By Antonia DePace By Antonia DePace | February 24, 2022 | People, Celebrity,
This Bostonian is representing women behind the camera as she produces and directs some of Hollywood’s most popular TV shows.
When asked about one of her favorite things about Boston, DeMane Davis says, “I love the weather. I’m big on changing seasons. I do love the heat and I love the sun, but I love watching the seasons change and seeing the leaves... and I actually really love the snow.” So much so that the award-winning television producer and director behind some of the episodes of hit shows like Queen Sugar actually asked for a shovel for her birthday a few years ago. When she received it from a good friend, she went to work shoveling the Fenway neighborhood until 2AM. But that was then. When I call her for our interview, she’s temporarily working in sunny Atlanta while directing and producing the highly anticipated CW series Naomi, which premiered just last month. “Naomi is a young Black superhero,” Davis explains of the DC Comics drama. “It’s an incredible show because I don’t think we’ve seen anything like this before; I don’t think we’ve experienced something like this, and the actors are phenomenal.” The show, which is Davis’ first project under her new creative deal with industry giant , follows a teen girl named Naomi (played by Kaci Walfall) as she works to uncover the origins of a supernatural event that occurs in her hometown. “The thing that I love about it most is it has so many different tones to it. It’s dramatic; it also has action; it’s also really, really funny. It’s also, at times, very scary. It’s woven seamlessly,” she says. Filmmaker, producer and director Ava DuVernay helped Davis carve a path from advertising to directing and later producing in 2017. Davis dubs it “the Ava Effect.” She explains, “Essentially what it is is once Ava gives you the opportunity, you are suddenly locked in and you are legitimate.” And with big-name shows like Emmy-nominated series Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker, You, How to Get Away With Murder and Station 19 dotting her résumé since, we can’t disagree. So, what’s next for Davis? Returning to New England, where you might find her at favorite spots like Alden & Harlow and Bukowski Tavern, along with dreams of where to take her career next. “The overall goal will be to bring films and television to Boston, to my hometown. To set them in Boston and to film them primarily in Boston... which I should be doing soon.”
Photography by: Flo Ngala/Netflix