Biography
Shaneequa Cannon has been writing stories since elementary school and screenplays ever since a MySpace career quiz declared her to be a film writer. Though she obtained her degree in English with a Creative Writing concentration in 2003 from the University of Miami, it was the leap into acting that made the importance of screenwriting clear. Finding ethnic roles for multi-dimensional characters was harder than she expected. Having grown up on a diet of Harlequin and Silhouette novellas as a pre-teen, it only made sense that she would focus on writing real-life romantic movies.
Shaneequa is not only a screenwriter, she’s also a published author, a former educator, and an author coach. As of March 2018, she has been a student of The Writer’s Room at Bridge 17 Scriptwriters’ Studio. There she works on honing her craft as a screenwriter, improving with every course.
Writer's Statement
I want to tell real stories that highlighted the human experiences people of different ethnic backgrounds share. As a life coach, one of those experiences shared by most of my clients is the feeling of not being enough, worthy, or deserving of love. So many women settle for the same dream instead of one that is their own life path. Often that dream is the house, the husband, the kids, and, maybe, the career. One of the most troubling parts of the problem is that these women often don’t know what it is they want from their life or from their mate.
What has been missing for the last two decades in today’s film market is a journey women can relate to, a journey that helps them not only believe in themselves but also believe in love. My movies fill that void. They are screenplays that, while written with a predominantly ethnic cast in mind, many women of all backgrounds will be able to relate to.
