''Dancing in September'' is an American romantic

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

written and directed by

Reggie Rock Bythewood Reggie Rock Bythewood (born July 7, 1967) is an American filmmaker and actor. He is known for directing the film ''Dancing in September'' (2000) and creating the television series '' Shots Fired'' and '' Swagger''. Life and career Bythewood g ...

(in his directorial debut), who also produced with

Reuben Cannon Reuben Cannon (born February 11, 1946 ) is an American film producer and casting director. Cannon was the first black casting director in Hollywood; he was the head of television casting for Warner Brothers from 1977 to 1978, and started his own ...

and Don Kurt. It stars

Nicole Ari Parker Nicole Ari Parker Kodjoe (born October 7, 1970) is an American actress and model. She made her screen debut with a leading role in the critically acclaimed independent film '' The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love'' (1995) and went o ...

and

Isaiah Washington Isaiah Washington IV is an American actor and media personality. Following a series of film appearances, he came to prominence for portraying Dr. Preston Burke in the first three seasons of the series ''Grey's Anatomy'' from 2005 to 2007. Wash ...

, alongside

Vicellous Reon Shannon Vicellous Reon Shannon (born April 11, 1971) is an American actor known for his portrayal of Lesra Martin in the 1999 film '' The Hurricane'', and Keith Palmer, the son of presidential candidate David Palmer in the Fox television series '' 2 ...

Malinda Williams Melinda is a feminine given name. Etymology The modern name ''Melinda'' is a combination of "Mel" with the suffix "-inda". "Mel" can be derived from names such as Melanie meaning "dark, black" in Greek, or from Melissa (μέλισσα) meanin ...

Jay Underwood Jay Underwood (born October 1, 1968) is an American actor and pastor. Beginning a prolific career as a teen actor in the mid-1980s, he is perhaps best known for his starring feature film roles; portraying Eric Gibb in ''The Boy Who Could Fly'', ...

, Michael Cavanaugh,

Mel Jackson Mel, Mels or MEL may refer to: Biology * Mouse erythroleukemia cell line (MEL) * National Herbarium of Victoria, a herbarium with the Index Herbariorum code MEL People * Mel (given name), the abbreviated version of several given names (including ...

, and

Jenifer Lewis Jenifer Jeanette Lewis (born January 25, 1957) is an American actress. She began her career appearing in Broadway musicals and worked as a back-up singer for Bette Midler before appearing in films ''Beaches'' (1988) and ''Sister Act'' (1992). Le ...

. It follows a struggling African-American

television writer A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

who gets her

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

picked up by the neophyte WPX network through an

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

hired specifically to develop shows aimed at the black market. The film premiered at the

Hollywood Black Film Festival The Hollywood Black Film Festival (HBFF), dubbed the "Black Sundance," is an annual six-day film festival held in Los Angeles, California dedicated to enhancing the careers of new and established black filmmaking professionals by bringing their w ...

on February 24, 2000, and also screened at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

on February 3, 2001. It aired on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

on February 3, 2001, and earned a

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

nomination for the song "Welcome Back (All My Soulmates)". It was also nominated for two

NAACP Image Awards The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. Similar to ...

and five

Black Reel Awards The Black Reel Awards, or BRAs, is an annual American awards ceremony hosted by the Foundation for the Augmentation of African-Americans in Film (FAAAF) to recognize excellence of African Americans, as well as the cinematic achievements of the Afr ...

, with Bythewood winning Outstanding Director and Outstanding Screenplay, TV Movie or Mini-Series.

Plot

Dancing In September tells the story of two hopeful and ambitious African-Americans attempting to make their mark in the television industry. One is a scriptwriter named Tomasina “Tommy” Crawford (Parker), who has grown weary of contributing to stereotypical characters and programming for African-Americans and dreams of creating a balanced, positive program for herself and the African-American public. The other is a newly appointed television producer named George Washington (Washington), who hopes to ascend to the highest levels of the television industry and carve out a special place for himself to help redefine African-American programming. When Tommy submits a script for a positive family sitcom titled "Just Us," she is indirectly brought into George's path. The rest of the film follows the struggles that both she and George face in their specific environments, mainly painting a positive portrayal of African-Americans in the media, in addition to staying true to their own culture and identity as African-Americans.

