{"id":1259,"date":"2020-08-29T02:05:32","date_gmt":"2020-08-29T02:05:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vast-entertainment.com\/main\/?p=1259"},"modified":"2020-08-29T02:17:04","modified_gmt":"2020-08-29T02:17:04","slug":"al-roker-to-produce-unique-social-impact-television-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/vast-entertainment.com\/main\/?p=1259","title":{"rendered":"Al Roker Entertainment Combines Forces with Brave Road and Vast Entertainment for Inspirational New Series"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><p>[vc_row full_width=&#8221;stretch_row&#8221; content_placement=&#8221;middle&#8221;][vc_column][vc_single_image image=&#8221;834&#8243; img_size=&#8221;full&#8221; alignment=&#8221;center&#8221; css_animation=&#8221;fadeIn&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=&#8221;stretch_row&#8221;][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=&#8221;NEWS&#8221; font_container=&#8221;tag:h2|font_size:20pt|text_align:center|color:%23ffffff&#8221; use_theme_fonts=&#8221;yes&#8221; css_animation=&#8221;fadeInDown&#8221;][vc_separator css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1590714466808{padding-top: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_images_carousel images=&#8221;1253,1254&#8243; img_size=&#8221;full&#8221; onclick=&#8221;custom_link&#8221; custom_links_target=&#8221;_blank&#8221; autoplay=&#8221;yes&#8221; hide_pagination_control=&#8221;yes&#8221; hide_prev_next_buttons=&#8221;yes&#8221; wrap=&#8221;yes&#8221; css_animation=&#8221;fadeInDown&#8221; custom_links=&#8221;#E-8_aHR0cCUzQSUyRiUyRmFscm9rZXJlbnRlcnRhaW5tZW50LmNvbSUyRiUyQ2h0dHAlM0ElMkYlMkZ3d3cudmFzdC1lbnRlcnRhaW5tZW50LmNvbSUyRg==&#8221; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1598666720530{background-position: 0 0 !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;}&#8221;][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2>Al Roker Entertainment Combines Forces with Brave Road and Vast Entertainment for Inspirational New Series<\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4>Al Roker To Produce Unique Social-Impact Television Series<\/h4>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h5>NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES, Aug. 25, 2020 \/PRNewswire\/ &#8212; <a href=\"http:\/\/alrokerentertainment.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Al Roker Entertainment, Inc.<\/a>, the 26-year veteran producer of programs for network, cable, digital and streaming as well as commercials and branded entertainment for both brands and non-profits, has finalized a strategic development and production partnership with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thebraveroad.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brave Road Entertainment<\/a>, founded by Andrew Bishop and Vast Entertainment, founded by Lane Shefter Bishop for a new social-impact television series, titled HOPETOWN.<\/h5>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h5>The project is based on the ten-book &#8220;Bring on the Blessings&#8221; series by prolific author Beverly Jenkins (Nancy Yost Lit) with the adaptation by screenwriters Shari Simpson and Charlie Shahnaian (Buchwald). HOPETOWN tells the story of a wealthy African American divorcee who determines to purchase a failing, childless town and turn it into a thriving foster-family community \u2013 but must overcome resistance from the inhabitants, unwilling to support her outside-the-box ideas. It&#8217;s an inspirational drama, shown through a multi-ethnic and multi-generational lens.<\/h5>\n<h5>The unique element of this project is the social mission surrounding the series, whereby foster youth mentorship programs will benefit through the series&#8217; exposure.<\/h5>\n<h5>&#8220;As someone who grew up with foster siblings, I know how important it is for every child to be given the opportunity to grow up in a positive and supportive way,&#8221; said Al Roker, HOPETOWN&#8217;s Executive Producer. &#8220;HOPETOWN, not only inspires and entertains, it also sheds light on the importance of fostering and how foster kids benefit from being part of a connected community like the one portrayed in Beverly Jenkins books. This storytelling is uplifting and engaging and proves it really does take a village.&#8221;<\/h5>\n<h5>&#8220;HOPETOWN represents the type of positive, socially conscious programming we are producing at <a href=\"https:\/\/alrokerentertainment.