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Frédéric Yonnet Scores Music for TV One's Quiet on the Set

[Washington, DC, August 30, 2005] The signature sound of Frederic Yonnet can be heard during the opening music of TV One’s (www.tvoneonline.com ) new show Quiet on the Set – a series of interview specials that highlight the works and lives of major African American figures in the entertainment world. The music, produced by Frederic and FYI Music Group and features Stanley Cooper on guitar & Carla Sims on vocals.

The first show, which aired in August and is on rotation throughout the month, featured award-winning, director and producer John Singleton discussing his legendary career in the film business, his childhood and values, and what motivates him as a filmmaker.

The new series of special interviews, produced by Mary Jack Productions in conjunction with Howard University, is hosted by veteran television producer, talk show host and Major Jack Productions founder Mary Major and filmed in front of an audience of Howard University students.

Singleton discusses his entire body of work, from his Academy Award-nominated first film, Boyz N the Hood, which he wrote and directed in 1991 as a young man just out of USC film school, to his latest sensation, Sundance Festival award-winning Hustle & Flow, a film he produced and self-financed.

"It's widely said that nobody of color in Hollywood can greenlight a film - until now," Singleton says, referring to Hustle & Flow, the current box-office hit film that he produced and financed about a Memphis pimp who attempts to become a successful rapper. He said the film was taken to every studio in town and no one wanted to make it, so he got mad and set out to make the film outside the traditional system. Eventually, even before it was shown at the Sundance Film Festival, the studios started calling but he accepted no additional financial backers. Finally, at Sundance he did make a deal for MTV and Paramount to distribute the film.

"Now I know if I want to do a certain type of film that doesn't cost that much money, I don't have to go through that [studio] system," Singleton said.

He tells Major he adopted his life philosophy, "Don't talk about it, do it," from his mother and says he first knew he wanted to be a film director when he saw Star Wars at age nine. After seeing the movie a dozen times, "that summer, I realized that the person in charge was the director and I started researching what a director does."

When Major inquires whether he intends for his films to help share part of the African American culture that may be unexplored or misunderstood, Singleton tells her, "I just think its part of who I am. I'm really just about us, showing who we really are as a people. I don't think about it. That's just what I do."

Noted for introducing some of America's top acting talent to their first major film roles, including Angela Bassett, Regina King and Cuba Gooding, Jr., Singleton claims no sixth sense in selecting talent for his films. "Nine times out of 10 I just read them for the role and if they're so watchable that you can't take your eyes off them, I say let's cast them," Singleton tells Major.

In upcoming specials, Mary Major will interview Anthony Anderson, Regina King, Blair Underwood and LeVar Burton.

Photo: Frédéric Yonnet entertains the crew during the taping of the show, Washington, DC, 2005.

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