Channing Godfrey Peoples is an American writer, director, and producer. Her feature film directorial debut '' Miss Juneteenth'' received critical acclaim.

Early life and education

Peoples was raised on the south side of

Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

in what she referred to as "Black Texas". Her family regularly attended Black theatre performances, which influenced Peoples to read classic Black literature by writers such as

Toni Morrison Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019), known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist and editor. Her first novel, ''The Bluest Eye'', was published in 1970. The critically accl ...

and

Gloria Naylor Gloria Naylor (January 25, 1950 – September 28, 2016) was an American novelist, known for novels including '' The Women of Brewster Place'' (1982)'', Linden Hills'' (1985) and '' Mama Day'' (1988). Early life and education Naylor was born in ...

. She received her bachelor's degree in theater from

Baylor University Baylor University is a Private university, private Baptist research university in Waco, Texas, United States. It was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Te ...

and her master of fine arts degree from

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

Career

''Miss Juneteenth''

Peoples began writing '' Miss Juneteenth'' in 2013, shortly after completing film school. She was inspired to write the film because she grew up attending

Juneteenth Juneteenth is a federal holiday in the United States, federal holiday in the United States. It is celebrated annually on June 19 to commemorate the End of slavery in the United States, ending of slavery in the United States. The holiday's n ...

celebrations and Miss Juneteenth pageants and the holiday holds great significance for her. She attended the

Sundance A Sun Dance is a Native American ceremony. Sun dance or Sundance may also refer to: Places ;Canada * Sundance, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood * Sundance, Manitoba, a ghost town ;United States * Sundance, New Mexico, a census-designated pl ...

Creative Producing Summit and other writing workshops to continue to develop the screenplay. When the film was in pre-production, Peoples was named one of ''Filmmaker Magazine'''s 25 New Faces of Independent Film 2018. ''Miss Juneteenth'', also Peoples' directorial debut, premiered at Sundance 2020 and was released VOD on Juneteenth of that year. The film received critical acclaim and holds a 99% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

. She cites

Julie Dash Julie Ethel Dash (born October 22, 1952) is an American filmmaker, music video and commercial director, author, and website producer. Dash received her Master of Fine Arts, MFA in 1985 at the UCLA Film School and is one of the graduates and filmm ...

Jonathan Demme Robert Jonathan Demme ( ; February 22, 1944 – April 26, 2017) was an American filmmaker, whose career directing, producing, and screenwriting spanned more than 30 years and 70 feature films, documentaries, and television productions. He was an ...

, and her mentor Charles Burnett as influences.

Other work

Peoples wrote two episodes of the third season of ''

Queen Sugar ''Queen Sugar'' is an American drama television series created and executive produced by Ava DuVernay, with Oprah Winfrey serving as an executive producer. DuVernay also directed the first two episodes. The series is based on the 2014 novel o ...

''. In January 2021 it was announced that Peoples signed a first look deal with

Universal Content Productions Universal Content Productions LLC (UCP) is an American television production company operating within the NBCUniversal Television Group#Universal Studio Group, Universal Studio Group division of NBCUniversal, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of ...

. Her first scheduled project is to create a television adaptation of '' Miss Juneteenth''. Peoples' wrote and directed the short film ''Doretha's Blues'', which debuted at

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

in 2021. The movie stars Tonea Stewart and follows "a former musician whose son was killed by police and who can no longer find it in her to sing." She was inspired to write ''Doretha's Blues'' in the aftermath of Michael Brown's death, as she was interested in the lives of the family left behind. Like ''Miss Juneteenth'', the film is set in

, Texas.

Personal life

Peoples is married to producer Neil Creque Williams, whom she met in her graduate program at

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

. They have one daughter (b. 2018).

Filmography

Film

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Peoples, Channing Godfrey Year of birth missing (living people) Living people African-American film directors American women film producers African-American screenwriters African-American women writers American women film directors Filmmakers from Texas Mass media people from Fort Worth, Texas Baylor University alumni USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women