Sunday, December 5, 2021
Wednesday, March 31, 2021
Monday, March 8, 2021
Pilot Episode Spoiler
PREMISE
SETTING
As the premise suggests, Coming To Atlanta mostly takes place at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, on the Marta train, downtown Atlanta-Five Points and Lindbergh.
●
Airport Food
Court
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Kroger’s
Wine Tasting Bar-Lindbergh
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Office Depot-Lindbergh
●
Georgia
World Congress Center
●
Lenox
Mall
“Coming To Atlanta”
follows a group of characters from Coming To Atlanta: The Autobiography of
Adrian Collins, Part 2, providing a fascinating social matrix that draws the
viewer to bond with each character from the book. A unique social website will
help drive audience participation with the following-
● Live reality-style interviews on
fans and supporters of each character from the book and the website audience.
● Video blogging of content that
does not make the character’s episode.
● Website voting to determine 60-episode
spinoffs.
Each week, AVP TV & Radio Theatre company will be reality-style
interviewing family and friends of characters from Coming To Atlanta book,
as well as documentary-style reality footage for the 60-episode, 5-season Coming To Atlanta series and soundtrack project.
“Friendship” – The author and each character from his book friendship to be highlighted
as the over-riding context. Our cast will also be a close-knit group of chess
players from the book. Most of the 60-episode project will include celebrities,
chess players, writers, and musical friends of the author.
“Career” – Our casting will also select fans, family, and friends of each character
from the book in high-visibility jobs such as law and acting, as well as celebrities
such as Evander Holyfield, Lil Baby, and plus many more. Their career
efforts will be highlighted to show the stresses, successes, and failures that
they encounter… and most importantly how they deal with those experiences.
“Love life” – Love lives of some
people we interview will get one portion of episodes that’s devoted to it.
We will follow some of the cast home, on their dates, and
various bar singles scenarios for a week to shed light on what it’s like in the A.
These 3 distinct love life segments will be edited together to create a
tapestry of their quest for love in the A.
SEASON ONE CHARACTERS
ADRIAN
COLLINS is an educated, 40-something male. He is short,
dark skin and humble.
DOMINIQUE ARMANI JONES, 20’s,
light brown, slim, rapper, singer and songwriter.
G-FIVE, 20’s,
light brown, slim, rapper.
MALE
FAN #1, 20’S, light brown, heavyset.
FEMALE
FAN #1, 20’s, brown skin, pregnant.
In essence, Coming
To Atlanta is a creative study of mental health issues, homelessness, and
poverty in the metro Atlanta, Georgia area.
First, Coming To Atlanta is a Season #5 running
commentary on sixty (21-min.) docu-style episodes, which is based on the
stories of characters from The Autobiography of Adrian Collins, Part Two:
Coming To Atlanta (2015-2021), and also advertises a Coming To Atlanta-spinoff show on people interview for the series. For example, there is thousands of Lil Baby fans that work at the airport.
Coming To Atlanta also examines the airport,
airport cops, airport bag handlers, homeless people, and anyone else who can be responsible for
taking luggage. This concern primarily manifests itself through the
"Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport." At one point the airport
had picked up on stolen bags and other items gone missing after increasing
reports from travelers.
Get inside the life of an author who came to
Atlanta to pursue his dreams. See how characters from his book juggle the
drama taking place every day in Atlanta. Watch their assertive demeanor as the author goes around promoting his products through his story. Go on the journey
of how he came to Atlanta and met them.
Participate in the scheming and juggling of drama via relationships,
family, and the nightlife scene he is frequenting each night.
Other key themes the series explores includes
mental health issues, addiction, self-reliance, self-improvement, and protesters and activists.
30-45 MINUTE PILOT
Sample episode arc-
Intro – A small montage is shown of the author and Lil Baby meeting for
the first time to refresh the viewer about their background, job, life, and
current situation with each featured character from The Autobiography of Adrian
Collins, Part 2: Coming To Atlanta. This is quickly recapped as we watch Adrian
and Lil Baby in the scene at the airport, Adrian on the Marta train, and mostly begins with Adrian at Atlanta Airport every morning.
