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Zadia Ife

(Also known as Gail Zadia Franklin)

Creative 
Focus

To develop and collaborate on premier projects that align with my creative leadership, storytelling voice, and commitment to culturally resonant work.

Experience

  • Writer:  Web/Stage/TV/Film    Los Angeles / East Coast  

  • Writer. Where Willows Weep (unproduced feature) 2024 

  • Writer. A Reason For Juneteenth. (theatrical production) 

  • Writer. The New Breed (unproduced feature) 2023 

  • Co-Writer.  Screenplay.  For The Love of Money.    2020. 

  • Writer.  Screenplay.  Trapped.  (unproduced feature)  2020. 

  • Writer. Screenplay. Daring to Dream (working title): the Simin Hahsemizadeh Story.  2019. 

  • Writer. Short. Story Book: The Seduction of Eve. 2017. 

  • Writer. Screenplay.  Bloodhound Manor.  20/20 Vizion Entertainment.  2015. (unproduced feature) 

  • Co-Writer. Screenplay.  Her Little Secret.  20/20 Vizion Entertainment.  (Produced)  2015. 

  • Writer. Screenplay.   The Beast Beneath.  Adapted from the novel the Beast Beneath by Mark Wyckoff. 2014. 

  • Co-Writer.  Operetta.  Then Sings My Soul. Produced by Opera Noire. 2012. 

  • Writer.  Commercials.  Kiddie Kuts 1 & 2$. Blueprint Acting Studios. 2009. 

  • Writer. Screenplay.  My Father, My Son: The Thad Spencer Story. 2008. 

  • Co-Writer. Webisode. The Gym for BoomerBaby.TV.  Episode # 1.  January 2008. 

  • Co-Writer.  Webisode.  The Rapper for BoomerBaby.TV.  Episode # 2.  March 2008. 

  • Writer. Theatrical Play. Diaries of God’s Perfect Nectar at the Assistance League Playhouse. For Kellita Smith & The Women of Essence Breast Cancer Support Group. December 2003. 

  •   Writer. 14th Annual Alliance of Black Entertainment Technicians (ABET) 

  •   May 1998.    

  • Checkmate, Screenplay collaboration with two other writers. April 2007. 

  • Get Your Groove On, Short for American Black Film Festival competition, May 2006. 

  • Omission, for the BET, Black Aids Foundation and Kaiser. Short screenplay competition, May 2006 

  • Ranier and Me. Short (one of 10 finalist for the BET, Black Aids Foundation and Kaiser short screenplay competition) 2004. 

  • The Secret of the Golden Calf, unproduced screenplay 

  • The House on Woodhaven Road, unproduced screenplay 

  • The Compton Tour Bus, screenplay collaboration w/ two other writers 

  • The Village House, bible for television series 

  • My Father, My Son: The Thad Spencer Story, unproduced screenplay  

  • Shades of Black, Stage Play. Produced by the Ensemble Theater Company, Newark Symphony Hall. November 1990 

  • The Taking of Wellness 1,2,3, Stage Play. Produced at the University of Delaware, October 1995 

  • Stompin’ at the Savoy, Stage Play. Produced for the Christina Cultural Arts Center at the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.  February 1993 

  • Crack, stage play. Produced at the Christina Cultural Arts Center, May 1991 

  • Redemption Song, stage play. Developed and Produced with a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, April 1996  

  • Jubilation, stage play. Developed and Produced for the 50th Anniversary of the Christina Cultural Arts Center.  The Grand Opera, Wilmington, Delaware. February 1994 

  • The Juffaree Village. Developed and Produced for Haneef’s African American Festival, Wilmington, Delaware. August 1995.

Academics

  • Teacher’s Resource Guide for The New Jersey Performing Arts Center. Passport to Culture. THE BOABAB TREE. Grades K – 4.  2011. 

  • Guide For Developing and Sustaining African American Breast Cancer Support Groups. Center of Community Alliance for Research and Education at the City of Hope.  2010. 

  • Teacher’s Resource Guide for The New Jersey Performing Arts Center.  Passport to Culture: THE TRIAL OF ONE SHORT-SIGHTED BLACK WOMAN VS. MAMMY LOUISE AND SAFREETA MAE.  Grades 7 -  12.  2001 

  • Teacher’s Resource Guide for The New Jersey Performing Arts Center.  Passport To Culture: SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK.  Grades 3 – 8. 2000. 

  • Teacher’s Resource Guide for The New Jersey Performing Arts Center.  Passport to Culture: REV. DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. MUSICAL REVIVAL.  Grades 9  -- 12. 1998. 

  • Teacher’s Resource Guide for The New Jersey Performing Art Center.  Passport to Culture: SING IN PRAISE OF KING.  Grades 6 – 12. 1997. 

  • “The African Diasporan Ritual Mode: A Paradigm for the Analysis of Plays from the African Continuum” in The African Aesthetic Keeper of  the Tradition, edited by Kariamu Welsh Asante, published by Praeger Publishers, 1990. 

  • Editor. The Journal of Imhotep. Published by the Department of African American Studies at Temple University. 1986 – 1989. 

Director

  • Stage play.  UnSung Sheroes, by Erika Cohen.  2019. 

  • Stage play.  Three Times a Lady, by Gloria Morrow.  2018. 

Autobiography

  • We’ve Come This Far By Faith: A Mother and Son’s Journey. For Gina Rey Harris (current) 

Education

Doctorial  Studies​

Temple University              Philadelphia, PA 

Grad School

Cornel University                Ithaca, NY  

Mason Gross School of Performing Arts 

Rutgers University                New Brunswick, NJ

Skills

Directoring|Creative Direction | Screenwriting | Story Development | Actor Training | Arts Education | Cultural Storytelling | Film, Festival & Institutional Production | Mentorship | Talent Collaboration | Researcher | Grant Writer

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