The Show 

Say Nice Things is a character-driven, place-crucial “dramedy” about siblings Natalie and Leyroy Hendrix, inheritors of the Tireman Trade Center. They struggle to maintain the Detroit landmark while big-money developers gobble up the city around them. All the while, the siblings’ personal lives are unraveling: Natalie’s drug addiction is resurgent; Leyroy is resentful over the loss of his budding music career; their mother’s long placement at a psychiatric hospital strains their time and money. All of it combines into a daunting pile of roadblocks the two must confront. However, the series is not without joy and laugh-out-loud humor. The brother and sister nurture their chosen family which is flourishing inside the Tireman Trade Center: a former factory repurposed as a post-industrial wonderland mishmash of flea and farmer’s market, odd-ball retailers, public music space, and comfort food café with a noteworthy chef. It all makes for an unlikely keystone community to a swath of eclectic “Old Detroit,” but that might be the very thing that saves them all! 

Everything is at risk in this dynamic and heartfelt family struggle. It is told as a series of short, interrelated vignette episodes that will air as streamable content on YouTube.  

Goals & How the Funds Will Be Used

Our goal is to raise $120,000 by the last week of filming, slated for October 2021. Your contribution will help produce the over 250 hours of work necessary to bring this project to completion, alongside equipment, payroll for all cast and crew, location fees, licenses, and the production costs for all 14 episodes.

The show will premier December 2021 on YouTube to be released for free, just in time for the holidays!

This Indiegogo campaign supports the production of this project to completion. Contributors also obtain unique, on-brand perks. Your donations fuel our visions. Your monetary gifts make it all possible. 

Detroit Hustles Harder: A Pandemic Story  

Writer and showrunner Veronica Frick, alongside writer Radfan Ali Alqirsh, collaborated to bring Say Nice Things into being. Filming was planned for 2020. Then the pandemic happened. Michigan was hard hit at the onset, with the city of Detroit at the heart of the response of shutdowns. Live performances were cancelled, productions postponed, artists and performers waited and watched as the artistic communities we built were devastated by the grief we all experienced living through such unnerving times.

It was during this moment of deep angst that Veronica reached out to writer and editor Craig Bernier to revise the original script via phone and Zoom sessions. The result is this current project. 

In April of 2021, Veronica, through a twist of fate, found director LeShawn Bell. Throughout this process, LeShawn has been diligently working with the actors via Zoom every week to get them acquainted and comfortable with their characters to prepare for filming. 

The money that is sourced from this Indiegogo campaign goes directly to the artists, creators, and organizers who have dedicated themselves so wholly to the project. Actors have been cast, director and film crew secured, the production staff is onboard. We need backers to bring the project to fulfillment. That’s how this Indiegogo campaign functions. We need your help.

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YouTube Account Say Nice Things

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