Dr. Holly Carter is the CEO and founder of Relevé Entertainment, one of the premier management and production companies for faith-inspired content. Her career in entertainment began in television casting for shows like “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” and “Martin.” Over the course of her 25-year career, she has produced “Preachers of L.A.,” “The Sheards,” “106 & Gospel” and more. Most recently, she served as executive producer of the hit Lifetime movie The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel and has started a new show “Chatter” on FOX Soul.
Tell us about your new talk show “Chatter.”
I literally was at an event that Dee Dee Freeman Ph.D. produced. She and four other women were having these relatable conversations. Obviously, all of them are women of faith. At that moment, I was inspired. I looked at it and thought, that needs to be on television because that’s great table talk for women of faith. Two years later, here we are. The only difference is that I wasn’t supposed to be a part of it. I am behind the scenes. When we sold the show, the senior executive over programming’s reaction was that the show was missing my point of view. So, here we are, the women of “Chatter.” It’s fun. It’s real. It’s emotional. It’s challenging. We’re growing an audience and I’m excited about it.
How would you describe your brand and your career journey?
Blessed entrepreneur. I started off as an agent, then I transitioned to a manager. Then I went into casting and I went back into management. From management, I transitioned into my favorite job, which is content creation. I’m producing and bringing brands together to find synergies around content that is redemptive, provocative, inspirational, and of course entertaining.
Tell us about producing The Clark Sisters biopic.
I get teary-eyed thinking about what God did with that because it took so long and I thought it was never gonna happen. I was committed to the family, I was committed to the cause of it. I was committed to the power behind it. I had to see it through, and so I did. Now here I am to talk about it and it didn’t come without discouraging moments. That scripture, “they that wait on the Lord shall renew…” I found a renewed sense.
For Black women in Hollywood, why should people consider producing a franchise?
I think it’s important to find projects that are franchisable because you are having conversations all over the world about different types of people. The girls in Los Angeles are different from the ones that swag it out in New York and they’re different from the ones that hold it down in Atlanta. So, if you can tell these stories from all of these different perspectives and points of view and passion levels, then you are diversifying the experience. The more we can franchise, the more the economics make sense. Beyond that, the story travels, and the experiences travel and that makes for good television.
