Neegros: It's Cereal!
West Orange, New Jersey | Film Short
Satire, Comedy
Neegros: It’s Cereal! follows a struggling cereal company that hires a rogue ad agency to save its brand by taking it back to its “roots.” Through the lens of a filmmaker who never intervenes, the campaign reveals the uneasy, and often absurd, collision of branding, race, identity, and profit.
Neegros: It's Cereal!
West Orange, New Jersey | Film Short
Satire, Comedy
1 Campaigns | New Jersey, United States
140 supporters | followers
Enter the amount you would like to pledge
$9,767
Goal: $8,000 for production
Neegros: It’s Cereal! follows a struggling cereal company that hires a rogue ad agency to save its brand by taking it back to its “roots.” Through the lens of a filmmaker who never intervenes, the campaign reveals the uneasy, and often absurd, collision of branding, race, identity, and profit.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Advertising sells more than products. It sells identity. Nostalgia. Culture. Sometimes, even a version of history that never existed.
This idea has been knocking around my head for a decade now. At one point, it got very close to becoming part of the Sundance Institute’s YouTube Episodic Lab back in 2016. My Sundance pitch video! I made it all the way to the “someone actually calls you” stage. We spoke. It was real. Ultimately, it wasn't chosen, but I've never let go because this door has room for the proverbial Jack.
I'm going to be honest with you: making satire in our current climate is a tough row to hoe. How do you exaggerate a world that already feels exaggerated? How do you parody the farcical? And yet, that’s exactly why this story still matters.
Horror and comedy are great mirror genres. What I mean is that both genres, when done right (and even when they're not), can show us heightened versions of simple situations that reveal the absurdity and grotesquerie that lie beneath. What better time to make a satire when the world's on fire?
Neegros: It’s Cereal! is a satirical mockumentary about a struggling cereal company, Sowed Oats, that makes a bold, decision--hiring an ad agency known for their controversial ad campaigns to Make Cereal Great Again, by setting the cereal commercial in a Gone with the Wind backdrop that doesn't feature Scarlett or Rhett but instead the, say it with me, Neegros!
Neegros: It's Cereal! is set in a world where the broadcast Networks have blackmailed the FCC into relaxing their Standards and Practices laws so they can compete with the streamers for viewership. Why? The Networks want to air sex, drugs, and rock and roll during their ad breaks. They want to make commercials the main event, not their TV shows.
The story is told through the lens of Flynn Lewis, the ad agency’s CEO's son, who believes he is making a slick behind-the-scenes documentary to promote the product. Instead, his footage slowly reveals the absurd contradictions of the corporate machine reworking culture into commerce.
We live in an era where corporations consistently use or, in many cases, misuse blackness to gain cultural cachet. The examples are countless.
See: H&M's Coolest Monkey in the Jungle hoodie
LeBron James’ 2008 Vogue cover
Want to seem cool? Put a Black person in it. Borrow the language, the style, the attitude. Package it. Sell it.
But that relationship has limits. The same institutions that profit from blackness often grow quiet when it’s time to stand up for Black people.
You know how it goes: We hear you. We see you. We're learning. Black Square on IG. Wakanda Forever.
Neegros: It’s Cereal! explores what happens when the machinery of marketing tries to package something it doesn’t fully understand—and what that reveals about the systems shaping the images we consume every day.
Neegros: It's Cereal is what would happen if all of these four got together and had a baby.
Bamboozled
Best in Show
Hollywood Shuffle
Atlanta
Where We Are
We're shooting in New Orleans this June, and all of the money will go towards principal photography (paying cast and crew, equipment, catering, etc.)
We Need Your Help
These oats aren't going to sow themselves! We have a lot of good things going for us. A stellar cast and crew, a hilarious and timely script, and a story that feels more of the moment in 2026 than when I first conceived it in 2016.
What we DO need is your support to help us pay our cast and crew, build the world (props, cereal boxes, sets, etc), and pay film festival submission fees.