Initial Highlights
of Atlanta Airport Events – Fascinating recaps of how he met each character, interesting stories about them, and how meeting Lil Baby at the airport has changed the game for them, all of these highlights are shown in 2-3 minute clips per
issue/moment.
Friendship Focus #1 – Recap a current life and splice it with commentary reading of
each character from the book. Show the author moving around Atlanta in the day
while being at the airport or in the clubs at night. Get the fans and
supporters of the Coming To Atlanta casts reaction but keep the situation as a
cliff-hanger for the moment. Give the viewer a website link to vote on what
they think the fans and supporters of each character should have done.
Career Focus – Next the show will move to the 100,000 Coming To Atlanta flyer-as-digital video products for each episode, which includes 6 million flyers to support their career situations. The preparation, anxiety, delivery, resolution,
and reaction to the one-dollar fundraiser flyer products and amount raised are filmed
and documented. Use shots of the $1 flyer sales pitch, the stress of people prior to it,
and the cast discussing it with other people.
Audience
participation – The audience is polled on a
life or career decision based on the episode so far.
Audience Results
Revealed – The cast and crew are told of
the audience’s opinion and advice.
Friendship Focus # 2 – Resolve the cliff-hangar presented during the focus of the
episode and how the author met them. Did they first have drama? What was the
result of the day they first met? Give the viewer a website link to discuss in
the forum.
Atlanta Airport recap – At this point the show will reinforce travelers bonding between the author advertising his products in the food court section again. Clips from filming that fill in the gaps of the drama and career focuses are shown. The advice, reassurance, and support between characters from his book are highlighted. Any additional outlandish or hilarious stories are played out. Discuss! - Give the viewer a website link to view the voting results and comment on the episode. Switch the show to different fans and supporters from the audience’s reaction to show how they handled the poll result. Close by flashing the website again and an opportunity for the author to post a video of the fans and supporters of characters from the book to be the next set of coming to Atlanta unscripted.
PRODUCTION
& GUERILLA MARKETING
To control costs, experiment with artistic immersion and "in context writing," and to infuse the series with various sorts of meta referentially, all of our cast members, writers, and production staff will live and work on-site (metro Atlanta-style) during each season's production and distribution period.
Finally, concerning guerilla marketing, the series creator has put together several websites, social media profiles, his own innovative one-dollar flyer program, corporate sponsorship proposal packages, brochures, and 12 online trailers for each of the 21-min. docu-style episodes for season #1 featuring Lil Baby to both: (a) give Atlanta Airport a sense of actual existence and (b) generate buzz about the series during development, production, and airing time. For more information, please email the casting director at Adrian2Collins@gmail.com
Saturday, February 20, 2021
Tuesday, February 16, 2021
Lil Baby, Meet The Author: Book Chapter & Movie Trailer
Lil Baby, Meet The Author…
Thursday, February 20, 2020. A very chilly Atlanta morning. I woke up at the airport, but this time I was sitting at my favorite seat when I awoke at 6 am. I had been sitting there writing all night until I doze off for a second. This was one of the biggest tables in the food court section of the airport with four chairs. It was located about 20 feet directly in front of Burger King. I had stayed behind this day, which was after the airport police started running off people who were still sleep. At the airport, the police would wake people up as soon as the Marta trains started back running. I was still there because I had work to do, not sleep to catch! I could not wait to go meet my real estate mentor, Jay Morrison, and see what he was talking about tomorrow. Earlier this week, I had stumbled across his financial advisor, who was a very cool white dude that bought two of my one-man ‘From Suspect To Prospect’ stage play tickets several days earlier.
He was sitting near me at this same location. He got the tickets as a gift for Jay and his wife, for them to come see me perform on Saturday, July 18, 2020, at the Apex Museum in Atlanta. Jay’s financial advisor was very sharp, and you could tell that he was rich from his suit and shoes. I noticed it while he was sitting in the food court on his iPad. I said, “Hey, ya. You hiring?” This was one of my ice breakers, something that I learned at 9-years old while riding in the passenger seat of my grandfather’s pick-up truck. I watched my grandfather pull up on some older white guy back in the day and heard him asked the guy that. And this worked a lot for me since I been legit.
