Tamika Lamison
Program Director 
CDDP

Tamika is a Virginia native who graduated from The American University with a BA in Performing Arts & Theatre. She currently works at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the Education Department. While living in New York she wrote her first screenplay, THE JAR BY THE DOOR, which was a Sundance Finalist and won several awards including the Gordon Parks Indie Film Award. She then attended the New York Film Academy to learn filmmaking and graduated having made her first short film. 


After expanding her filmmaking knowledge she moved to Los Angeles and won several fellowships and awards in writing and directing including the ABC/Walt Disney Fellowship in Screenwriting for, MEMOIRS OF A VIRGIN WHORE, Guy Hanks and Marvin Miller Fellowship, the CBS Director’s Initiative and AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women Fellowship in which she wrote, directed and produced the multi-award winning short film, HOPE. This film aired on every major network. She was then hired as both a camera operator and director of BET’s first reality TV show- COLLEGE HILL.

Tamika has produced several other short films including the award winning, THE MALE GROUPIE which aired on HBO. The award winning film SPIN, which she directed and produced also had a successful film festival run.

Always interested in projects that make a difference, Tamika was hired to direct, THE CHILDREN’S DREAM AWARDS, a live-to-tape show in which both regular and celebrity children are awarded for humanitarian efforts.

Tamika produced her first feature documentary, THE REAL BLOODGHOST, which lays the foundational groundwork for the horror feature film, BLOODGHOST, currently in development. She also wrote, produced and directed the feature documentary, THE 3rd ERA of MEDICINE. The feature film, SEX AND VIOLENCE OR: A BRIEF REVIEW OF SIMPLE PHYSICS, directed by Sundance Alum, Christopher Scott Cherot, which she also produced is currently in post-production. Most recently Tamika produced and stars in the Feature Film LAST LIFE with Michael Phillip Edwards, who also wrote and directed the film.

REMEMBERING HER POWER, is a docu-reality series pilot that Tamika produced, about a world re-known spiritual leader who guides seven women in critical & traumatic phases of their lives, through transformation and healing.

Tamika has written over 25 feature scripts, including as a writer-for-hire and has sold many options.

In an effort to give back, Tamika created and founded, MAKE A FILM FOUNDATION (MAFF), a non-profit that grants ‘film wishes’ to children who have serious or life-threatening medical conditions by teaming them with noted actors, writers and directors who help them create short film legacies.

Through MAFF, Tamika has produced three festival favorite & award winning narrative short films working with directors– Rodrigo Garcia (ALBERT NOBBS), Patricia Cardoso (REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES) and Jon Poll (CHARLIE BARTLETT). THE MAGIC BRACELET, which was adapted by Academy Award winning writer, Diablo Cody (JUNO), continues to win awards on the festival circuit. The fourth film produced via MAFF, THE BLACK GHIANDOLA, was directed by Catherine Hardwicke (TWILIGHT), Theodore Melfi (HIDDEN FIGURES) and Sam Raimi (SPIDERMAN TRILOGY); It stars Anthony Conti, Johnny Depp, JK Simmons, Laura Dern, David Lynch, Richard Chamberlain, Chad L. Coleman, Penelope Ann Miller. The film had its red carpet premiere at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Tamika has also produced approximately 100 short documentaries through MAFF’s ‘VIDZ 4 KIDZ‘ program and has worked with Academy Award nominated directors in this program including- Valerie Faris & Jonathan Dayton (LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE), Bennett Miller (MONEYBALL) and Marc Forster (WORLD WAR Z/QUANTUM OF SOLACE).