WRITER BIO

Tamika Lamison graduated from The American University’s Department of Performing Arts, went on tour and moved to New York where she co-starred in the award winning Off Broadway revival of “For Colors Girls…” directed by it’s author Ntozake Shange. After realizing that there was more power in actually creating roles, Tamika decided to resurrect an old passion of hers…writing. Actually, writing is a gift Tamika discovered at a young age. In high school, she was a Youth Correspondent for her hometown paper, The Richmond News Leader and won scholarships to The Northern Arizona Journalism Workshop and The Urban Journalism Workshop, where she received an award for Best News Story. In college, Tamika saw her first original play, “Chiaro-Scuro,” produced at the Kreeger Theatre in D.C., which is where she also directed/produced the play, Leroi Jones’ The Slave.”

While living in New York, Tamika continued to write and perform including writing poetry extensively and performing on the performance poetry circuit. New York inspired Tamika to translate her love of the written word into a cinematic medium. After winning the Gordon Parks Indie film award and $10,000.00 for her first screenplay, “The Jar By the Door,”she enrolled in and graduated from The New York Film Academy where she was able to experiment in a controlled environment and gain knowledge of the nuts and bolts of film making.

At this point, Tamika’s writing flourished. She was hired by actor Hill Harper to write a screenplay and continued to garner many screenwriting awards for her writings. Her screenplay, “Memoirs of A Virgin Whore,” won her a coveted spot in the ABC/Walt Disney screenwriting Fellowship Program. During the fellowship, Tamika was mentored by top industry executives and producers, and furthered her writing, directing and producing skills. Subsequently, she was accepted into AFI’s prestigious Directing Workshop for Women where she wrote, produced and directed her first award winning short film, “HOPE.” Widely received, HOPE played in over 50 festivals and aired on all the major TV networks. It can be seen currently on BET.

Tamika has worked on several short films, television and film productions. She has written well over 25 features scripts including writer-for-hire jobs.

Tamika also wrote, directed and edited a documentary she shot while working the 2004 Presidential election. In addition, the short film SPIN, which she was hired to direct and co-produce has had a very successful festival run.

Tamika is currently pitching her animated Dog-Story, “Dogfight aka Runtz” and she recently completed her first romantic-comedy, “Shoot the Bride.”

Tamika is most excited about her newest endeavor, “Make A Film Foundation” a non-profit she Founded which pairs terminally/critically diagnosed youth with industry professionals who help them create short film legacies. “Make A Film Foundation” was inspired by her work with organization’s like Inner City Filmmaker’s and Tamika’s desire to combine her passion of filmmaking with providing an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of youth. (www.makeafilmfoundation.org)