Dominique Telson is a multiple Emmy-nominated producer and Executive Producer of both feature films and television series. In February of 2023, Ms. Telson became the Executive Vice President of Malcolm Lee’s Blackmaled Productions where she will lead the company in developing feature films and television series under the company’s three-year deal with NBC Universal. In 2022, Dominique Executive Produced alongside creator Malcolm D. Lee and showrunner Dayna Lynne North, The Best Man, The Final Chapters. The eight-episode series is based on the popular films and stars the original cast, Regina Hall, Taye Diggs, Nia Long, Sanaa Lathan, Terrence Howard and Melissa DeSousa all reprising their roles. The much-anticipated series premiered on Peacock on December 22,2022 and shattered all existing records for the network. The result, a three-year first look deal with NBC Universal Productions to create on multiple platforms for the studio including feature films, series and unscripted programming. Prior to joining The Best Man series, Ms. Telson produced Sarah Elizabeth Mintz’ film, Good Girl Jane, starring Andie MacDowell which premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival and won the coveted award for best feature and the best actor award for it’s lead, actress, Rain Spencer.  Prior to that, Ms. Telson produced Aml Ameen’s Boxing Day starring Aja Naomi King, Marianne Jean Baptiste and Little Mix’ Leigh Ann Pinnock. The holiday film was released theatrically in the UK through Warner Brothers and released domestically on Amazon Prime. 

In addition to Good Girl Jane, Ms. Telson has also produced several films for Astute Films, LLC, the Los Angeles-based, privately-funded motion picture financing and production company alongside former Sony Pictures exec, Fred Bernstein. Films produced under the banner include Here Today, starring Billy Crystal and Tiffany Haddish released through Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions’ Stage 6 Films. Astute’s feature film, Queen Bees, led by Ellen Burstyn, James Caan, Loretta Devine, Ann-Margret and Jane Curtin, was also developed and produced by Ms. Telson. The film was a 2021 release through Gravitas Ventures and MGM and was nominated for the prestigious Humanitas Award. The Best of Enemies, starring Academy Award-nominee Taraji P. Henson and Academy Award-winner Sam Rockwell was Ms. Telson’s first feature for Astute and released theatrically by STX in 2019. Ms. Telson also Executive Produced Spirit Award winner and the Sundance premiere Premature directed by Rashaad Ernesto Greene andstarring Zora Howard and Joshua Boone. Short History of the Long Road starring Sabrina Carpenter, also premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival that year and received a special jury mention for best screenplay. Ms. Telson co-produced An Interview with God starring David Strathairn and Brenton Twaites for Astute Films’ sister-company Giving Films. All profits from Giving Films productions are donated to charity.

In the TV space, Ms.Telson produced All BLk’s “5^th Ward,” the Houston based television series written and directed by Greg Carter starring singer Mya, Carl Anthony Payne, Omar Gooding and Gary Sturgis. Telson has also served as an Executive Producer on over 25 Hallmark Channel and Lifetime Movie Network films including “The Twelve Trees of Christmas” starring Mel B and “Christmas Unwrapped” with Tiffany Haddish, and Safe Room starring Boris Kodjoe and Nicole Ari Parker.

Prior to being an independent producer, Ms. Telson was the longtime Vice President of Original Programming for Showtime Networks where she oversaw the development and production of multiple award-winning and critically acclaimed Original Movies and Series Including Soul Food, based on the feature film and The Devil’s Arithmetic starring Kirsten Dunst and produced by Dustin Hoffmam.

Ever pioneering to create opportunities for minorities, Telson created Showtime’s Black Filmmaker Showcase which was one of the first programs designed to discover emerging talent such as Malcolm Lee. Ms. Telson, an immigrant of Haitian descent, plans to continue her goal of creating quality films and television that make her community and family proud.  

