Written by | Ray Cornelius
TVOne is ending the last weekend of the summer with the network premiere of an original TV movie titled, Girlfriends Getaway. The two-hour dramedy stars the beautiful and talented Garcelle Beauvais, Terri J. Vaughn, Malinda Williams and Essence Atkins as four longtime girlfriends whose birthday trip to the Caribbean turns into a life changing adventure. The hilarious story was written by Atlanta’s own Cas Sigers-Beedles and is a co-production between her and Vaughn’s Nina Holiday Entertainment and Bobbcat Films.
For Sigers-Beedles, writing the script was a nostalgic moment that reminded her of her own the real-life capers. It was also an opportunity for her to produce a “broad” comedy featuring characters, which just so happen to be African-American women.
“I wanted to write a movie about what it would be like now if my girlfriends and I took a trip considering we are older and have more issues to discuss. Some of us have kids and are mothers and wives while some of us are still single or divorced. That was the genesis of the film,” says Sigers-Beedles. “Secondly, I wanted to do a broad comedy with females that wasn’t necessarily a Black or African-American story but just a story about four women. Terry and I refer to ‘Girlfriends Getaway’ as ‘Waiting to Exhale’ meets ‘The Hangover’ because it is about four Black women that just so happen to experience a lot of chaos while on vacation.”
Vaughn, who also serves as one of the film’s producers, says making the movie with her real-life on-screen friends proved to be “therapeutic and purposeful.”
“There were so many beautiful moments that happened on this film. It’s was a very spiritual experience for all of us. It felt very purposeful and there was a reason it was the four of us that were chosen to work together and bring these characters to life,” says Vaughn. “This movie happened at time that all of us needed it for some particular reason or another. We needed this ‘sisterhood’ type-of-film for reasons that we probably didn’t realize and still don’t understand till this day. To get that out of going to work for any actress is a huge blessing.”
In celebration of tonight’s premiere, Vaughn is encouraging all women viewers to watch the film with their girlfriends. She will also be tweeting and would like for fans to tweet back and post pictures as well.
Girlfriends Getaway airs tonight on TVOne at 8 p.m. EST
Check out the movie trailer below:
[youtube id=”8AnWegX-sEs” width=”600″ height=”350″]
