Logline

50wrds
A modern and trappier take on Friends, grind.ding follows six 80s baby’s millennials through life in a
city known as ‘The Black Mecca’, surrounded by the Deep South but where Keisha is Mayor as they
attempt to make it, or at least look like they do for the gram.



Tell us about the impact you want to make as an artist of color and how this project aligns
with that goal.
300wrds

My biggest goal as an artist of color is to hold up a mirror to our community. This generation is
made up of some of the dopest people of color I’ve ever met, and no one should have to search for
representation. I want to flood the screens with continuous examples that uphold the mantra that
black is not a monolith. We are ghetto, bourgeois, aggressive, naïve, angry, hurt, poor, rich and
everything in between. My work strives to tell the many stories that make up people of color with
relevant, relatable and authentic projects that also address the tough issues in our community and
help us to heal and connect. I hope to join the ranks of Shonda Rhimes, Ava Duvernay, Mara Brock
Akil, Jordan Peele and Lena Waithe (😉) who not only tell the Black story, but through the creation
of complex and varied characters who are aren’t Black characters, but characters who are Black,
change the Black story. Now more than ever it’s crucial that our stories are told, that our value is
mainstream, that we have the tough conversations and that we see our whole selves. My writing is
my purest form of ancestor veneration in my quest to connect our past generations with our
current so that we can remember our highest selves. grind.ding illustrates that quest as it tells the
story of many a millennial’s journey to not only make it, but to make it in spite of in the humorous
way that Black people have coined to overcome oppression and turn struggle to hilarious stories of
‘So what had happened was…’

Bio 500 wrds

Born Jasmine Jacobs, JJ has been rewriting the rules since she understood what they were. From
learning to read at 2 years old and then immediately holding her preschool class hostage in daily,
toddler enforced story times to staging walk outs in middle school, it’s no wonder her yearly report
cards retorted that she “knew too much for her own good and can’t seem to respect authority.”

Luckily, the West Indian first generation kid has also always known that it’s more fun to color
outside the lines, especially when you create your own. Born a writer, JJ spent her childhood
summers penning chapbooks, short stories and tv shows- which she forced her parents to watch in
their living room theater and her siblings to perform, complete with products and scripts for
commercials of course.

After a pretty suburban childhood and a year at Mercer University, JJ mystified friends and family in
the ultimate rebellious teen thing to do- join the military. She spent seven years as a Public Affairs
Specialist in the Army National Guard, acquiring her BA in English along the way, including a year in
Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Before leaving the Army, JJ snubbed her nose to the
man one last time in her launch of a campaign against new military uniform regulations that made
natural hairstyles for women of color unauthorized. After working with Congress to nullify the
polarizing policy, JJ turned her attention to the advertising world as a social media strategist.

After helping brands tell their digital story, and grabbing her MA in Mass Communications from UF
in the process, the shadows of war crept up to her and the ongoing effects of PTSD took her out of
the corporate world as she began a new phase of life, this time as a disabled veteran. Always one to
turn lemons into margaritas, JJ took this opportunity to focus not only on her own healing, but also
the healing of others and her first love- writing. What happened next was the embarkation of a
spiritual and creative journey only properly captured on Netflix and now the
healer/writer/rootworker/creative/bushdoctor yearns to share not only her many stories, but the
stories of every brown kid that was told to sit down and fit inside the box. Cuz nigga we made it.

Overview 1000wrds

grind.ding --- a half hour sitcom
by JJ Nicole

The Story

If you’ve ever been to Atlanta, you already know what the grind is. If not, you can find it in our
history, our claims to fame- from the Civil Rights Movement to Freaknik to Outkast to The Migos.
We as a city are constantly evolving, shattering status quos, and setting trends. Cranking out
musicians like it’s our job, Atlanta leads and shapes black culture. Whether it’s politics,
entrepreneurship, art, film, acting, modeling, music or stripping- Atlanta is the place where black
people does. this.

Reasons why #WeFull.

