women.

As an actress, Tia Dionne has appeared in numerous national and regional on-camera and voice-over/radio commercials, and has appeared on Forever, 666 Park Avenue, Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order SVU, Conviction, as well as the pilot, The Third Degree, for Fox. In 1998, she received a Best Actress nomination by the Independent Reviewers of New England for her performance as “Veronica” in New Repertory Theatre’s production of Athol Fugard’s Valley Song. She has appeared as the recurring characters “Angel Mel” and “Amelia Bennett” on ABC’s One Life to Live and was a panelist on Cafemom.com’s Coffee Shop Confessions.

Tia Dionne is the creator of the original dramedy web series, Where’s the Love (formerly titled, Babygirl Blues and Other Colored People), which had its premiere screening at the August 2015 Reel Soul Film Festival held at the National Black Theatre in Harlem. She also wrote, produced and directed two short films for the inaugural NYC Midnight Movie Madness Filmmaking Competition (2002), and was awarded the First Runner-up prize for Once Upon A Once Upon…; a film that was chronicled by filmmaker, Stuart Entner (Maysles Films) as part of his documentary, Midnight Madness (September 2003 premiere). In 2003, Tia Dionne associate produced Crutch; marking filmmaker Rob Moretti’s directorial debut (HP Productions, LLC., in association with Illuminare Entertainment (Distribution) and Ardustry Entertainment. She also directed and produced the pilot episode of UnCorked: A Slightly Irreverent Look at Wine for Wine Ventures, LLC, in association with Fulton Street Films. The project debuted at New Filmmakers Docs, Mocks & More in 2006, and was an Official Selection at MemFest (2006). UnCorked also garnered Tia Dionne a Directors Citation from the Black Maria Film Festival in the spring of 2007. She has since directed episodes for BN4REAL.TV, and has produced/directed live events and video projects for America Scores and Veterans Across America. Her pilot—The Whiskey—was an Official Selection at the Producers Guild of America Lab at the Sundance Film Festival (2009).

She is a proud wife and mother, living with her husband and daughter in New Jersey.

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Director Statement

When we began the journey of creating a dramedy series, I wanted to tackle mental health and relationships within the entertainment industry from an African-American point-of-view. I knew that completing a fully improvised series would be a challenge, especially shooting the episodes out of order to stay within budget and on schedule. That in itself created more laughter and challenges than we ever could have imagined. It truly kept all of us on our toes, and present. "Where's the Love" is all about being present and somehow making laughter the best medicine. Why? Because pain is real, and there is often truth in comedy. Luckily, improvisation connected us to that pain and the humorous truth of real-life drama--family issues, stereotypes, how African-American women and characters are seen and used in the film industry--and turned it all on its ear for a 21 episode first season. But most of all, it brought to life some of the best unexpected moments that truly made the unreal feel wonderfully dysfunctional and real to us.

That's what they call therapy, right?