On this table I had my notepad and a copy of the web series poster, book flyer and brochure, and I had my head in the books, focused on this sponsorship proposal and treatment for the reality show for Jay, just when I couldn’t help but to notice these two young boys walking directly past my table. They were heading towards Burger King, but what got my attention is, the taller guy with a big Gucci blanket wrapped around his shoulders. I took a glance back as they walked to Burger King. Then I turned back around to the table to focus on what I was doing. Several moments later, something told me to look around to see what they were doing, and to my surprise, I saw this same young brother looking over my shoulder, checking out what I had on the table.
Once I noticed him looking, I was about to say something to him until he beat me to it. He said, “What’s that you got going on there?” I had heard him loud and clear. However, I had to shoot some of my game out there first. I immediately said, “Damn. What yall coming to America?” They both started laughing and smiling. And that was exactly where I wanted them at. I could clearly see that either they were balling for real, or they just had a lot of fake diamonds on. I said, “Where yall from? Where you from young blood?” I asked as I pointed at him. He responded, “New York. Brooklyn.”
“Oh, so you crazy then!” It really didn’t matter where they said they were from; I still was going to use that same line to break the ice with whoever it was. But once he didn’t laugh, smile, or do nothing after I said that this kind of told me he wasn’t really from New York. It told me that he was lying or something. I added on, “Well, I’m from New Jersey. Plainfield, New Jersey. So, I know how yall get down.” I looked at the table. “Oh naw, I write books, plays, scripts. I’m working on a reality show. It’s called Coming To Atlanta,” I said this just as I pointed at each individual product in the web series poster that I picked up from on the table.
As he looked at it, he said, “Oh, yeah? You write books?"
I repeated, “Yeah. I got four of them.” I pointed at all four of them once again, trying to be very clear of this. I grabbed one of my book flyers. “This is how I advertise my eBooks. How it works is, whoever give me a dollar or whatever, and they get my eBook. On the back,” I said as I turned the flyer around, “It says how they gotta take a selfie with this flyer and then email it to me. And I will email them the book.” He started to dig in his left pocket. He pulled out a crisp one hundred-dollar bill.
“A, look. I got a catch this flight. I need a book. But it gotta be some hard shit. I want something real, something from the streets, you feel me?” I looked at him like he was crazy. “Oh, that’s all I got.” It was perfect timing for me because I still was holding on to the same flyer which had one of my book reviews on it, which is the same flyer I still had in my left hand. I turned it over and said, “Look, a Georgia State University student said this, ‘From Suspect To Prospect is one of the most entertaining books that I've ever read. From start to finish, entertaining. What was really unique about his book is, instead of a boring, factual, autobiography, Adrian does a great job of mixing his real-life events with a bit of storytelling, and the combination was perfect."
After that, I placed the flyer back on the table. I knew my flyers worked because I made over $90,000 with 90,000 of this same exact fundraising idea. As he read it, I said, “It’s about me. Being 21 years old on a 3rd grade reading level. Selling drugs, shot five times in New Jersey. Went to jail for four years and taught myself how to read and write. Wrote these three books in 2007. Came home in 2010 and still had money. And plus, my young boys had money and they was hitting me. I started up a publishing company. Incorporated Best of the Best Publishing. I got 1,000 of my first fiction book printed out and sold them in 3 months.”
He looked at me surprised. “That’s good. That’s good as hell...”
“Yeah. Then somebody who read my book in 2013. He inspired me to write a one-man stage play. It takes place in jail.” Just as I was saying this, some young black guy came walking up to us with his phone in his hand. He was looking at this same young boy with the Gucci blanket on. He asked him, “Can I get a pic?”
I couldn’t believe he was asking to take a picture with this guy. I looked around to see who in the hell was this fan talking to. But it was clear who it was because the young brother replied, “Sure... Come on!” As they positioned to take pictures, I was still looking around and trying my hardest to figure out what was going on here and who was he. He had to be somebody famous or something.
I said, “Yo, who the fuck is you?” He was silent, as if he was paying me no mind. Several seconds later, I said to his fan, “Dog, who the fuck is he?” His fan was quiet and didn’t say nothing either as they flicked up. I didn’t see the young girl in line waiting up next to take a picture with him too because as soon as the first fan started walking away, she was stepping right in with her phone out in her hand, aiming her phone at the both of them and getting ready to take a pic. I got impatient; I was growing curious to see who this young brother was. I knew he had to be somebody. This is when I pulled out my phone and started recording. I said, “Dog, who the fuck is he? Who is this nigga?”