Stretch Goals
$10,000-We'll be able to upgrade our camera package
$12,000-Enhanced production design for the commercial set.
$15,000-I might mess around and get a triple-double! Meaning more shoot days, new scenes will be written and filmed (I have a lot of ideas for fake commercials set in the Neegros world).
$20,000-Professional sound mix and color grading.
$25,000-Festival travel and promotion
Prize at the Bottom of the Box
Do you miss the irreverent comedies of yesteryear? The kind of comedies (Blazing Saddles, Don't Be a Menace, and In Living Color, to name a few) that made you wince at their boldness, the ones that made you look over your shoulder and see if anyone else is laughing, the ones with the willingness to "go there"? If you nodded your head or said, "Oh yeah, I do!" then you know what to do: follow, pledge, and share this campaign far and wide!
I pray to the gods, old and new, that this cereal will never come to pass.
But this film is, and we can't make it without you.
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Jason R.A. Foster (Writer/Director)
Jason R.A. Foster is an award-winning filmmaker, originally from Kingston, Jamaica, who now resides in New Jersey but has spent most of his life in the American South. His wanderlust has contributed to his ability to tell stories and connect with people from all walks of life. In 2011, Jason, along with four others, founded FosterBear Films. In a short time, FosterBear produced over thirty short documentaries, short narrative films, and music videos. Their work has been featured in reputable media outlets such as the New York Times, Shadow and Act, Indiewire, TruthOut, and Okayplayer. Jason is a 2015 New Orleans Film Society Emerging Voices Fellow and has received numerous New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation Community Partnership grants for his work documenting Louisiana artists. In addition, he has taught filmmaking classes at the New Orleans Video Access Center (NOVAC) and spent a year as a Film Instructor at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA). During the spring of 2020, Jason released his first feature documentary, the award-winning Many Fires This Time: We the 100 Million (Best Cinematography for a Louisiana Feature and Special Jury Recognition for a Louisiana Feature), and during the same year, he was a fellow in the UnionDocs Research and Development Summer Lab for his personal documentary feature, In Search Of... The shortened version In Search Of…Pregame premiered in 2022 and garnered a Special Jury Recognition Award (Best Louisiana Short Documentary) from the New Orleans Film Festival. He is happily married and a father of two.
Zac Manuel (Director of Photography)
Zac Manuel is a director and cinematographer from New Orleans, Louisiana. His work draws from complex legacies of Southern identity, with a particular interest in the impacts of history and inheritance on Black communities. Zac’s cinematography credits include ALONE (Sundance 2017 Jury Award Winner – Best Non-Fiction Film), TIME (2021 Academy Award nominee for Best Feature Documentary), BUCKJUMPING, and DESCENDANT (Sundance, 2022), which was released on Netflix. His directing credits include THIS BODY, released on PBS, and NONSTOP, which was acquired by the Criterion Channel. His debut feature documentary, LIL NAS X: LONG LIVE MONTERO, premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival and was acquired by HBO Max. His second feature, GHETTO CHILDREN, premiered at the 2024 New Orleans Film Festival. Zac is a 2024 Pew Foundation Artist Fellow, a 2025 Diane Weyermann Fellow for his in-production feature doc, THE INSTRUMENT, and the proud son of a touring jazz singer and a grant administrator at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Mark Druhet (Producer)
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Mark Druhet is an actor and producer from New Orleans, Louisiana. He is a graduate of the prestigious Prairie View A&M University, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Architectural Design. With over 15 years of experience in the entertainment industry, Mark has appeared in numerous film and television productions, including Filthy Rich and Is God Is, as well as a variety of national commercials and fashion editorials. Beyond his work in entertainment, Mark is a dedicated member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., where he actively contributes to community service initiatives and youth empowerment programs. He is also a published artist and muralist, using visual art as another medium to inspire and engage communities.
