Be the first to hear movie announcements and updates! Subscribe to our JITTERBUG newsletter.

Shayla Racquel, Director of a 2021 John Singleton EmbRACE Initiative winning project, has signed on to direct JITTERBUG. Shayla was a 2023 finalist for Shonda Rhimes’s Shondaland / Seriesfest Women’s Directing Mentorship. Her award-winning film, The Lifted, was acquired by AMC ALLBLK. Her film Riverment was acquired by Comcast Xfinity after winning a Student Emmy from the Capital Emmy chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Shayla was the lead director of two premiere shows for Keke Palmer’s KeyTV Network. She’s been featured by the Washington Post & VIBE Magazine and was named one of OkayPlayer’s Up-And-Coming Directors That Should Be On Your Radar in 2021. She was a finalist for the National Black Arts Foundation’s Horizon Grant for Emerging Black Artists in 2023. Originally hailing from Columbia, South Carolina, Shayla now makes her home in Atlanta, Georgia. She holds a Bachelor of Science from Florida A&M in Tallahassee and an MFA in film from American University in Washington DC.

Phil’s first addition to the JITTERBUG film was Chester Whitmore. In addition to his background as an actor and choreographer to the stars, Chester is a living swing dance legend and a regular fixture and faculty member at Lindy Hop events worldwide. Chester is based in Los Angeles.

Remy Kouakou Kouame is an established dancer and performer and is working as Lead Choreographer for JITTERBUG. He started dancing Boogie Woogie at the tender age of 6, and went on to claim both the French and World Championships titles. He also dances Lindy Hop competitively and has more than a few Lindy Hop titles under his winners belt. Add a good measure of Solo Jazz to the mix and that brings us up to the present day. By now he has been an established teacher on the international scene for many years, and his fame and acclaim as a dancer and teacher continue to grow. He is to be found teaching, performing, and competing at international events and festivals around the world, sharing his joy and knowledge. His approach to Swing is unique and original, and as a teacher he promotes creativity and individuality.

Introducing Director of Photography Taylor Randall, an American cinematographer who is best known for his recent work on Tyler Perry’s A Madea Homecoming (2022) where he made his feature debut. He is also credited with thriller Titanic 666 (2022), and 20 episodes of TV network drama series, All the Queen’s Men (2021/2022), and 44 episodes of Sistas comedy drama series (2021/2022). His career began in 2007 in the music video arena where he honed his skills working with A list artists in all genres of music. Including the memorable DJ Khaled ft John Legend & Nipsey Hussle “Higher” music video that took home the 2020 BET award for video of the year. He is noted for being innovative with techniques to create and collaborate on projects to attain an authentic representation on the screen, and adhering to financial parameters.

Julie Berry joins Jitterbug as an executive producer. She is the New York Times bestselling author of the 2020 NCTE Walden Award and SCBWI Golden Kite Award winner Lovely War, the 2017 Printz Honor and LA Times Book Prize-shortlisted The Passion of Dolssa, the Carnegie and Edgar-shortlisted All the Truth That’s in Me, the Odyssey Honor The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place, and many other books for teens, tweens, and children. Julie holds a BS from Rensselaer in communication and an MFA in Creative Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College. She owns Author’s Note, an independent bookstore in Medina, New York.

JITTERBUG was written and is being produced by Phil Berry, an actor, screenwriter, producer, and Lindy Hop swing dancer. Phil is based in New York.