INTERSECTION: The Series

"Living together is at a crossroads"

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##UPDATE 5/5/20

THANK YOU TO ALL OUR INCREDIBLE SUPPORTERS FOR GETTING US 100% FUNDED.

BECAUSE OF COVID, PRODUCTION RULES AND REGULATIONS ARE CHANGING. WE KNOW THIS MEANS WE WILL HAVE TO BE EXTRA PRECAUTIOUS ON SET. THIS WILL MOST LIKELY SLOW DOWN PRODUCTION OR ADD COSTS IN ORDER TO MAKE SURE WE'RE KEEPING EVERYONE SAFE.

ANYTHING RAISED OVER OUR GOAL WILL BE PUT TOWARDS THESE COVID SET OPERATIONS, ALLOWING US TO SHOOT IN THE MIDST/AFTERMATH OF THIS PANDEMIC. THANK YOU ALL!

##UPDATE 4/25/20: 

BECAUSE OF REGULATIONS REGARDING COVID 19, WE DECIDED TO PUSH OUR SHOOT ON MARCH 20TH. WE ARE WATCHING VERY CLOSELY TO DECIDE HOW AND WHEN MAKE SENSE TO SHOOT IN ORDER TO KEEP OUR CAST AND CREW AS SAFE AS POSSIBLE. YOU WILL KNOW WHEN WE KNOW!

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

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Listen to our latest podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-272-megan-messmer-from-web-series-intersection/id881258043?i=1000469941693

On the tipping point of gentrification, a close-knit community is forced to share their hood with woke millennials, hopeful flippers and accidental entrepreneurs, learning how to live together, or risk losing the culture of their neighborhood entirely.  

Director's Statement

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Hi, I'm Meg Messmer

...and I am one of the writers and creators of Intersection.

This is a personal story for me that started when I was living in Detroit and I was the only white person living in my downtown apartment building. Then I moved to NYC and watched as changes steadily followed me to every neighborhood I could afford (Harlem, Clinton Hill and Bedstuy). When I was living in Los Angeles, I bought my first house.

Yes, I'm a gentrifier. I'm white and I bought a house to flip in order to save money because I'm a freelance (writer/actor/creator) and knew I would never have a 401K plan in my future. So I chose to invest in real estate.

It wasn't until after I sold that house and made a significant return that I started looking around at all of the sudden changes and wondering what their effect might be...and if I was a part of it. That was in 2012. That neighborhood in L.A. is now almost entirely white and the homes sell for over $1 million, Detroit is the new coolest place for artists and NYC, well, we all know that NYC is untouchable to anybody but rich people or their privileged children. 

In 2016, I moved to Georgia because, guess what, I was priced out of my own city (and I had a new baby). 

I bought a house in a historically black neighborhood in Atlanta. And wow! The dynamic here in Atlanta was different than any other place I had lived. My husband (who is from ATL) would always say "The South" like it was a character...and now, I knew why. 

Atlanta is the birthplace of civil rights, but it's also in Georgia, a state of the confederacy. A city that has a memorial to the Confederacy BIGGER than Mount Rushmore. We JUST took down a main street that was called "Confederacy Ave." and renamed it "United Ave". By God, it is the South. 

The racial tension is much more palpable here than anywhere I've ever lived. Finally, I got to experience, in my face, that our country has such a long way to go to racial equality. And this series, is my little piece of owning my own wake up call.

But what I've learned about gentrification is that it's not just a black and white/right and wrong issue, there are so many shades of gray. The series intends to capture all of those. 

Intersection came after 3 years of researching gentrification with my co-creators and finding the right team of writers for a writers room, because we knew we could not write this series without the voices of everyone. All of the women (yes, we're all women) in the writers room are experiencing gentrification first hand. These stories are ours and they're real. Even some of the situations in the series are based in truth which is ABSURD. (More on these as the series rolls out, no spoilers!!)

Right Now...

We have started our pre-production, which means scouting locations and booking our cast and crew because....We are filming this series March 20th to 23rd!!!! Before this campaign is even over! But the work is just beginning. We will have 4 weeks of Post Production and then 4 weeks of Post Sound and Color Finishing. 

Our deadline is May 11th. Why is that our deadline????? Because we are submitting this series for EMMY CONSIDERATION. 

Imagine that! You are contributing to a potential Emmy-winning series!!!!

We can't wait to share all of the trials and exciting miracles along the way. 

Why now?

Gentrification is bleeding all over the world and no one has the solution. We followed Portland as they fought to change renters rights and we're following Louisville as they add affordable housing. But NOBODY has a hard solution because there isn't one. There isn't one thing that will work for every one and every city. 

We continue to have conversations in the writers room that would NEVER happen outside of it...and yet, they NEED to if going to progress as good humans. These conversations are about what makes us different, what makes us racist, what makes us priveleged, what makes us angry, what makes us gentrifiers, income inequality, eviction practices, rent increases with no caps, white appropriation and SO many other eye openers that we've laughed at and cried about while writing this show.

But as we intersect and see each other everyday, we can start talking to each other and more importantly LISTENING to each other to understand what each of us needs, what our neighborhood needs and what our city needs. 

Then, we can create homes that are inclusive and diverse both in culture, ethnicity and income level, which Jane Jacobs (The Death and Life of Great American Cities) argues creates the best kind of city. 

Help us create a home with Intersection. 

We appreciate YOU!! 

Meg

(and Muretta, Jennica, Jacinte and Karen)