Queen Latifah’s ‘Queen Collective’ Accelerates Opportunities For Black Women Filmmakers

In the continued celebration of Women's History Month, Grammy, Emmy, and Golden Globe-winning and Academy Award-nominated artist, actress, producer, entrepreneur, and recently 2023 NAACP Image Awards host, Queen Latifah, née Dana Owens, once said, "every woman is a queen, and we all have different things to offer" and she is proving her declaration with the Queen Collective. The program, established in 2018, is entering its fourth year; Latifah's company Flavor Unit Entertainment with business partner Shakim Compere joined Procter & Gamble and Tribeca Studios to create the talent pipeline.

The Queen Collective is a signature talent and content development initiative showcasing a collection of short films told by women filmmakers of color to advance gender, racial equality, and representation behind the camera. This year's six directors featured include Imani Dennison, Luchina Fisher, Contessa Gayles, Idil Ibrahim, Vashni Korin, and Jenn Shaw — who produced five original documentaries and a scripted short.

During the 54th NAACP Image Awards, the program dedicated a section to celebrating the women filmmakers titled "Direct Effect." Latifah felt it was vital to create this project alongside Marc Pritchard, Chief Brand Officer at Procter & Gamble; the two have worked together for a significant amount of years with CoverGirl - Queen Collection and both were at a woman's event filled the top echelon of leaders from the private sector, politics, and advertising.

When she realized the staggering numerical disparity of the number of women behind the camera for commercial advertisements and film, especially for women of color, which showed only 10% were helming any form of media, Latifah turned to Marc as they walked off stage, saying they had to make a change because she was concerned on how the stories of the Black community was being told and marketed.

"We were over 50% of the buying power. I couldn't believe it; I was astonished," says Latifah of the dismal statistics. "So we created this partnership, the Queen Collective, to give women of color an opportunity to create, produce, direct, and have financing for their short film and distribution. We'll take care of everything from beginning to end and allow them to create their vision."

By giving the filmmakers the essential financial resources and support, Latifah was confident the directors would create the conduits in hiring women crew members.

"We've seen our directors [would] hire over 50% people of color, over 50% women in their crews, and it created that experience that people needed, it started to build that pipeline that we need. If you want to hire someone, you want to hire the best person; the best person needs to be trained [and have] experience, so if we're not even getting the experience, how will we be the best?" she rightfully queries. Through the creation of the short films, the "Ladies First" lyricist found that women are gaining the necessary experience to continue their careers.

Latifah sees the disproportionate representation firsthand as the executive producer of "The Equalizer," as told to Variety, "When we're out looking for people to hire in different areas of our crew, it can be very challenging, because there's not enough diversity in the pipeline. We have to train and teach and watch the stars in different departments and make sure that they are promoted, that they're given that training, so that when we make the call, someone's there."

According to Variety, the Queen Collective is making inroads and can boast that an estimated 100 people have found employment through the program — 75% are people of color.

Latifah says participants have gone on to produce and direct projects. One of the directors from the inaugural year completed a new film and is currently editing in post-production.

"One of our films called Team Dream [directed by Luchina Fisher], which is a story about two seniors who want to compete in the swimming competition, was an Oscar-qualifying film and won the Programmers' Award for Best Short Documentary at the Pan African Film Festival, so these are films of quality," she says. "I'm not just impressed with the directors, but with the crews they hired because I know all those folks can go on and get jobs in those positions."

The central theme that resonated with Latifah the most when selecting the films to participate in the programs was "I don't see me. Where am I?" The #RepresentationMatters report conducted by the National Research Group polled that 2 out of 3 Black Americans do not feel adequately represented in movies or television, 86% of Black Americans want to see more stories on the screen representing themselves and their culture, and 83% believe the media negatively sustains stereotypes of their racial group.

The central theme that resonated with Latifah the most when selecting the films to participate in the programs was "I don't see me. Where am I?" The #RepresentationMatters report conducted by the National Research Group polled that 2 out of 3 Black Americans do not feel adequately represented in movies or television, 86% of Black Americans want to see more stories on the screen representing themselves and their culture, and 83% believe the media negatively sustains stereotypes of their racial group.

"It's part of the reason so many people were excited about me becoming a CoverGirl because they saw themselves, a young Black woman who was curvaceous, who looked like them. They could now relate to that brand through me. People want to see themselves in the media." For those to come to light, members of the Black community put hold positions behind the camera. "They need to see [and know] Ryan Coogler, Gina Prince Bythewood, Bill Duke, Spike Lee, and Teyana Taylor directed this movie. The more people are aware of who's doing what and that they're in, and they can see themselves in these stories, then it builds our self-esteem, makes us feel validated and important, too many people are marginalized."

She further explains that the Pritchard of Procter & Gamble supervises the advertising budget for the company. If commercial ads targeting Black Americans are not conceptualized and brought to his desk, it is impossible for him to green light the idea.

"If that person is not a woman of color, who had this idea that made it to his desk, and it's never filmed, it will never get approved, and it won't get shot, that person who had a great concept that would represent the women who buy the product, it would never be shown," Latifah rationalizes. "So it's an issue from the inside and the outside that we all have to address and be a part of the change. So this is one of the ways we felt that we could help along with other things we do daily."

She continues to push the envelope in telling stories of social justice and equality through her new Audible series Unity in the Community and Monumental, the second and third projects to release in Audible's first look development deal with Flavor Unit, Streets, Rhymes & Sugar: A Hip-Hop Memoir released in August 2021. On March 9, Latifah attended a main event, unveiling a new monument in Harriet Tubman Square in her hometown of Newark, New Jersey, that tied in with her latest project.

The Queen Collective short films are now available on demand across BET platforms (including BET, BET HER, BET SOUL, BET JAMS, and PLUTO TV) and on P&G website.