Tanecia Britt is a creative content creator who has found her market on the web. Now age 36, Tanecia was once living off the strength of willpower and her determination to become a full-time director. In pursuit of her goals, the self-forming entrepreneur hit the country. Working as a marketing and campaign administrator for the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago then freelancing in Atlanta, Britt soon found herself networking among some of the sharpest eyes in the South. Celebrity photographer Donna Pernell shared insight about the inner workings of the industry, which motivated Britt to declare herself as an assistant director and production assistant. Continuously networking and building her name, she found herself under Eyal Sivan and Haim Bresheeth, professors and mentors at the University of East London. Under them, she learned to shoot with a purpose and to take her time with film-making. Her creativity and a relentless drive to succeed opened a niche for internet films in which she began to market herself on the web.One of her greatest works to date, is “Flowers Don’t Grow in England”. I was able to screen the short film on Vimeo, and it is certainly not lacking in action, intensity, and plot lines. The film, which she is working to develop into a full-length feature, was completed before the pandemic, and hones in on the story of the black women, linked by blood and trauma, navigating East London, and the grit, fear, and survival that comes with that. Seeing the elements of life which could quickly destroy a woman was only clay for Britt, permitting her to mold these experiences into cinema while influencing others to see life with more than just the natural eye. Lifestyle it has become, Tanecia Britt is a portal for all things film can reveal through life, cycling images through the lenses of her crafted mental.
Q: How do you shut things out?
Ans: I go to the water and talk to my ancestors and pray to God..
Q: How easily do songs tend to come to you?
Ans: /film concepts come to me through. Different ways but I am inspired by life experiences told and lived through.
Q: What’s your motto or the advice you live by?
Ans: “Shut up and do the work”
Q: What are your favorite song to belt out at the bar/in the car?
Ans: Favorite songs “Wonderwall by Oasis” and “Meet me on the moon by Phyllis Hyman”
My adrenaline was through the roof after completing my first feature film in London, so much that I needed a creative release. With all my accomplishments, including graduating with a Master’s, life was still painful – amusing and deeply inspiring. I channeled that energy into creating “Flowers Don’t Grow in England.” This story drives my passion for filmmaking and creating visuals for narratives abroad. I want the audience to feel inspired to discover their moral premise at the end of this film. It is this conflict of values that describes what the movie is about. “Flowers Don’t Grow in England” has so many different layers that it will allow the audience to come to their emotional conclusion.
This script was developed with the belief that I could use my experiences while living and traveling abroad to create universal narratives that will make it more powerful and more emotional for a broad audience. The detailed specs of my experiences and struggles give the film an authenticity that I hope will help this project to be considered. The pivotal background laid in the script connect these characters to the more massive story arch. There are two narratives in the writing that run parallel. The impermeable bond that holds characters, Chloe, Vera, and Autumn together will be tested when their worlds intertwine with Rose, a retired school teacher. Everything that Rose has stood for and once believed will be questioned. These four women challenge the depths of love, the loyalty of family, and the boundaries of trust. The inspiration for this film came from living in East London.
Though I do not have a taste for killing like my main characters, I did develop a sense of family while living abroad, and my friends became my family. For example, a dear friend hired me as a “shampoo girl” in her East London salon. I had no experience, and she didn’t care. She knew I had bills, a dream, and that’s all that mattered to her. I am looking for a mixture of raw untapped talent and seasoned talent willing to believe in the project.
Just as the story, the sound design will run a parallel narrative. It is essential that the sound design compliments the storyline by laying the groundwork for the visuals. The project will work with different independent UK artists to compile a structured yet enjoyable soundtrack.
While this film has graphic violence, it’s about beginnings, family, change, and how fragile the human connection is. This film will deal realistically with love, family, violence, and other aspects of the human condition, broken parts, and all.
“Your thoughts write the script to your history.” – Tanecia Britt
Screen gems begin to fill their treasure chests with tools to help them express the pictures that reel through their brain at various points in their life. It’s the ‘how’ and ‘why’ that makes each visionary different. For director Tanecia Britt, pictures are a constant flow of concepts through her hands and eyes, depicted with more emotion than what can be seen in real life. Born in Washington, DC, Britt grew up in nearby Hyattsville, MD watching films and instilling imagined life into inanimate objects. Once it became apparent that producing images were innately within her design, pursuing film was the desired goal for college. After graduating from Johnson C. Smith University, reality became the foundation for her movies. Britt’s drive placed her in various locations post-undergrad.
Living strictly off of her determination to become a full-time director, the self-forming entrepreneur hit the country. Working as a marketing and campaign administrator for the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago then freelancing in Atlanta, Britt soon found herself networking among some of the sharpest eyes in the South. Celebrity photographer Donna Pernell shared insight about the inner workings of the industry which motivated Britt to declare herself as an assistant director and production assistant. Continuously networking and building her name, she found herself under the direction of Eyal Sivan and Haim Bresheeth, professors, and mentors at the University of East London. Under them, she learned to shoot with a purpose and to take her time with film-making. Her creativity and a relentless drive to succeed opened a niche for Internet films in which she began to market herself on the web.
Though free-spirited, Britt’s reality stood like walls around her in which she could only battle, and battle alone. Her loyalty to her family brought her back to the United States, where she has emerged as one of the most rouge, yet promising film-makers in the area. To date, Tanecia Britt has been a never-ending machine, cranking out films including her feature “School Without Walls” along with a multitude of shorts and music videos. Currently, she is working hard to bring forth “Flowers Don’t Grow in England,” a ruthless caricature telling the lives of three East London women.
Flowers Don’t Grow In England || Short Film from Tanecia Britt on Vimeo.
