Digital Series 'Jillian's Peak' Launches LGBT Multimedia Network

When entrepreneur Charzette Torrence first thought to make a series about lesbian women of color, she didn't just jot some ideas on a steno pad and call it a day. Instead, this ambitious woman decided to create an entire multimedia premium cable channel for the LGBT community, with an East Coast bent. Enter JLK Multimedia Entertainment Worldwide, with their first series to be "Jillian's Peak."

"I think the boys did their best with Logo, but it was lacking the fullness of the rainbow community," said Torrence. "We're so multifaceted, why not give women a chance to build a multimedia channel? We will do it on the web, so it can reach more people. It can always get picked up by HBO or Showtime later."

Five years ago, Torrence first began working on her business plan, raising $15,000 with her wife from private contributors. She raised another $15,000 for filming, and began looking for producers and designers.

"Back in the day when we first started, everyone was doing crowdfunding, while we were going after private donors," said Torrence. "We secured funding from a wealthy donor, we had a donation page on our website, and were actively looking for sponsors."

She bypassed those 'friends with cameras' for a professional production team, and hired an Emmy Award-winning script consultant to outline the first three years of her series, "Jillian's Peak." The series follows a young Detroit woman of color who leaves her husband, moves to New York City and comes out as a lesbian. They even secured Langston Fishburne, Lawrence's Fishburne's son, to star.

The series is based on her life, and as she explains, through the life of Jillian, "you learn about being a woman, about growing into yourself and discovering who you are. Everyone is Jillian, and every woman can learn from Jillian. You have to reach your peak to become yourself."

Torrence needs to raise $500,000 more to get her programming started, but was optimistic about that, saying, "the gay community spent $884 billion on gay marriage, so we showed we can raise money. And we still all need the products that we need: Tide, toothpaste, gym shoes. We can find people to sponsor us. And we can pull actors from New York City, and find action and production people to do this."

She also wants the series to have an East Coast bent. Torrence praised serials like "Queer as Folk" and "The L Word," but noted that they didn't really represent the true lives of gay people, especially those who were African-American. She envisions a premium crossover channel, where lesbians of all colors are represented in the right way.

"Our stories need to be told our way, whether it's about what's happening in the news, fashion, sports or crossover themes," said Torrence. "And I wanted it to be here in New York. I'm not an L.A. chick, and everything these days is coming from L.A. If I had that much time to start drama and party... I don't know when they work. We are going to be dealing with issues, showing professionals, realistic people with plans. There will be drama, but it will be real to our life. I'm sick of seeing gay boys f*ck all the time. When do they go to work? How do they pay the rent?"

Torrence wants to turn things on their head with "Jillian's Peak," saying that she wants fans to be familiar with the characters before the pilot even airs (see YouTube intro below). They are currently doing casting, and the rumor among the Screen Actors Guild is that they do things a bit differently.

"I don't think actors should be treated like cattle," said Torrence. "We are flipping the script on how things are done in the film industry."

Inspired by Oprah Winfrey, Torrence notes, "If she can start a channel from nothing, why can't we start the greatest multimedia web channel of all time?"

She is looking to start production on "Jillian's Peak" at the end of September, and is in talks with a few celebrities to be executive producers on the project. Her team is scouting cast, locations and crew.

"There are just not enough representations of women, or women of color. We represent the true daylight, and we can spread the word," said Torrence. "Our community needs quality programming, and we can change the way the industry is. We can have an empire on the web."