Katalea Ford (Production Designer)
Katalea Ford is a set designer/dresser and prop stylist based in New Orleans, known for her exceptional skill in creating custom sets that breathe life into film and commercial productions. With a foundation in theatrical set design, she brings a distinctive approach to her work. Her expertise lies in designing and styling environments that reflect authenticity and immerse viewers in the lived-in space. By focusing on the subtleties of realism, she ensures that each set not only serves its narrative purpose but also resonates with the emotional depth of the characters and stories.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Advertising sells more than products. It sells identity. Nostalgia. Culture. Sometimes, even a version of history that never existed.
This idea has been knocking around my head for a decade now. At one point, it got very close to becoming part of the Sundance Institute’s YouTube Episodic Lab back in 2016. My Sundance pitch video! I made it all the way to the “someone actually calls you” stage. We spoke. It was real. Ultimately, it wasn't chosen, but I've never let go because this door has room for the proverbial Jack.
I'm going to be honest with you: making satire in our current climate is a tough row to hoe. How do you exaggerate a world that already feels exaggerated? How do you parody the farcical? And yet, that’s exactly why this story still matters.
Horror and comedy are great mirror genres. What I mean is that both genres, when done right (and even when they're not), can show us heightened versions of simple situations that reveal the absurdity and grotesquerie that lie beneath. What better time to make a satire when the world's on fire?
Neegros: It’s Cereal! is a satirical mockumentary about a struggling cereal company, Sowed Oats, that makes a bold, decision--hiring an ad agency known for their controversial ad campaigns to Make Cereal Great Again, by setting the cereal commercial in a Gone with the Wind backdrop that doesn't feature Scarlett or Rhett but instead the, say it with me, Neegros!
Neegros: It's Cereal! is set in a world where the broadcast Networks have blackmailed the FCC into relaxing their Standards and Practices laws so they can compete with the streamers for viewership. Why? The Networks want to air sex, drugs, and rock and roll during their ad breaks. They want to make commercials the main event, not their TV shows.
The story is told through the lens of Flynn Lewis, the ad agency’s CEO's son, who believes he is making a slick behind-the-scenes documentary to promote the product. Instead, his footage slowly reveals the absurd contradictions of the corporate machine reworking culture into commerce.
We live in an era where corporations consistently use or, in many cases, misuse blackness to gain cultural cachet. The examples are countless.
See: H&M's Coolest Monkey in the Jungle hoodie
LeBron James’ 2008 Vogue cover
Want to seem cool? Put a Black person in it. Borrow the language, the style, the attitude. Package it. Sell it.
But that relationship has limits. The same institutions that profit from blackness often grow quiet when it’s time to stand up for Black people.
You know how it goes: We hear you. We see you. We're learning. Black Square on IG. Wakanda Forever.
Neegros: It’s Cereal! explores what happens when the machinery of marketing tries to package something it doesn’t fully understand—and what that reveals about the systems shaping the images we consume every day.
Neegros: It's Cereal is what would happen if all of these four got together and had a baby.
Bamboozled
Best in Show
Hollywood Shuffle
Atlanta
Where We Are
We're shooting in New Orleans this June, and all of the money will go towards principal photography (paying cast and crew, equipment, catering, etc.)
We Need Your Help
These oats aren't going to sow themselves! We have a lot of good things going for us. A stellar cast and crew, a hilarious and timely script, and a story that feels more of the moment in 2026 than when I first conceived it in 2016.
What we DO need is your support to help us pay our cast and crew, build the world (props, cereal boxes, sets, etc), and pay film festival submission fees.
Stretch Goals
$10,000-We'll be able to upgrade our camera package
$12,000-Enhanced production design for the commercial set.
$15,000-I might mess around and get a triple-double! Meaning more shoot days, new scenes will be written and filmed (I have a lot of ideas for fake commercials set in the Neegros world).
$20,000-Professional sound mix and color grading.