Malcolm D. Lee Producing Movie Set in the Double Dutch World for Universal

EXCLUSIVE: Malcolm D. Lee is set to produce The Untitled Double Dutch Project at Universal, based off an original idea by Thembi Banks which she will write.

The story we hear will revolve around the journey of a coach and his double-dutch jump rope team.

Banks is currently the co-producer on the Untitled Hilde Lysiak Project for Apple, and she’s a 2018 HBO Directing Fellow, and was a 2017 Directing Fellow for Film Independent’s Project Involve.

Lee will produce Double Dutch under his banner Blackmaled Productions. Universal Vice President of Production Sara Scott is overseeing the project on behalf of the studio.

Lee’s Kevin Hart-Tiffany Haddish fall comedy Night School recently grossed over $101M at the global box office. In total, Lee’s directing canon has amassed close to $600M worldwide. Lee’s Girls Trip last year repped a high mark for comedies at the B.O. with a $31.2M opening and $115.1M domestic B.O. The move repped the first time that an African American female screenwriter, Tracy Oliver, saw her film gross in excess of $100M at the box office. Oliver co-wrote Girls Trip with Kenya Barris. Deadline recently exclusively announced that Lee is developing the romantic ensemble comedy How to Fall in Love with Anyone inspired by Mandy Len Catron’s New York Times viral article “To Fall in Love With Anyone, Do This”.

Banks is represented by UTA, Rain Management Group, and Gang, Tyre, Ramer, Brown & Passman, Inc. Lee is represented by Paradigm Talent Agency and Del, Shaw, Moonves, Tanaka, Finkelstein & Lezcano.

Viola Davis, Malcolm D. Lee In Universal Deal For Terry McMillan Novel ‘I Almost Forgot About You’

EXCLUSIVE: Universal Pictures has has won an auction and has optioned from The Jackal Group the rights to Terry McMillan’s bestseller I Almost Forgot About You, which the studio will mount a star vehicle for Oscar-winning Fences star Viola Davis, with Girls Trip helmer Malcolm D. Lee directing. The Jackal Group’s Gail Bermanand Joe Earley, who acquired McMillan’s novel back back in May, are producing alongside Davis, her husband and JuVee Productions partner Julius Tennon, and Lee and his Blackmaled Productions banner. Bidding on the package was competitive.

Ron Bass, the Oscar winning scripter of Rain Man and My Best Friend’s Wedding, will write the script with McMillan. They teamed on two other McMillan novel feature adaptations, How Stella Got Her Groove Back and Waiting To Exhale. Those films fueled strong vehicles for Angela Bassett, and Whitney Houston, Bassett, Loretta Devine and Lela Rochon. Now, Davis gets her turn.

She will play Georgia Young, a twice-divorced, successful optometrist. Despite a life, full of great friends and family, she hasn’t felt a romantic spark in awhile, and feeling bored and restless. She decides it’s time to change, and goes on a wild journey of self-discovery, reuniting with old lovers, and getting a brand new lease on life. Published by Crown, the book was a big bestseller, as is usual for McMillan, whose Disappearing Acts (HBO) and A Day Late And A Dollar Short (Lifetime) were also adapted by Hollywood.

McMillan played herself in the Lee-directed Girls Trip, so it’s not surprising they have a rapport. Lee is shooting Night School for Universal with Girls Trip‘s Tiffany Haddish and Kevin Hart leading the comedy ensemble.

Universal veep Sara Scott will oversee with Blackmaled’s Melanie Clark.

Davis is repped by CAA, manager Estelle Lasher and Lichter, Grossman; Lee is Paradigm and Del, Shaw, Moonves; The Jackal Group is Wendy Kirk at Ziffren Brittenham LLP; McMillan is WME, The Friedrich Agency and Frankfurt Kurnit; and Bass is ICM Partners, The Gotham Group and Jackoway Tyerman.

