A star majorette must choose between furthering her family’s legacy or pursuing her dreams.
Support Black Creatives. Elevate Black Stories.
We are in a moment where Black stories need to be shared; stories that have been ignored and silenced by the mainstream media for generations. MAJOR is an urgent and historically-based narrative that has never been seen on-screen. We are so proud of the film and the opportunity to further Belinda’s legacy and honor the Black women whose stories have yet to be told.
Your contribution at this stage will help us give this story the platform it deserves, including covering the costs of:
festival submission fees
marketing and publicity materials
post-production costs
outstanding principal photography expenses
COVID-safe screening opportunities
Contributions surpassing a certain financial threshold will be thanked with a credit on the film. Please e-mail us at majorthefilm@gmail.com should you be interested / have any questions.
MAJOR is the story of BELINDA,
a fire-twirling majorette furthering her family’s star-studded sports legacy at an HBCU. After an inspiring conversation with a local journalist, Belinda takes an interest in journalism and secretly applies to transfer to another university. As Belinda grapples with her identity, legacy, and integrity, she is left with the question of which “major” to choose.
MAJOR is inspired by the life of Belinda McLaurin, one of the first Black women to twirl fire batons as a Jackson State University majorette. Despite the racially charged climate of the 1960s, Belinda was known as one of the best majorette dancers in the South. Our film brings Belinda’s legacy into the 1990s as it explores access, affluence, and the Black experience within historically white, American universities.
Illustration by Lauren Cierzan
MAJOR stars an all-Black, female and non-binary cast!
CIARA MONIQUE
MFA Yale School of Drama, Carol Finch Dye Award Recipient
LAUREN E. BANKS
City On A Hill (Showtime), Maniac (Netflix), Dietland (AMC)
JORDAN-AMANDA HALL
Wu-Tang: An American Saga (Hulu) Random Acts of Flyness (HBO)
“I wrote MAJOR in reverence to my family...
My grandmother prompted me to write this story because so many women in our family were majorettes, but there is very little content about them. When my grandmother was a young adult, majorettes were extremely important because they were in direct opposition to the way that Black people were misrepresented in the media. Being a majorette is about so much more than performing. Majorette dancing is a reclamation of the Black femme figure; it’s a celebration of Black academia and Black excellence; it’s about community and Black pride. As someone who was raised by Black women, it is my hope that MAJOR will honor them and the impact they have had on my life.”
MAJOR is written and directed by Christopher D. Betts,
a third-year MFA directing candidate at The Yale School of Drama. Because of COVD-19 and its impact on theatre, Christopher was unable to move forward with three productions as planned in his curriculum. To embrace these new realities, Christopher began writing MAJOR as a way to continue his passion for storytelling.
To learn more about Christopher, visit christopherdbetts.com
