Verdict — Egbe Creative

DIRECTOR'S NOTE

VERDICT is Act One of the pilot of the television series ENGLISHTOWN, which tells the story of a fictional urban neighborhood navigating a rapidly changing world while fighting to conquer its own demons. Life is tough in Englishtown, damn tough. People die, most folks barely have what they need to survive, and the institutions that are supposed to serve Englishtown residents either don't work at all or only make things worse. What our series explores is how the struggle is real, but so is the strength of the people who not only survive, but thrive in the toughest circumstances, and how the combination of faith, love, and joy can make everything out of nothing at all.

When you come to Englishtown be ready to laugh, cry, and scream all in one episode. You can never be sure which one it will be, but you can always be sure you'll feel something in this made up place with the realest of people.

VERDICT tells the tale of a sweltering summer morning at the Queen's Delight Hair Salon, Englishtown's headquarters of fly looks, and all the gossip you can handle. Prentiss owns the shop, but Rasheedah is the resident genius. Folks wait weeks for an appointment with her only partially because of her styling skills. She dispenses life advice, moral support, reprimands and interventions from her chair, and the neighborhood knows that if Rasheedah has weighed in on an issue it's time to pay attention.

When Ebony Norton, an old friend of Prentiss and Rasheedah, comes into the shop after just moving back to Englishtown from time at an Ivy League college and working in New York, Prentiss and Rasheedah are ready for a reunion, but Ebony has other ideas.

She's come back to her hometown to try to start a revolution, and she's looking for help.

Prentiss' decision is almost made for her, but Rasheedah is faced with a dilemma in which she will have to deliver a final verdict.

// Written & Directed by Raheem Ivey
// An Egbe Creative Production