‘Girls Trip’ Helmer Malcolm D. Lee Sets ‘Rock The Bells’ Pitch At Fox

EXCLUSIVE: Twentieth Century Fox Film has acquired Rock the Bells, a pitch from Girls Trip director Malcolm D. Lee. He will direct the hybrid Christmas family comedy, which will be written by Malcolm Spellman and Dalan Musson. Lee and Tajamika Paxton will produce under Lee’s Blackmaled Productions banner. Melanie Clark, VP Production and Development for Blackmaled Productions, will oversee.

Vanessa Morrison, Nate Hopper and Karen Toliver will oversee for the studio. They are keeping the specifics under wraps, but it is a good time for Lee, coming off the sleeper summer hit Girls Trip, the first $100 million-grossing film with an all-African-American creative team in front of and behind the camera. Lee reteamed with producer Will Packer and is currently shooting Night School, starring Kevin Hart and Girls Trip breakout star Tiffany Haddish.

Lee is repped by Paradigm and Del, Shaw, Moonves.

'Night School' Director Malcolm D. Lee Sets Hip-Hop Comedy 'Real Talk' at Universal (Exclusive)

Radha Blank, who penned episodes of 'Empire' and 'She's Gotta Have It,' will write the script.

Just ahead of the opening of his Universal movie, Night School, director Malcolm D. Lee is reuniting with the studio for a new comedy.

Lee and Universal are developing Real Talk, an homage to old-school hip-hop that will be penned by Radha Blank, a writer whose credits include episodes of Empire and She’s Gotta Have it.

Based on a concept by Lee, the story tells of an old-school rapper who attempts to reunite his group to reclaim their past glory as one of the most influential hip-hop acts ever.

Lee is attached to direct the pic and will produce via his Blackmaled Productions banner.

Blackmaled senior vp productions and development Melanie N. Clark will oversee alongside Universal executive vp production Kristin Lowe and creative executive Mika Pryce.

Lee has made a career of black-centric comedies ranging from Undercover Brother to Barbershop: The Next Cut. He last directed Universal's Girls Trip, the surprise hit that made over $115 million domestically. Night School, which stars Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish, bows Friday.

Lee is repped by Paradigm and Del Shaw. Blank is repped by CAA and Del Shaw.

‘Night School’ Filmmaker Malcolm D. Lee Returns To Work With Universal On ‘How To Fall In Love With Anyone’

EXCLUSIVE: Hot off the success of Night School which is on its way to clicking past $40M worldwide by the end of today, the pic’s director Malcolm D. Lee is back in business with Universal for the romantic ensemble comedy How to Fall in Love with Anyone.

The studio is developing the project, inspired by Mandy Len Catron’s New York Times viral article “To Fall in Love With Anyone, Do This”, with Lee’s Blackmaled Productions banner. Raamla Mohamed (ABC’s Scandal) and Ryan Richmond (Money Matters) will pen the script. Todd Hoffman will produce for his Storied Media Group, alongside Lee.

In Catron’s article she focuses on a 1997 SUNY Stony Brook study in which psychologist Arthur Aron explored whether intimacy between two perfect strangers could be accelerated by having them ask each other 36 personal questions. As they go along, each question becomes increasingly personal and intense with inquires like: “Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die?” or “For what in your life do you feel most grateful?”. Such questions proved to bring together countless couples and in some cases save marriages.

Melanie N. Clark, SVP, Production & Development for Blackmaled Productions will oversee the project, alongside Universal VP of Production Sara Scott and Creative Executive Christine Sun.

Lee has made six movies with Universal going all the way back to 1999’s The Best Man in total grossing close to $400M worldwide; his highest grossing title for the studio and himself being last summer’s comedy pinnacle Girls Trip which totaled $140.3M WW and launched Tiffany Haddish as a leading star. Lee is represented by Paradigm Talent Agency and Del, Shaw, Moonves, Tanaka, Finkelstein & Lezcano; Mohamed is represented by UTA and Ziffren Brittenham and Richmond is represented by 3 Arts Entertainment.