DeShuna Spencer, founder and CEO of kweliTV, joins Cheddar News to discuss the platform and how it reflects the black experience.

 

All Hands: Race Toward Inclusion

Streaming Service KweliTV Celebrates Black Filmmakers and Creators

Welcome back to All Hands. Everyone One streaming platform is looking to bring representation back to TVs across the country. Quality T. V. Is an interactive streaming platform that celebrates global black culture through films, documentaries, series and events. The platform amplifies amplifies black storytellers and allows 60% of its revenue to go into the firm's content creators each quarter meaning creators are paid for their work. The platform also features over 550 titles from a diverse creator community of over 450 global filmmakers joining us Now to discuss is Dijana Spencer, founder and ceo of quality Tv. Welcome to the show, Dijana, we're so happy to have you. Where did you get the inspiration to create this platform? So the inspiration to start play tv started many years ago, even before I actually launched the platform, I was flipping through a bunch of cable channels one day and at the time I feel like reality television was at its height and I saw black women doing things that my friends don't do. Um and this is Black History month and I love history and like a history buff. But if you turn it on any of the channels like the history channel will be on february. Black stories are pretty much non existent and we I believe we should be celebrating black history every month, not just in february. Um and I love independent films and um I did a documentary and I really started to understand the disparity that a lot of Black Traitor's face begin to film festivals, they win awards and then after that sometimes so that they can get those distribution deals. And so I was like, well I don't see what I'm looking for. So maybe I'll start streaming service, which was really insane for me at the time because my background in journalism, I didn't have a background in film and television down one documentary, but I really felt this urge to create this movement around celebrating black stories and amplify black storytellers that really minimize like black death and black suffering. You are such a Trailblazer in this space. I am so, so inspired by you. How does quality tv differ from other black streaming networks and platforms that are out there? Currently, I think for us, the main thing is really about making sure that we really celebrate black excellence. Um, and I guess I wouldn't say in a way that for us when it comes to selecting continental platform, we want to make sure that we are minimizing black death, black suffering, we want to minimize stereotypes that we sometimes see in mainstream media. There is this correlation between in place and bias and how black people are treated and we really want to make sure that we're enjoying the best of the, of the black experience growing up. For instance, when I thought about africa as a kid, I felt about very negative things because of what I was seeing on television. But as I got older, I started understanding how beautiful the continent is. I really wanted to create a space that really showcased that In addition to that. I think we're, I can safely say we probably have more black documentaries than any other platforms out there. That's our number one jams. I mean people come to place because we have an array of amazing documentaries. I really think that's what sets sets it apart from a lot of other platforms as well. Can we talk about that? There are over 550 titles from diverse creators featured on the platform. We're actually taking a look at what's available on the platform now. What goes into the programming process? What are you looking for when it comes to content that you want to put on quickly? So first and foremost, the film has to be in the film festival and the reason we do that is because we really want people to know that all independent films aren't bad. There's this misconception about indie films that we want to show people that. So one thought was good enough to screen at the festival. So that's number one um number two, the lead character needs to be of african descent. We want to make sure that the main person, the main person story is black and essential around their lives, were not sidekicks and not The Fairy Godmother is all about them um in their lives. And then to, as I mentioned, we're really all about making sure we're showing black excellence. We want to minimize black stereotypes. We really want to change the black narrative through our programming and that's really important to us. So we do sometimes turn down films that we feel showcases us in life that I don't think we need to see. We may see in other places, but we don't want to show that on tv quality Tv will be honored by Apple as a small business spotlight on the app store this month. Congratulations. How does it feel to be getting this recognition? It feels amazing to be honest. And it's not just because of me because of the amazing filmmakers that we work with every single day. I started quick to be initially with $20,000. And the fact that Apple chose us as the spotlight to me shows that we're doing something right, We're definitely making an impact when it comes to change the black narrative. And I'm just honored that we're we're one of the the Apple. I wanted the black businesses selected Sean. I have about a minute left, but I do want to ask you about the barriers that black creators are up against when it comes to compensation for their work. It's so true. Um literally before I was here, I got another call with the filmmaker and she said she's been again for 30 years and she was talking about how for a lot of black creatives Getting compensation has been very difficult and how we're doing it very differently because we're very transparent. We show what are we show, what are 6% revenue is you mentioned at the top That um you know we give 66% of our revenues to our content creators but we actually show them our 6% revenue. We show the numbers behind the behind the scenes. We think it's so important to um for for filmmakers understand like how we're doing financially and and and as we grow they can grow. But it's a huge challenge for creators. I think the big challenges sometimes unknown artists, it's harder for them to get their foot in the door. And that's really what we're changing with the T. V. We're giving lesser known filmmakers the opportunity to be seen so eventually can't get those much bigger deals in the future. It is such a pleasure talking to you. We hope you come back. I can't wait to see what you guys do next to Shawna Spencer, founder and Ceo of quality Tv. You can stream the platform on Roku, amazon fire stick, apple tv, android tv and more. Please check it out. I sure will be