It’s why your Uber driver has a song on Soundcloud they wanna play for you real quick, or an artist
they manage, or a photo shoot later that day- and why when someone asks ‘What do you do?’ we
are never talking about what you clock in to do. Because niggas in Atlanta are at all times actively
trying to take over the world in whatever they do. And if you don’t have a grind you mightaswell
move out to Snellville and save on rent. Because that grind is not only the very fabric of our city, but
it’s also our currency. And grind.ding captures the hustle, the struggle, and the grind that makes the
A what it is.

Synopsis- A comedy based in Atlanta,Ga a city with hella claims to fame -and ever since people
started calling it the “Black Mecca”, more niggas than the city can hold- six creatives attempt to be
the young, black excellence that ATLiens are rumored to be. The gag is- said lofty af goal is actually a
moving target that stumbles through epic fails, overdue wins, love, risking it all, heaux tendencies,
bad decisions, growing pains and ‘fuck it we’ll do it live’.
The main one always trying to do shit “live” though is definitely JJ- an eccentric, type A
creative who is a local shaman and creative director. She’s the girl everyone called ‘Oreo’ in school
because she ‘talks white’ and wears Birkenstocks. Don’t let the enunciation fool you though, JJ is
unapologetically black af and passionate about the black community, reconnecting with our
ancestors and trap music- in that order. A bit of a mixed bag, JJ is a hyperactive fireball who means
well but is also always doing the absolute most. The 29-year-old divorcee is seldom seen without
her bag of tinctures, weed, tarot cards and crystals- but that doesn’t mean she isn’t without her
own scars, like that pesky PTSD she thought she left in the Army.
Thankfully she has her boyfriend and other half Scott, a 9-5er with 2 careers that start after
6, on her side. The calm in her storm, the green-eyed serial entrepreneur makes you feel like a
constant failure because you tanked all of your New Year’s Resolutions by March and he seems to
sleep on the move like a legit mogul-to-be. An AV tech by morning and a manager and fashion
showroom owner by afternoon and night- Scott is #goals, but his only goal is to make it before he
runs out of steam.
JJ might be bae, but Scott spends two thirds of his day with his business partner/ace boon
coon Kyrie. Kyrie is 21 in the sense that he does a lot of dumb shit and believes in it, but not so
much in the fact that he is critically business-minded and on his way to owning one of the dopest
fashion brands in the city. The swaggy kid has determination and hustle for days and as long as no
one attributes his come up to his dad’s celebrity status- we good.
And while Scott and YB are reinventing the hustle, Stephen aka Sin is… definitely not. The
32-year old barber/collage artist/heaux is one of the most single niggas you’ll ever meet to always
be in a situationship and doling out relationship advice. Alas, if you look beyond his struggly
personal life, he makes really dope art, and has found a way to maintain his identity in the
appropriative art industry. And since we are spilling tea, we also want to point out the two random
weeks of #AllSummer17 with Chloe aka CoCo that no one is allowed to talk about
Speaking of CoCo at home and Chloe at work, CoCo is a well-educated, classy-ratchet who is
always down to twerk sum, werk sum, or fight for the homie. The gag is- CoCo is also Chloe, the
demure, polite and always appropriate in the courtroom attorney at the Northern District of
Georgia. But babbay- when she clocks out- all bets are off. CoCo knows there is more to her than
twerking and werking though, which also means facing the fine print of being her parent’s dreams
of ‘a good guvment job with benefits’ realized … and that’s that it sort of blows.
CoCo’s annoyances at work are a mere microcosm compared to Dani, the shaven head
pansexual and borderline social alcoholic. D spends her days as a senior creative director at one of
the city’s largest advertising agencies and her nights and weekends taping the future Breakfast Club
of the South, a radio show dedicated to the culture and everyone in it. Her colleagues at work
would say she’s already made it.. only making it in her book is not spending 9+ hours a day
convincing board members that their ad campaign ideas are in fact blatantly racist. And yet- here
she is.
Separately these guys would read like some randoms who ran into each other at Waffle
House one night- and while that definitely did happen- the six friends are also the faces of the next
generation to run the city. The dreamers, creatives, decision makers, and business owners who
know that the key to running this city.. is grind.ding.