Page 39 - Winter/Spring 2015 Issue

In 2000, the release of Company Policy made Michael Ajakwe Jr. the first African-American to have a play published in the 21st Century. He’s written for and/or produced TV shows like Martin, Soul Food, The Parkers, Moesha, Between Brothers, The Brothers Garcia, Built To Last, Sister Sister, Entertainment Tonight, Talk Soup, Steve Harvey’s Big Time, Eve, Love That Girl and Unsung. He’s sold TV pilots to Paramount TV (The Second Family), Warner Bros. TV (Alley Cats), and LATV/ American Latino Syndication (Trevino). In 2002, Rat Entertainment (Bret Ratner) and Artisan Pictures (now Lionsgate) hired Ajakwe to write his first studio feature film-- the biopic Crip. He’s also written spec feature films on Major League Baseball free agency icon Curt Flood, NBA great John Lucas, and the only Black quarterback to win the Super Bowl-- Doug Williams.
From 2000-03 and in ‘09, he was the TV Professor for the Bill & Camille Cosby-sponsored Guy Hanks/Marvin Miller Screenwriting Fellowship Program at USC. Cosby Fellows he mentored have gone on to write for shows like Girlfriends, One On One, The Division, My Wife & Kids, The Proud Family, ER, The District, Eve, Little Bill, Kingpin, Lincoln Heights, Undercovers, House of Lies and The Blacklist.
In 2002, Ajakwe wrote, directed and co-produced (with Kosmond Russell, Ian Foxx, James Burkes and Lynne Conner) You’re All I Need To Get By: The Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell Love Story that starred William L. Johnson and Prince protégé Ashley Ta’Mar Davis in the title roles and attracted everyone from Lakers legend Norm Nixon to Britney and Jamie Spears.

In 2003, he, Jamie Foxx Show and Love That Girl creator Bentley Kyle Evans and legendary actress, choreographer and filmmaker Debbie Allen traveled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to develop the sitcom, Journal Feliz (The Good News), for Picante Entertainment. Ajakwe co-created a second sitcom for Picante, Mano A Mano (Brother To Brother), whose 18 episodes Season 1 ran on Brazilian tv in 2005.
In 2004, Ajakwe co-wrote and co-produced (along with Picante Entertainment) Rocket Science & Salsa: The Shayla Rivera Story at the Zephyr Theater in Hollywood. The sold-out, one- woman show about a Puerto Rican rocket scientist who gave up working for NASA to become a comic was co-written by Ajakwe and Rivera, directed by Debbie Allen, and nominated for two NAACP Theater Awards. Also in 2004, Ajakwe wrote, directed and produced If You Don’t Believe: A Love Story (Featuring the Songs of Deniece Williams) that starred ex-Fresh Prince of Bel- Air regular Tatyana Ali.
Ajakwe co-produced the musical with iconic songbird Deniece Williams herself, the play received 8 NAACP Theater Award Nominations (including Best Director), winning for Best Musical Director (Scott Allen). Next came Body Language (Featuring the Songs of Patti LaBelle). Originally produced in Los Angeles in 2005, it later ran at the 1800-seat Warner Theater in Washington D.C. in 2006. It received 7 NAACP Theater Award Nominations (including Best Director), winning again for Best Musical Director (Matilda Haywood) and Best Choreographer (Madonna Grimes).
In 2007, Ajakwe adapted his one-act play Happy Anniversary, Punk! into a short film that he also produced and directed. In just its second film festival, the 23-minute courtroom drama about Black-on- Black crime won the Jury Prize AND Audience Award for Best Short Film at the Mid-Atlantic Black Film Festival in Norfolk, Virginia.
Invited to West Africa for three weeks in 2008 to teach screenwriting workshops to Nigerian filmmakers by the Nigerian Film & Video Censor Board and the Writers Guild of Nigeria, Ajakwe returned to America and was commissioned by an independent production company to write the noir thriller No More Bloodshed that Taraji P. Henson was later attached to star in. Ajakwe closed out 2008 with a Beacon of Light Award from the City of Inglewood, California as it celebrated its Centennial. The other two honorees were Oscar- nominated director John Singleton and legendary gospel duo Mary Mary.
In 2009, he co-produced What Would Jimi Do? at the Stage 52 Playhouse. The one-act play, written by tv drama writer/ producer Felicia Henderson (Soul Food) starred Girlfriend’s Tracey Ellis Ross, and was attended by the legendary Diana Ross herself. It enjoyed a sold-out 6-week Los Angeles summer run. Also in 2009, Ajakwe was a punch up writer on Season 1 of the Martin Lawrence/Bentley Evans/Jeff Franklin/Raphael Saadiq produced sitcom Love That Girl starring Tatyana Ali and Phil Morris on the TV One cable channel. Ajakwe was also a writer on Season 1 of the T.D. Jakes produced sitcom One Love (aka Church Folks) starring Sherman Hemsley, Carl Payne, Chico Benymon, Marc Curry, Drew Sidora, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Kym Whitley, Buddy Lewis, Keith Robinson, and Jackee. To close out ’09,
Ajakwe jumped head first into the Internet by constructing his own web channel and creating a series for it. He wrote, produced and directed a 12-episode original web comedy featuring two opinionated beauties who meet every day for lunch and talk about people called Who... that you can watch for as little as $1 on your laptop at Ajakwetv.com or on your cell phone at Ajakwetv.com/mobile.

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