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Al Roker Entertainment<\/a>, said Tracie Brennan, Executive Vice President at ARE. &#8220;The combination of multi-ethnic characters, pay-it-forward messaging, and much-needed societal impacts are desirable components we look for when developing creative projects like this. It also doesn&#8217;t hurt that it is an excellent script based on amazingly inspirational books.&#8221;<\/h5>\n<h5>In a joint statement, Bishop and Shefter Bishop added, &#8220;We couldn&#8217;t be more thrilled to be working with Al Roker Entertainment which shares our common vision of telling strong stories with the ability to create positive social change.&#8221; Frank Connelly, Exec Director of Social Impact Entertainment at Brave Road, added &#8220;What&#8217;s exciting about HOPETOWN is that it&#8217;s a TV series with the potential to raise awareness and positively impact the lives of foster youth.&#8221;<\/h5>\n<h5>Roker is a host and weatherman of NBC&#8217;s top-rated Today Show as well as a 13X published author and owner and CEO of Al Roker Entertainment. Both Al and ARE are represented by William Morris Endeavor.<\/h5>\n<h5>Shefter Bishop is a multi-award-winning producer, writer and director who has received numerous accolades for her work, including an EMMY, and who has made Vast Entertainment THE go-to book-to-screen company. She is repped by Lee Keele of The Gersh Agency.<\/h5>\n<h5>Andrew Bishop is an award-winning producer and entertainment executive of both scripted and unscripted programming who founded the Brave Road to create purposeful media for the benefit of positive social impact.<\/h5>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"card-text\">[vc_row full_width=&#8221;stretch_row&#8221; content_placement=&#8221;middle&#8221;][vc_column][vc_single_image image=&#8221;834&#8243; img_size=&#8221;full&#8221; alignment=&#8221;center&#8221; css_animation=&#8221;fadeIn&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=&#8221;stretch_row&#8221;][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=&#8221;NEWS&#8221; font_container=&#8221;tag:h2|font_size:20pt|text_align:center|color:%23ffffff&#8221; use_theme_fonts=&#8221;yes&#8221; css_animation=&#8221;fadeInDown&#8221;][vc_separator css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1590714466808{padding-top: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_images_carousel images=&#8221;1253,1254&#8243; img_size=&#8221;full&#8221; onclick=&#8221;custom_link&#8221; custom_links_target=&#8221;_blank&#8221; autoplay=&#8221;yes&#8221; hide_pagination_control=&#8221;yes&#8221; hide_prev_next_buttons=&#8221;yes&#8221; wrap=&#8221;yes&#8221; css_animation=&#8221;fadeInDown&#8221; custom_links=&#8221;#E-8_aHR0cCUzQSUyRiUyRmFscm9rZXJlbnRlcnRhaW5tZW50LmNvbSUyRiUyQ2h0dHAlM0ElMkYlMkZ3d3cudmFzdC1lbnRlcnRhaW5tZW50LmNvbSUyRg==&#8221; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1598666720530{background-position: 0 0 !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;}&#8221;][vc_column_text] Al Roker Entertainment Combines Forces with Brave Road and Vast Entertainment for Inspirational New Series &nbsp; Al Roker To Produce Unique Social-Impact [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p class=\"m-0\"><a class=\"btn btn-outline-secondary btn-read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/vast-entertainment.com\/main\/?p=1259\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1265,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_meta":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[52,46,56,59,58,48,53,17,49,8,55,47,22,54,45,50,51,24,57,23,7,21],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/vast-entertainment.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1259"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/vast-entertainment.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/vast-entertainment.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/vast-entertainment.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/vast-entertainment.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1259"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/vast-entertainment.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1267,"href":"http:\/\/vast-entertainment.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1259\/revisions\/1267"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/vast-entertainment.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/vast-entertainment.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/vast-entertainment.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/vast-entertainment.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}