The “Get Out” writer is breaking Hollywood stereotypes with her new media company

After spending decades in front of the camera, Writer and actress Erika Alexander may have an answer to the question- how do you get racially diverse and minority-fronted projects into the pipeline? 

Alexander, who was most recently seen in last year’s eye-opening Oscar winner Get Out, has launched a new multi-platform production company, Color Farm Media that combines a forward-thinking approach to content with a futuristic take on project financing. The actress and graphic novelist discussed her mission to support creators of color with Shadow and Act. 

“I always felt, since I started in the business, that there weren’t enough roles for Black people, especially Black women,” she said. “At around 18, I started to write, or try to learn how to write, because I thought the quickest way was to be a creator.”

She believes the success of films like Black Panther, Get Out and The Fast and the Furious franchise are a wake-up call that the market is evolving. “These movies didn’t just do well, they broke box office records. We had to dispel this idea that casts of color were box office poison.” Now, she says, it’s clear that today’s audience, raised on hip-hop, is “voting with their dollars. They’re supporting work that depicts a world that’s normal to them, a world that is populated by more than the usual cast of white, male protagonists.”

Her co-founder, Color Farm Media’s CEO Ben Arnon, a tech executive, says Color Farm hopes to use security tokens as an implementation of blockchain technology to provide liquidity and transparency for stakeholders in Color Farm projects. Arnon says security tokens provide benefits that traditional financing doesn’t. “Investors usually have their capital locked up for 7-10 years,” he explained. “With tokens, there’s the potential they can be traded on exchanges, making it easier for smaller investors to participate. That allows us to be more inclusive.”