Cast

as Tomasina "Tommy" Crawford *

as George Washington *

as James *

as Rhonda *

as Michael Daniels * Michael Cavanaugh as Harbor *

as Malik *

as Judge Warner *

Marcia Cross Marcia Anne Cross (born March 25, 1962) is an American actress. She acted in daytime soap operas such as ''The Edge of Night'', '' Another World'', and ''One Life to Live'' before moving to primetime television with a recurring role on ''Knots ...

as Lydia Gleason *

Estelle Harris Estelle Harris (''née'' Nussbaum; April 22, 1928 – April 2, 2022) was an American actress and comedienne, known for her exaggerated shrill, grating voice. She was best known for her role as Estelle Costanza on ''Seinfeld''. Her other roles in ...

as Sally *

Juanita Jennings Juanita Jennings (born September 12, 1952) is an American actress, known for her roles on television. Career Jennings won the 1994 CableACE Award for Supporting Actress in a Movie or Miniseries for her role in '' Laurel Avenue''. She guest-starre ...

as Ms. Taylor * Royale Watkins as A.K. *

Chi McBride Kenneth "Chi" McBride ( ; born September 23, 1961) is an American actor. He has appeared in films, where he is known primarily as a character actor, and in television, where he has had numerous starring roles. In film, he has played prominent ro ...

as Security Guard *

Markus Flanagan Markus Flanagan (born August 20, 1964) is an American actor. Career In 1990, he starred in the short-lived ABC police drama '' Sunset Beat'' alongside George Clooney, Michael Deluise and Erik King. He was a series regular on NBC's ''Nurses'' ...

as Alvin Nelson *

Dan Martin Daniel Martin may refer to: People * Dan Martin (actor) (born 1951), American actor *Dan Martin (drama educator) (born 1953), American academic *Dan Martin (cyclist) (born 1986), Irish road bicycle racer *Dan Martin (footballer) (born 1986), Britis ...

as Tommy's Father *

Constance Marie Constance Marie Lopez (born September 9, 1965) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Angie Lopez in ''George Lopez'' (2002–2007), and Marcela Quintanilla (mother of Selena) in the film ''Selena'' (1997). She portrayed Reg ...

as Teresa Lopez *

James Avery James La Rue Avery (November 27, 1945 – December 31, 2013) was an American actor. He was best known for his roles as Philip Banks in ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'', Shredder in ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'', Judge Michael Conover on '' L ...

as Mr. Warner *

LeVar Burton Levar Burton Jr. (born February 16, 1957) is an American actor, director, and television host, best known for playing Geordi La Forge in '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (1987–1994). He also played Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries ''R ...

as Self * Anna Maria Horsford as Sitcom Mom *

Peter Onorati Peter Onorati (born May 16, 1953) is an American actor. He is known for his TV roles as Charlie Howell on ''Civil Wars'' (1991–1993), Mr. Scotto on '' Murder One'' (1995–1997), Stanley Pearson on ''This Is Us'' (2017–2022), and Jeff Mumford ...

as Mel

Reception

Critical response

Lael Loewenstein of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' called ''Dancing in September'' "a handsomely mounted tale of love and compromise set against the backdrop of network TV" and concluded her review by writing, "Bythewood's ambition is worthy of his talent, and this is an impressive freshman effort. Pic could stand a little trimming, but pacing in general is sharp and up-tempo, much like Bythewood's writing."

Todd McCarthy Todd McCarthy (born February 16, 1950) is an American film critic and author. He wrote for ''Variety'' for 31 years as its chief film critic until 2010. In October of that year, he joined ''The Hollywood Reporter'', where he subsequently served ...

of ''Variety'' described the film as "the decorous and conventional version of ''

Bamboozled ''Bamboozled'' is a 2000 American satirical dark comedy-drama film written and directed by Spike Lee about a modern televised minstrel show featuring black actors donning blackface makeup and the resulting violent fallout from the show's success ...

''" and opined that "Bythewood's approach is downright polite by comparison, as he analyzes the commercial pressures on TV creators to be entertaining at all costs while weaving through it a perfectly agreeable but unexceptional love story."

Julie Salamon Julie Salamon (born July 10, 1953) is an American author and journalist, who has been a film and television critic for the ''Wall Street Journal'' and the ''New York Times''. She is the author of twelve books, for adults and children. In 2021, she ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' stated, "Mr. Blythewood has a smooth directing style and plenty of show-biz smarts. Maybe too much; he salts this production with lots of insider bits of business �� Despite this shrewdness, Mr. Blythewood doesn't resist sliding into the genre's twin pitfalls of sentimentality and melodrama. Still, ''Dancing in September'' presents a fresh look at familiar territory."

Accolades

References

External links

* * * {{Rotten Tomatoes, m/dancing_in_september 2000 films 2000 directorial debut films 2000 television films 2000 independent films 2000 romantic comedy-drama films 2000s American films 2000s English-language films African-American romantic comedy-drama films American comedy-drama television films American independent films Films about actors Films about screenwriters Films about television people Films about race and ethnicity Films about Hollywood, Los Angeles Films set in Los Angeles Films shot in Los Angeles HBO Films films Romance television films Works about screenwriting