Black Behind the Camera: Expanding the Lens on Black Crew
Behind every film or television show, there is a multitude of craftspeople and talented technicians creating every detail that we see on screen. This panel spotlights some of the amazing crew members who work behind the scenes to bring a story to life. Hear from industry talent in numerous trades and learn about some of the below-the-line job opportunities available in entertainment.
Speakers : Francine Jamison-Tanchuck (Costume Designer), Warren Purfoy (Gaffer), Shawn Pipkin (1st AD), and Toni Barton (Production Designer/Art Director). Moderated by Ari Brown, Physical Production Agent at APA.
Produced by Nicole Beaudoin, Tatianna Sims, alongside the Young Entertainment Activists Founding Board.
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Francine Jamison-Tanchuck’s career has spanned over 35 years and has over 40 films to her credit, as well as various awards. Miss Jamison-Tanchuck’s credits include Fatherhood, Just Mercy, Detroit, The Birth Of A Nation, Roman J. Israel, Boomerang, Corrina, Corrina, Virtuosity, Big Mommas House, Sister Act 2, Courage Under Fire, and Glory, to name a few. She still remains one of the most sought after and respected Costume Designers in the Film Industry.
Warren Purfoy was born in Compton, CA Warren grew up in a very poor family and was in and out of foster homes. When he turned 18 he was released from the foster home and eventually met his wife Kellie at the age of 19. His father-in-law was a gaffer and introduced Warren to the film business as a set lighting technician. Warren worked under his father-in-law for years until he started to learn the craft of how to light a set. Taking those skills and applying them to hone his touch and eye for lighting, Warren started teaching himself more about light placement by studying shadows from the sun everywhere he went. He is now the owner of a lighting company and one of the top industry tv/commercial gaffers. He has also been teaching young people who are just starting out how to be professional, have character, work hard and become successful. The quote that he lives by is "Work Hard In Silence, Let Your Success Be The Noise."
Shawn Pipkin-West has been a DGA member since 2004. As a working First Assistant Director in the industry, Shawn is now transitioning to episodic/streaming director. Her short film directorial debut, “MO,” made the film festival circuit in 2020. At the moment, Shawn is working on THE UNTITLED LION KING PROJECT directed by Academy Award Winner Barry Jenkins. Some of her other AD feature credits include DREAM GIRLS, LONGEST YARD, FAMILY STONE, and BEYOND THE LIGHTS. Pipkin- West’s TV Credits include West Wing Special for HBO MAX/Warner Bros. and Michelle Obama’s WHEN WE ALL VOTE organization, Disney + BIG SHOT, ABC’s GREY’S ANATOMY, THE CATCH, FOR THE PEOPLE, FOX’s SHOTS FIRED, NBC’s COMMUNITY, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, RAISING DION for NETFLIX and SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS. A Directors Guild-Producers Training Program Graduate, Pipkin-West is very active in the Guild. She is a Board of Trustees Member of the Directors Guild-Producer Training Program, a DGA National Board Associate Member, Co-Chair of The Women’s Steering Committee, member of The Safety Committee, The Education Committee, 1st AD Committee, and has been on the AD/UPM Council West as a member and/or alternate from 2013 to the present.
Toni Barton’s design career had an eclectic start on both coasts: designing scenery for both theatre + short films while studying architecture in Los Angeles; assisting several Broadway scenic designers; and designing at a themed architecture + an industrial set design firm in New York. She recently designed Netflix’s ARCHIVE 81, a series based on a supernatural horror podcast, and OUT/SIDE OF TIME a short film by British Nigerian artist Jenn Nkiru, installed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Afrofuturist Period Room exhibit. Over the past few years, Toni has designed season one of the ABC episodic legal drama FOR LIFE, the pilot episode of ABC’s STUMPTOWN, and the last season of Marvel’s JESSICA JONES. Previously, she worked for many years as an art director and as an adjunct professor at New York University.
Greg Hedgepath works as a supervising sound editor in Los Angeles. He attended the University of Maryland and later received his AA degree in electronics while working at National Public Radio in Washington D.C. as a mixer. He then worked at George Lucas’ Skywalker Sound for 6 years, then moved to Los Angeles as a re-recording mixer at an independent post facility, later joining the union as a sound editor at Sony Studios. After Sony Greg became an independent Sound Supervisor and Sound Designer. He created the sound for the tornados in TWISTER, was a sound designer on the Academy Award-winning film, SPEED, and has worked on over 90 films including BLADE, FROZEN, THE INCREDIBLE HULK, THE HUNGER GAMES, SELMA, STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON and COMING 2 AMERICA to name a few.
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