About
Five Five Productions
Five Five Productions is a Stage & Film Production Company
Five Five Productions was founded in 2017. Founder and writer Kay Vaughn had become increasingly frustrated by the lack of programming and entertainment for her demographic! Also known as grown ass women. Feeling overlooked and invisible, she dusted off numerous scripts she had written over the previous decade and decided to finally do SOMETHING. "Brands, film, TV, and pretty much all forms of media have ignored us for years. Yet we control some $20-30 TRILLION dollars in consumer spending. You have these actresses destroying their faces so they can continue to work. Why are there not more roles for their original faces?"
Knowing she wasn't alone in her desire to connect with stories and experiences of grown folks like herself, she decided to do something about it! Her personal motto about aging, "If you can't change it, use it!" (And that she does, with humor and well, sometimes a little anger.) And although you can change it, you shouldn't have to! We hold a lot of power. We deserve to be entertained by people who look like us. (without a surgeon or airbrushing!)
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While not exactly about aging women, but grown folk content for sure, Five Five Productions produced it's first stage plays in 2018 to packed theaters and enthusiastic audiences. The stage play "Side Piece, Untold Stories, Vol I, was adapted from a book written on the topic of monogamy. (or lack thereof).
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Kay would spend 2019 focused on editing and rewriting several scripts which include feature and TV pilot scripts, as well as editing Volume II of the play. Sadly, Five Five had scheduled performances of Volume I in multiple venues scheduled for 2020. Unfortunately, a pandemic would change those plans. While on lockdown, (pandemic, not prison!) Kay launched her Anti-Anti-Aging Blog. www.myblackisnotcracking.com
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Five Five Productions will also be producing a podcast for Ruffnation Entertainment, as well as other Urban Lifestyle programming for it's new digital channel TBA.
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Look for the Hormones & Happy Hour podcast soon, as well as the stage production of the same name in 2022.
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Our Founder
Kay Vaughn
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Kay Vaughn - Author, Playwright, Producer, Chef
Kay Vaughn is an entertainment industry veteran, and yes, a culinary school graduate. After spending years in the business management side of the night club and restaurant business, Kay would eventually produce a critically acclaimed music series presenting for the first time, some of the most provocative and groundbreaking jazz artists of the current era. The success of the series would lead to her next endeavor.
A lover of all things creative, combined with her business savvy, would eventually lead to a transition into talent management. Her clients included a roster of internationally acclaimed recording artists, South African Vocalist and former lead actor from the long running Broadway Musical, “The Lion King,” Tsidii Le Loka. She, along with her first client, world renown saxophonist Greg Osby would later be responsible for launching the career of fellow Blue Note artist, McArthur Fellow and Kennedy Center artistic director, Jason Moran. Kay would also co-produce several Blue Note recordings along with Osby and was an active voting member of NARAS (Grammys) for many years.
In addition to musicians, Kay would also represent the notable visual artists Ibn Anderson and Bariq Cobbs, creators of the iconic “Funky Roots” and “Tribe Vibe” clothing line whose creations were prominently featured on the television programs “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and “Martin.”
As Director of Finance & CFO for Chris Schwartz, founder of the Ruffhouse Records Label, home to artists such as The Fugees, Cypress Hill and Ms. Lauryn Hill with his newly established Ruffnation Entertainment, Kay would oversee the finances for several divisions including a record label, recording studio, management company and film production entities. Between Ruffnation and relocating to Los Angeles to work in the film industry, Kay would enroll in Culinary School to pursue a life long passion for cooking.
While 3000 miles away from close friends and family, Kay would begin to explore her own creative impulses while working in corporate and production finance at various film production and post-production houses. Every hour not spent working, was spent writing.
The play, “Side Piece, Untold Stories,” which debuted in Philadelphia to sold out audiences, followed by rave reviews, is a collection of monologues that have been ripped from the pages of a forthcoming book/audiobook of the same title. The book and the play tackle the topic of monogamy (or lack thereof) often with highly developed sense of humor.
Kay launched her blog “My Black is Not Cracking,” in 2020 and is currently working on her podcast and stage production, "Hormones & Happy Hour. Both projects explore aging as a woman, with an emphasis on aging as a person of color.
Kay currently divides her time between Los Angeles and New Jersey and is currently developing several theatrical, television and feature film projects, as well as a humorous, but health conscious cookbook for single women.
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