Erika Conner - Producer
We are pleased to announce that Erika Conner will be one of our four hosts for November’s Launch Mondays Mixer.
Erika Conner is what you would call a “gypsy girl”. Throughout her career she’s lived by her own MO: “walk with confidence and grace in the direction of your dreams.” That she did. After graduating from University of Houston, her first post-grad position was assisting former President & CEO, of VIBE Magazine, Keith Clinkscales. Erika credits that her training at VIBE and mental prowess earned her a position with well-respected filmmaker, John Singleton. Relocating her to Los Angeles, she was hired as his development executive, under his New Deal Productions banner, assisting with the development of Baby Boy and Shaft 2000 (Paramount), and mentored under Singleton’s producer, Paul Hall—thus realizing producing was her calling. Learning the ropes and gaining noteworthy skills, she served as consulting producer, along with Russell Simmons and Kevin Liles, of Def Jam Recordings, on BET Network’s first urban game show, “Are You Hip-Hop’s Biggest Fan?” That opportunity led a chance meeting with acclaimed video director, Hype Williams, establishing herself as his Creative Executive at Naa’ila Entertainment under the umbrella of New Line Cinema. This was Erika’s opportunity to learn the mechanics of being a film executive. She established solid relationships with agents, managers and talent during her role at Naa’ila and offered vision for some of the companies’ future projects.
Always having thirst for more, Erika was offered a position as Director of Development at Mosaic Media Group/Atlas Entertainment, a multimedia film, television and management company, where she was responsible for overseeing Mosaic’s urban films from development, pre-production, production and post. Inspired by films such as Purple Reign, Flashdance and The Wiz, her first feature film she co-produced was the musical, Idlewild (HBO/Universal), featuring Grammy Award winning rap duo, OutKast. Combining current hip-hop melodies with the 1930’s era of juke joints and prohibition, Erika co-created one of the most notable black musicals to be produced. Working with some highly coveted talent (Terrence Howard, Paula Patton, Macy Gray and Cicely Tyson) she was able to continue to build solid relationships to take with her on future projects. Idlewild was one of the highest rated films watched on BET Networks, and received the 5 Black Reels awards.
Developer and producer of projects for film and TV—including a project she is currently developing, Mama Black Widow, the film adaptation of the Iceberg Slim novel, under Muse Productions (The Killer Inside Me, American Psycho, Virgin Suicides), featuring Golden Globe nominated actor and acclaimed music artist, Mos Def. Other projects include a thriller trilogy-series starring Big Boi, of OutKast. Erika’s goal is to choreograph all these outlets into a rhythmic work of art and bridge the gap between all worlds of media.
