Moments with the Director
How difficult was it to cast the lead?
Joy - It was extremely difficult to cast the lead of Karen. I needed a good actress but someone comfortable with playing such an anti-Woke, standup comedian. She’s a true ‘Karen’; she doesn’t like Black people and vocalizes it. This is wrong, and I wanted to make a statement about it in a film. I chose the genre of a social commentary comedy to show how absurd racism is. Charlie Hannah did a great job of playing Karen. She wasn’t afraid, and that’s what I needed.
What was the filming like?
Joy - Making a film, even a short one with little money and a skeleton crew, is always extremely difficult. We had a crew of mainly five: a DP, an AC, a 1st AD, a gaffer, and a sound mixer. Our associate producer was also craft services, a PA, and she helped me with props and the sets. We were fortunate also to have wonderful hair, makeup, and wardrobe heads.
About The Music
How did the music come about?
Joy - The music is like another character. I wrote the lyrics to be the voice of Black people who are tired of the attacks on Black folks from those like Karen. The songs include “Black Won’t Crack,” “No Time To Laugh,” “Can U Luv?” and “Bye Karen.” The vocalists are African Wine, Jai, and Odili Bambam. These three women are incredible! I look forward to working with them on film after film! They brought my lyrics to life! I teamed up with music producer Bruce “Automatic” Vanderveer of inRage Entertainment in Los Angeles for one song, it’s a ballad called, “No Time To Laugh.” He co-produced, mixed, and mastered it and mastered the fast version of "Black Won't Crack."
*Co-Production, Mixing, and Mastering by Bruce “Automatic” Vanderveer
About The Film
Storyline
It's a short, social-commentary comedy that explores the fall of an extremely conservative stand-up comedian from the rural south named Karen - yes - Karen. If Archie Bunker had a granddaughter, she would be her. Confident and self-assured, she moves to California to pursue the lucrative bright lights of liberal Hollywood - an industry that she loves to hate. Armed with mean-spirited 'Woke' jokes that would do well in comedy clubs in Florida, they cause outrage in LA. However, being the "Queen of Mean" has consequences. Karen's Judgment Day is full of interesting and engaging characters performed by actors committed to making the viewer laugh out loud at the absurdity of race relationships in today's America.—Joy Shannon
About The Writer/Director
Joy Shannon
Always influenced by current events, Los Angeles-based writer/director Joy Shannon wrote Karen’s Judgment Day to be a social-commentary comedy on extreme conservative views are shown through the downfall of an anti-‘Woke’, Queen-of-Mean, standup comedian. The backdrop is America today, where elected officials (mainly in the South) are banning numerous Black books, erasing certain contributions, thus, wrongly rewriting Black history. The lead Charlie Hannah, plays Karen, an extreme conservative, and yes, she is also a ‘Karen’. Attacking Black folks, blue Los Angeles, and liberal Hollywood, all with her rude style of humor. Like the true bully that she is, Karen is unstoppable until she hits a brick wall. Yes...karma is a bitch.
Joy’s other works include After The LockDown: Black In LA, an award-winning docuseries on COVID-19 and Black Los Angeles; My Dead Selfie, 3rd Generation Female Gangsta and animated shorts. After The LockDown: Black In LA passionately preserves the voices of Blacks in Los Angeles during the pandemic and was collectively made by filmmakers in Joy’s family, Charles Burnett and his son Jonathan Burnett. My Dead Selfie is a feature-length supernatural horror thriller on deception and race in an interracial marriage. And the award-winning, 3rd Generation Female Gangsta shot in 16mm. It’s a low-budget crime drama about an LA teen caught in a family of criminals and her desire to break out. Joy’s first 16mm feature was filmed in Washington, DC. Straight out of film school, she made Rags To Reality, but when she sold her home video rights, the title was changed to UpTown Angel, and the film was sold in Blockbuster. Joy was told by a Black film scholar that her film was the first feature-length movie made by a Black woman to be placed in Blockbuster. The film’s theme song was sung by Jennifer Holiday of Dream Girls.