Writer | Researcher | Consultant
With a background in acting (Broadway and TV), a Master of Arts in Social Justice & Community Organizing (Prescott College), and current pursuits toward a second Master of Arts in Cinema & Media Studies (USC), Marisa Diane Kennedy heals through storytelling and consulting by applying an activist perspective to her work.
At it’s core, it’s all about healing.
Marisa has two shows in development.
RUBY JEAN is a story of self-discovery wrapped in the unique shell of late-blooming queerness and polyamory, transmitted via a 30-minute dramedy.
Ruby Jean is a fat, Black, photographer whose previously stalled photography career takes off along with her love life when her and her boyfriend decide to open their relationship and explore outside love interests.
THE FIVE KINGS: When the five King siblings gather for the 20th anniversary of the flailing family business, they learn their mother is giving it up due to her declining health. These brothers and sisters decide to come together to help their mother and keep the company going. But their various personalities and dramas with their own spouses and children will create tension and obstacles that, at times, seem insurmountable.
The Diversity Editor
Marisa uses her experiences as a Black queer woman, former Broadway/TV actor, and current writer by applying her unique perspective to bring added integrity to scripts, production teams, and networks in the TV and film industry.
Marisa holds a Master’s in Social Justice & Community Organizing and is currently pursuing her second Master’s in Cinema & Media Studies at USC. She combines this knowledge with her work in entertainment.
She has consulted for HBO/Max since February 2020.
Represent: Reclaiming Black Narratives in Media
Marisa is recording a podcast that utilizes her years of experience as a Black person in the media industry to examine how intersections of identity that converge with Blackness are represented in TV/film.
In Season 1, Marisa focuses on Black women and femmes. She uses her master’s research of Black feminism, narrative theory, and cultivation theory to examine how and why Black women and femmes are represented in scripted media in harmful and inauthentic ways.
Marisa pulls in industry heavy hitters to weigh in on their perspectives as Black women within the media landscape and to also discuss their experiences as media consumers and Black women navigating a world in which these representations impact their daily lives.
Academic Research
In November 2023, Marisa’s research included determining how intersectionality, misogynoir, and anti-Blackness contribute to the delegitimization of Black women activists. Specifically, looking at how these frameworks influence culture via film and TV and how that impacts Black women and femme activists’ representation in the press. Her article “The Soil That Nourishes Our Growth: Effects of Delegitimization on Black Women Activists” will be published in the Journal of Sustainability Education in January 2025.
Marisa’s current research considers the cultural legacies of and Black resistance to surveillance. She is looking at how methods of surveillance in narrative television over time reflect Black attitudes toward surveillance, particularly regarding hypervisibility and invisibility.