His female fan said, “This Lil Baby. You don’t know who this is!” I was shocked. I knew who he was, because it was just several months ago in Plainfield, New Jersey, which is when I let some of the homies in my hood use my 12-inch Bluetooth wireless speak to play both Lil Baby and Da Baby music last summer. They were all talking about Lil Baby’s documentary, Preacher Man, which is what made me go in the house later that night and watch the whole documentary on YouTube. So, I was clearly aware of and knew exactly who Lil Baby was, that he was in fact from Atlanta, Georgia, and not from Brooklyn, New York, like he said! I thought to myself, so why did he lie to me?
I said, “Oh, that’s Lil Baby,” just before I cut the camera off the first time. She looked in his eyes and said, “Thank you, Baby.” Then she slowly walked away looking at her pictures and doing something with her phone. I wasn’t going to say nothing about it until Lil Baby walked back over to me and was standing there looking at my material on the table, again.
I said, “Nigga, why you lie? You aint from New York. I know who you is... You dope... You crack... You hard white...” By then, Lil Baby and his homie G-Five was both laughing at me. I pulled back out my cellphone and started recording as if I was taking a selfie with them, but I actually wanted to get footage of them and me in the same scene. However, Lil Baby and G-5 started to make a pose for the camera as if I was, so I just went along with it, acting as if I was taking a picture of us when I was recording. Just as I started to turn my camera off, Lil Baby was already back at the table, picking up the poster and pulling out a crisp hundred-dollar bill. He handed it to me and said, “How I do it? I want to read that book.”
I replied, “Okay. I got you. I gotta get change, but I don’t have any books on me right now. Where you want me to drop the book off at? I will have it by later on today. I print them out at home.”
Lil Baby said, “I’m about to go out of state.” I tried to give him back his money. He said, “Keep it. That’s you.” I sat back in the chair, stunned and in total disbelief. I couldn’t belief it. I was just talking to Lil Baby all this time without even know it was him.
“Damn. Good looking out, bro,” I told him as he was reading my book flyer once again. When he put my flyer down, then he started reading something else on the table. At this point, I started pulling my phone out my pocket again, impatiently waiting for the right time to hit the record button. I wanted to get some more footage of him, but I also didn’t want to do it sneaky, all of a sudden just whipping out my phone from under the table and look all crazy trying to record him, especially without asking him first. I wanted to do it the right way, not as a creep or somebody who he couldn’t never trust.
I said, “I print everything out at home. I do everything myself. My money!” As he was reading my web series poster, again, I hit the record button. Lil Baby said, “If you got it together, you got it all together. I see...” While recording, right before I slowly began to raise the phone up, I said, “It might look shitty, but it's real.” By then, I was slowly but surely raising my phone up to record him. Just as he was finished saying, “I don't go off looks,” the camera was making its way on him.
I said on the camera, “Lil Baby in the building.” He immediately raised my web series poster up, flashing it for the whole world to see. While filming Lil Baby, I said, “That’s crazy, brah. I wish you a ton of money, brah.”
“Likewise. I wish you the same thing.”
I continued, “Much success, much happiness.” Lil Baby then placed the web series poster back down on the table and started to point at the black one-sleeve brochure that was laying right in between my mini notebook pad and web series poster.
“Ah look. I’m a get, take a picture of that. I don’t give a fuck. How I do it? You feel me?” As I started to turn off the camera to the phone to talk to him, I said, “No doubt.” After I cut the camera off, I said, “You can have it. You can take what you want. I can also write you a script.” I had to get that part in because I knew he had to go. As he began to leave, Lil Baby said, “Hell yeah. That’s what I want. That’s to make sure you call me. Ah look. Your number on here?”
I replied, “Yeah. It should be. Everything is me. By myself.” As he started walking off, heading to the checkpoint, Lil Baby shot back, “Say no more, then. I’m a call you for that script. You feel me?” I responded, “Doubt,” as I immediately started checking the gallery of my phone to make sure I got everything...