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We are chatting with the founders of ArieCan Productions today. Introduce yourselves and tell us a fun fact about each of you! ÂÂ
Thank you for that awesome welcome. We are Larry & Leonard both born and raised in Baltimore, MD. I’m (Larry) the oldest of four kids raised by my grandmother who meant the absolute world to me. I’m also a self-published author of my first memoir called ‘The Mask’. In the book I talk about my tumultuous childhood and how I overcame obstacles that led me to where I am today. And I’m (Leonard) the oldest of five kids raised by my mom and grandmother. I’m working full time, in college finishing my master’s and operating ArieCan whew I’m busy lol. Being filmmakers was not something I saw myself doing, says Larry. I just wanted to be an extra in a web series I saw on YouTube and after being ignored Leonard and I decided to create our own series and it literally blew up from there. That was back in 2017. A fun fact about me (Larry) I never saw myself being a I always wanted to be a pastry chef. I went to culinary school and everything for it. lol A fun fact for me (Leonard) I used to do print
modeling in my early 20’s I really loved it.
Many find it difficult to break out in the entertainment world and actually get started- can you share when your big breakthrough happened? For us it happened when we did season 2 of our first series Chapter 2. We went from six (6) cast members and having our first premiere in our living room with 12 people attending. To having twenty-two (22) cast members and selling out a movie theater for our season 2 premiere and also having Chapter 2 on Amazon Prime Video as well. That was a huge milestone for us at that time. It was such a blessing.
We heard you have 2 films hitting theaters soon – tell us all you can about those we want the scoop!
Let’s start with our new dramatic thriller, Secrets. Where do we start lol? Secrets is about a group of people in Baltimore all connected by a girl named Ariel. When Ariel’s fiancé Greg goes missing all kinds of secrets and lies start to unfold. Then you have the Braxton’s (the first family of the church). They are not the typical church family from the pastor sleeping with his flock, to disowning his son because he’s bisexual to not claiming a secret love child he has with the first lady’s arch nemesis. Secrets has it all and we cannot wait for everyone to see it. Now our second new show is a comedy, Dear Diary. Dear Diary follows three best friends each enjoying life in their own way. From Tony living his life dating and enjoying one-night stands to Antwan relying totally on self-discovery and lastly, the dysfunctional love life of Donte. This comedy is all about
this incredible group of friends and their life which will let you explore what it means to be a dude!
For each of you what has been the most impactful film on your life and career as aviewer?
For me (Leonard) it’s The Deep End of the Ocean, starring Michelle Phifer. That movie helped me become a better writer. It helped me become more interested in suspense movies. Her character was going through so much in that movie. It just opened my creative mode and showed me when to pull back or dive deeper into storylines. I love that movie. And for me (Larry) it’s The Color Purple because the main character Celie, just resonated a lot with me because like her growing up I was told that I would never amount to anything, I was told I was ugly, I was physically and verbally abused and through it all she never broke and, in the end, found her courage to break free from her torment and became successful in her own right. So, our stories are similar and it’s had a huge impact on
my life.
Who would be your dream collaboration or actor to have in one of your films?ÂÂ
For me (Larry) I would say a collaboration with Tyler Perry would be awesome because our stories are kinda similar. He started on his own with no help and was forced to do everything himself and to see all that he’s accomplished is so inspiring. For me (Leonard) it’s Meryl Streep, she is PHENOMENAL. I absolutely love her and would love to have her in one of my films as an actress and collaborator. The performance in The Devil Wears Prada was outstanding.
Share with us at least 1 big goal for 2022 for Ariecan.
The goal is to get signed to a multi-show production deal with a major network and to have ArieCan be a household name.
Where can we catch the up-and-coming films you have in the pipeline and share your socials with us!
Our two new shows Secrets (drama) and Dear Diary (comedy) will be streamed from our website ArieCanProductions.com. We offer monthly and yearly streaming packages. You can also get caught up on our very first series, Chapter 2. That’s the show that put ArieCan on the
map. We also have a reality show filmed already (we actually filmed that show in between filming Secrets and Dear Diary, we were filming 3 shows at the same time) and we’re planning on releasing two more shows by the end of 2022 so ArieCan will be very busy this year.
End of Interview