Talk About A Monkey Wrench

As we started the final phase of releasing our web series, "I Take Thee Zoe", the unthinkable happened. Imagine the excitement of knowing that your three years of hard work is finally going to be displayed so that your colleagues, friends and the world can see it. As I sat in front of my computer putting the final touches on the website, I saw something on TV that had me like a deer in headlights. It was an advertisement on BET for a new show coming out entitled, "Zoe Ever After", starring Brandy Norwood. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. While the story line is completely different, the genre, title and logo was so similar to our brand it was scary.

This was a game changer. I immediately picked up the phone and called my co-producers Lawrence Stallings and Tarik Nathan and said, "We have a problem! BET is putting out a show that seems to be very similar to ours. We can't compete with a big machine like BET." I immediately suggested changing the name of our show. Lawrence was totally against it saying, "No! We came up with this name three years ago when we started this project. We are not going let anything stop us from doing what we've worked so hard for." Tarik on the other hand, felt the same as I did. He thought us using the name could potentially tank the whole project. Eventually, we all got on one accord and agreed to release our web series as is.

Of course, until this day, every time I see an advertisement for the show, "Zoe Ever After", I just shake my head, praying we made the right decision.

Ultimately, I am happy we're moving forward. Road blocks and obstacles will come. You shouldn't end the trip when you still have a vehicle and a trunk full of tools, including the monkey wrench that was thrown in. It may be useful one day. All things are working together for good!

Below: (left to right: Our current logo vs. BET's alternate logo, our old logo vs BET's current logo, our character intro, vs. BET's character intro)