$25,000-Festival travel and promotion
Prize at the Bottom of the Box
Do you miss the irreverent comedies of yesteryear? The kind of comedies (Blazing Saddles, Don't Be a Menace, and In Living Color, to name a few) that made you wince at their boldness, the ones that made you look over your shoulder and see if anyone else is laughing, the ones with the willingness to "go there"? If you nodded your head or said, "Oh yeah, I do!" then you know what to do: follow, pledge, and share this campaign far and wide!
I pray to the gods, old and new, that this cereal will never come to pass.
But this film is, and we can't make it without you.
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Jason R.A. Foster (Writer/Director)
Jason R.A. Foster is an award-winning filmmaker, originally from Kingston, Jamaica, who now resides in New Jersey but has spent most of his life in the American South. His wanderlust has contributed to his ability to tell stories and connect with people from all walks of life. In 2011, Jason, along with four others, founded FosterBear Films. In a short time, FosterBear produced over thirty short documentaries, short narrative films, and music videos. Their work has been featured in reputable media outlets such as the New York Times, Shadow and Act, Indiewire, TruthOut, and Okayplayer. Jason is a 2015 New Orleans Film Society Emerging Voices Fellow and has received numerous New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation Community Partnership grants for his work documenting Louisiana artists. In addition, he has taught filmmaking classes at the New Orleans Video Access Center (NOVAC) and spent a year as a Film Instructor at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA). During the spring of 2020, Jason released his first feature documentary, the award-winning Many Fires This Time: We the 100 Million (Best Cinematography for a Louisiana Feature and Special Jury Recognition for a Louisiana Feature), and during the same year, he was a fellow in the UnionDocs Research and Development Summer Lab for his personal documentary feature, In Search Of... The shortened version In Search Of…Pregame premiered in 2022 and garnered a Special Jury Recognition Award (Best Louisiana Short Documentary) from the New Orleans Film Festival. He is happily married and a father of two.
Zac Manuel (Director of Photography)
Zac Manuel is a director and cinematographer from New Orleans, Louisiana. His work draws from complex legacies of Southern identity, with a particular interest in the impacts of history and inheritance on Black communities. Zac’s cinematography credits include ALONE (Sundance 2017 Jury Award Winner – Best Non-Fiction Film), TIME (2021 Academy Award nominee for Best Feature Documentary), BUCKJUMPING, and DESCENDANT (Sundance, 2022), which was released on Netflix. His directing credits include THIS BODY, released on PBS, and NONSTOP, which was acquired by the Criterion Channel. His debut feature documentary, LIL NAS X: LONG LIVE MONTERO, premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival and was acquired by HBO Max. His second feature, GHETTO CHILDREN, premiered at the 2024 New Orleans Film Festival. Zac is a 2024 Pew Foundation Artist Fellow, a 2025 Diane Weyermann Fellow for his in-production feature doc, THE INSTRUMENT, and the proud son of a touring jazz singer and a grant administrator at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Mark Druhet (Producer)
Mark Druhet is an actor and producer from New Orleans, Louisiana. He is a graduate of the prestigious Prairie View A&M University, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Architectural Design. With over 15 years of experience in the entertainment industry, Mark has appeared in numerous film and television productions, including Filthy Rich and Is God Is, as well as a variety of national commercials and fashion editorials. Beyond his work in entertainment, Mark is a dedicated member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., where he actively contributes to community service initiatives and youth empowerment programs. He is also a published artist and muralist, using visual art as another medium to inspire and engage communities.
Katalea Ford (Production Designer)
Katalea Ford is a set designer/dresser and prop stylist based in New Orleans, known for her exceptional skill in creating custom sets that breathe life into film and commercial productions. With a foundation in theatrical set design, she brings a distinctive approach to her work. Her expertise lies in designing and styling environments that reflect authenticity and immerse viewers in the lived-in space. By focusing on the subtleties of realism, she ensures that each set not only serves its narrative purpose but also resonates with the emotional depth of the characters and stories.