Nurse Cherie
Last year, I stumbled upon @harddrivetheseries, a mysterious page promoting an upcoming film project. It looked so stylish, I figured it was a slick marketing campaign by HBO masquerading as something more grassroots. I was intrigued, and continued to follow along as little by little they revealed what was going on. I learned that @CherieAntoinette22 had written, directed and co-produced the project and she would be rolling it out independently. Last month, Hard Drive the series premiered on Youtube. I began watching it and was blown away, so I tracked down Cherie to get this interview in before she becomes the next big thing.
J.E. What is your background?
C.A. I am a nurse. Before I was a nurse, I was an English major. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I had kids as a teenager and was told to go into nursing so I could always have a job. That was true, but there was something missing from my life. I went into acting. In 2016, I worked as an extra on a few projects before deciding that I would be better off writing my own roles rather than trying out for other people’s projects. I started writing and took screenplay classes for an ABC Universal competition. I was between nursing jobs and only had three days to apply.
C.A.: I wrote a 90 page feature film, which was challenging. It was called #Woke, about 6 friends who decided to go back to the Motherland after becoming disillusioned with America, and a whole bunch of hilarity ensues. I wrote a couple of other things - one about newlywed parents and their son, called The Parkers Versus the Universe. I also had another short series called The Porcelain Chef. All these projects were self-funded.
C.A.: During the pandemic, between taking patients on the night shift, I finished writing Hard Drive. For Hard Drive, I wanted to roll it all the way out. You don’t really get to see the whole series from the pilot. I knew I had an arc I wanted to show. I thought I had the budget. In post-production, I realized I had so much quality work, I wanted to devote the time to bring it up to television quality.
J.E.: It looks like a million bucks.
C.A. Thank you! I knew I had to write like a producer. I would sit and look at a location and really study it and make sure scenes were producible. I did all of this with friends and paid my friends. It probably ended up being a month worth of filming, and then a pick up shoot.
C.A.: It was about a year each for pre-production, production, and post-production. So, it was about three years of my life to get this filmed. It was very much something I wanted people to sink their teeth in to. I believed in the story and the characters. They were very crisp and clear to me. I had a specific vision down to the end credits. I like anime so I put anime trinkets in there. It was very daunting and taxing creative-wise.
J.E.: How are you planning to get more eyes on it?
C.A. We are pitching now. I really put my blood, sweat, and tears into this. When people say, ‘You broke your back,’ I definitely did some heavy lifting on this project. When you say it looks like $1 million, I wanted to show it was a fraction of what you can spend on a budget. This project was made with love. Everyone believed in the characters, in the story line, that the show would be picked up. That really keeps me going. It’s been a long and hard journey. I just keep going, keep giving it my all.
J.E. Do your kids know what’s going on?
C.A. I had my first child when I was 17, and my oldest is as old as I was when I had him. He loves writing and wants to be a Youtuber. When we had the premiere, it made him feel like anything was possible. It showed him you could do a job and do this on the side, or go all in when you have the energy to do this. You start to feel it creeping up slowly. It gives you a reason to get out of bed in the morning and keep going. It’s surprising how the project speaks to Gen Z, but every generation likes the project.
J.E. Did you have an inspiration for Hard Drive?
C.A. There was something about it that I just connected with. I think the inspiration really was writing for someone else. I was producing a project about pimps in the ‘70s and somebody else I know was writing a show about serial killers. So, I wanted to make an anti-hero, someone who felt really justified in what they were doing. Hard Drive is Breaking Bad meets Clueless. I wanted to show a character who, you really don’t get their motives, but they’re doing it just because they were already bad and how they’re showing it to the world. Candace Carter is that anti-hero. The reason it took three years in is because it was a piece of me. I could see this was a missing lane. We don’t have a lot of women in these positions, or black women in these positions. So, I wanted to create a really iconic show that would have them rooting for the bad girl and still pay consequences.
J.E.: You had your own premiere.. what was that like?
C.A. We really believed in this. I was the oldest child for most of my life. I watched TV. I looked forward to Saturday morning cartoons. I think just watching the roll outs for years and years, I just understood why it happened from a production standpoint. How you create your own news. The premiere was an additional movie - another steep price tag. But, when my cast saw their faces in downtown Atlanta, it set the tone.
Every step of Hard Drive was intentional. The only formal background I have in entertaining is through doing live theater. It speaks to manifestation and goal setting. I worked with Kiah, my lead, and we talked about it. She set me up with all the right people regarding photography. The guy who did our poster did the Superbowl ad for the Cincinnati Bengals. You’re going to love the finale. We’re taking one week off before the finale now to get a little more hype going. Because, we realize we may have to push this ourselves and not take ‘No’ for answer.
J.E. What is the experience of trying to break through like?
C.A. Breaking into the industry is super hard. Even living in Atlanta, where almost all the Netflix films are made, they’re still casting out of LA and New York. You can walk to the studio, and still not be involved. Everything is oversimplified. There’s this thing where I feel you have to prove yourself ten times more than other people. Being a nurse but wanting to do my passion, it put a fire in my belly. Studios want to see it too, I feel. If you invest in yourself and work hard, they’ll meet you halfway. Still, it’s all about who you know. It’s been a lot of word of mouth. We uploaded on Film Hub, and are trying to get on Peacock.
C.A.: I wanted to show studios that they needed us too, don’t just buy it and hire your own directors. Even all my actors, I would love to keep everybody. There is one network, the Black Women Network. Ironically, they set it up for many of the same reasons I set up my film. It really resonated with me to partner with them. It isn’t really about the money. It’s about who’s going to support us most creatively so we could build it out from Season 1 to Season 5 and have it be told how it should be. This first season, we wanted to fill it with the same quality they use for television, so we could build it for television. We want to stay on for 5 seasons and stick the landing, and then have spinoffs. It goes to intentionality, and how big I see this universe.
C.A. The biggest thing for me was just divine timing and luck. I just happened to be in a profession where nurses were needed during COVID. I went viral on Twitter at the same time. I went viral and had almost 600,000 likes on a Tweet. When I get passionate about something I just say it. That’s what makes Hard Drive relatable. I got 15,000 followers in one night and it was tough to get used to. I had people contacting me from Africa. It was a good experience because it showed that what I say matters.
I had 27 followers when I tweeted that. When I wrote Hard Drive, I wrote it as someone who believed in themselves as a screenwriter. My filmmaking comes from there, when I have something to say. I really feel like our character Candice Carter, getting this roll out, the tone matches the grittiness of the story. We’ve all been very strong willed. That made all the difference. We are willing to risk it all for this project. I want my son to know whatever you do, you have to believe in yourself first.