Bio
Tanya Kersey is passionate about helping indie filmmakers make creatively, critically and financially successful films.. While being wildly known as The Filmmaker’s Success Mentor, Tanya is probably best known as the Founder and Executive Director of the Hollywood Black Film Festival (HBFF), where she is responsible for the overall creative direction, organization, management, and administration of one of the leading black film festivals in the world. which she launched in 1998. Through HBFF, Tanya has helped discover and launch the careers of nearly 1,500 independent filmmakers from over 25 countries around the world. She has also created complementary platforms to showcase and develop filmmaker projects -- the Infotainment Conference, the HBFF Cinema Lounge, the HBFF Screening Series, the HBFF Film Finance & Distribution Summit, and the HBFF Storyteller Competition. She has been named an "Urban Hollywood Mover and Shaker" by Daily Variety and interviewed for the HistoryMakers archives, in addition to a host of other national and international publications, TV and radio outlets, and podcasts. Through her work as a Filmmaker Coach & Career Strategist, Tanya gives independent filmmakers the information, tools and resources they need to develop, finance, produce, market & distribute successful and profitable films so they can master the business of successful moviemaking, share their vision with the world, see their film on the big screen, and make a living doing what they love. Tanya has coached and mentored over 1,100 filmmakers since 1990 through 1:on:1 and group coaching programs based on her proprietary Breakthrough Filmmaker Success System®. Prior to the film festival and her coaching and consulting work, Tanya was one of Hollywood"s most respected and well-regarded entertainment journalists and commentators. She was the founder and CEO of the entertainment industry trade publication, Black Talent News and its companion website, BlackTalentNews.com. On the entertainment beat for more than 15 years, Tanya covered a variety of high-profile events such as the Oscars, Emmys, SAG Awards, BET Awards, and the NAACP Image Awards; and has conducted countless celebrity interviews with stars including Tyler Perry, Samuel L. Jackson, Morgan Freeman, Halle Berry, Angela Bassett, Ice Cube, Anthony Anderson, Steve Harvey, and the late Bernie Mac, to name just a few. As a contributing writer/editor, Tanya’s many essays and articles about the entertainment industry have appeared in Upscale Magazine, BRE Magazine, Electronic Urban Report, Target Market News, Raw Story, the L.A. Sentinel, the Portland Observer, The Westside Gazette, Columbus Post, Black Journalist and the Los Angeles Times, among other publications. For years she was a member of the Television Critics Association (TCA) and accredited by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). As a journalist, Tanya had her finger on the pulse on the latest news from the world of urban entertainment. Throughout her career, she earned a reputation for covering all aspects of the entertainment industry, focusing on film, television, cable, award shows, and the business of entertainment in a trend-setting, and ground-breaking fashion. In 2021 Tanya launched the Breakthrough Filmmaker Success Academy, billed as “The Netflix for Filmmaker Information, Education and Transformation.” The Academy was designed for filmmakers to gain access to the training, advice, and the support needed to plan, create and grow a profitable, meaningful filmmaking career and produce creatively, financially & critically successful and profitable films. Tanya was an early adopter of the new audio app, Clubhouse, where she formed the Filmmaker Success club, and hosts regular rooms with high-level industry executives sharing their tips, tricks and hacks to help filmmakers break through in the industry. She’s in the process of creating ClubhouseFilmmakers.club and a ‘Clubhouse Filmmakers’ Facebook group. Both are designed for filmmakers on the newer social media audio apps to have an offline place to call “home,” where they can engage with one another, and stay up-to-date on all the filmmaker-related rooms and events on the app. Next up for Tanya is the premiere of “Reel Talk with Tanya,” a weekly WebTV show for thoughtful and engaging conversations about the business of making successful & profitable independent films using proven strategies that work. She previously hosted the podcast, Inside Urban Hollywood,’ and went on to produce 82 episodes of that podcast. The podcast featured many of the leading film, television and screenwriting talents in Urban Hollywood. Tanya will host and produce “Reel Talk with Tanya” and share actionable strategies, inspiration, and insight from her 30+ year career as a leading film industry professional. Viewers will get powerful filmmaking tactics, tips, tricks and hacks that will leave them inspired, empowered and ready to get down to “Reel” Hollywood business. Tanya is currently growing her boutique consulting firm, The Kersey Group (TKG). TKG provides film, media & business development consulting services on a broad range of entertainment industry-related projects including marketing, distribution, strategic business planning, business development and programming for film, television and new media. The company offers specialized expertise in the urban and multicultural markets and creates capacity-building and branding programs for developing film communities, countries and NGOs. Tanya is also a published author and international speaker. She has been featured on a host of media outlets including ABC, CNN, FOX, BET, REELZ Channel, BIO Channel, the Los Angeles Times, Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety. She wrote Black State of the Arts; A Guide to Developing a Successful Career as a Black Performing Artist (published by Book World Publishers). The book is considered the Bible for black actors and actresses looking to break into Hollywood. Tanya’s forthcoming book, The Tanya Principle: 10 Secrets To Your Breakthrough Filmmaker Success, will be released Spring 2022. Tanya got her start in the entertainment industry right out of college and worked as an actress and model in NYC before setting her sights on Hollywood.