Carolyn McDonald

With a diverse career in the film industry, Carolyn McDonald continues to expand her creative disciplines. Some of her recent endeavors include, executive producing, co-writing and directing P.N.O.K., a short film featuring Irma P. Hall, Danny Glover, Robert Ri'chard and Elle Fanning, executive producing Country artist Big Kenny Alphin's (Big & Rich) documentary "Bearing Light" which aired on National Geographic Channel, directing the Shannon Sanders music video "Run" and co-writing the comedy "Return of the Sweetbirds" from her story for 20th Century Fox. As partner of Danny Glover at Carrie Productions, she executive produced the Emmy & Image Award nominated TNT civil rights saga, "Freedom Song". Written and directed by Oscar® nominee Phil Alden Robinson ("Field of Dreams"), the film features Vondi Curtis-Hall, David Strathairn and Loretta Devine. Carolyn also co-produced the critically acclaimed Western "Buffalo Soldiers". Earlier at Carrie, she executive produced the prestigious HBO trilogy "America's Dream". Comprised of powerful short stories by celebrated African-American authors, Maya Angelou, Richard Wright & Dr. John Henrik Clarke, the film featured Wesley Snipes, Danny Glover & Jasmine Guy, with segments directed by Bill Duke, Kevin Sullivan & Emmy-winner Paris Barclay. The program won 4 Cable Aces and an NAACP Image Award for Best Made-for-TV Movie. Prior to joining Carrie, Carolyn served as a Creative Executive at Cinecom Entertainment Group, where she was involved in various stages of development & production on such films as "The Handmaid's Tale", "Once Around", "Mississippi Masala" and "Tune in Tomorrow". Fresh out of NYU's Dramatic Writing Program, Carolyn joined the East Coast advertising/publicity division of Warner Bros. Television in New York. There she ran buyer screenings and developed network publicity campaigns for such films as "The Road Warrior, "Chariots of Fire" and "Blade Runner", and conceived marketing campaigns for the Warner Bros. cartoon catalogue. Committed to giving back to youth and community, Carolyn produced and directed the documentary and short film "Who's Real" for Nashville Film Festival's Youth Outreach Film Program. She continues to produce the program, comprised of inner city teens generating short films based on their own lives. In 2011, she produced and directed the documentary "Design Your Neighborhood" for the Nashville Civic Design Center, a program also supporting youth education. Carolyn was a consultant for the American Film Institute's Digital Content Lab, a mentor for FilmIndependent's Project: Involve, studied acting with Uta Hagen and Geraldine Page, and is an alumni of Judith Weston's Actor/Director Lab.