New Web Series 'Leimert Park' Will Make You Rethink The Way You Do Sex & Self-Pleasure

It's a dope time to be young, black, and sexy. And we've got the series to prove it!

Producer Mel Jones snatched everyone's edges with the masterpieces that were Dear White People and Burning Sands. This year, she is taking gentrification and Black friendship under her visionary wing and bringing us Leimert Park, a web series she directed and will make its debut at the Sundance Film Festival.

There has been a rise in the production and telling of stories that more directly reflect the complexities and layers of the black woman. And one of those many layers is our sexuality. Though exploited, it wasn't explored quite as often as it has been in the recent years. More and more producers and directors are making shows that are featuring us as sex goddesses and getting the sex and pleasure we deserve. Unapologetic and liberated as hell. What used to be taboo is now the center of shows like Being MaryJane, Insecure, She's Gotta Have It, and now Leimert Park.

Leimert Park centers around three friends sharing a house in South LA's Leimert Park, the neighborhood once known as a black neighborhood and a hub for contemporary and historical African-American art, music, and culture in Los Angeles.

The web series brings to life three friends: Mickey, played by Ashley Blaine Featherson, is a beat producer who hasn't had an orgasm in three months; Ashli Haynes plays Bridget, who equates sex to love and is an assistant to a visiting artist; and Kendra, who is a videographer of sex, filming sexual encounters with the idea of landing an art show opportunity, is played by Asia'h Epperson.

In the show, the women are living under the same roof, navigating the space of self-love and shamelessly fulfilling their sexual desires in an environment that is changing slowly, but surely.

Sex positivity and self-love has been the topic of conversation lately, and its fluidity is becoming the center of how women portray themselves in art and media. Leimert Park is bringing this same discussion to Sundance Film Festival. Mel, the show's co-creator and director, had the desire to really celebrate women who own their bodies and seek pleasure with no shame.

"I wanted to see images of Black women being the objects of desire and seeking pleasure with no shame. 'Leimert Park' reflects the Black women I know and love and I hope it inspires women everywhere to practice self-love and self-care and embrace their sexuality."

We've been seeing the rise of Black stories being told on television with black-ish, Insecure, Queen Sugar, and grown-ish. Their reach has been so strong because of the undeniable authenticity that permeates each character, each story, and each environment depicted.

Mel Jones is using her own authentic story to bring Leimert Park to life and highlight her own personal experiences as a woman finding her way in spaces that teach us about ourselves, inside to out.

"I've been mentored by and partnered with Stephanie Allain at Homegrown Pictures for seven years and she encouraged me to create this show which was my authentic story to tell. Aaliyah Williams, who runs digital at MACRO, heard this story before it was even a script and championed the series and advocated for me as a first-time director. I'm forever grateful to both of these incredibly supportive women."

The web series is set to premiere at Sundance Film Festival this month. Watch the trailer below:

Will you be tuning in?