Mona Scott-Young Has Reality TV In Her Rearview
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Mona Scott-Young joins the Zoom call well-dressed in an airy olive green blouse, her honey blonde tresses in place, and makeup blended to perfection. She has the brightest expression on her face, though she has bittersweet news to share. Perhaps she’s thrilled to talk to “one of her favorite magazines,” or maybe she’s anxious for the world to witness her pivot away from reality TV as Mona Scott-Young: the film producer.
There’s an air of excitement to get to know another side of Scott-Young. She’s polite, matter-of-fact, poised and full of ideas that will continue to change the game. “Live out your dream. We only have one life,” is what she reminds herself of, day-in and day-out despite a villainous reputation from viewers who blame her shows for “setting the Black community back.” It’s easy to point fingers at the veteran businesswoman and forget that stars sign up for Love & Hip-Hop. But even through criticism, she’s always discovered opportunities for conversation, keeping an openness to viewers’ thoughts.
“I feel like anytime you do something that is disruptive, that is super successful, that has the kind of longevity and staying power that this franchise has had, people are going to have their opinions about it,” she said of negative feedback about the 12-year-old show. “There’s something for everyone. There are people who love everything that it has been able to do for both the folks that are in front of the camera and behind the scenes, and some folks who are not into reality television, it isn’t their cup of tea and they don’t subscribe to it. I just think that when you have an opportunity to do something that creates a platform, that creates opportunities, and you do it, people are going to have opinions.”
The coveted TV guru’s sentiments remain true — even with the show’s most recent controversy between Erica Mena and Spice. She brushed over the topic at the time (possibly in anticipation for her VH1 roundtable special about colorism). Still, Scott-Young proclaims that reality TV has been “a dream come true. There’s so much that we’re going through constantly in the world that we just need to every day get up and live out that dream.”
“So that’s what I always want to leave people with,” she says, having left her mark on the careers of Cardi B, K. Michelle, Joseline Hernandez, Safaree and others. “For me, this has been a celebration of all the things that I’ve had a hand in, from music to having a mark in television and now embarking on scripted. This is just a whole new adventure for me.”
That adventure starts with her BET+ Original Atlanta Playboy: Love & Murder, a two-part film starring Taye Diggs and Apryl Jones. “It’s been interesting and a lot of fun,” she says. The scripted space isn’t entirely new territory for her, but definitely a game changer for what she wants to bring to the screen.
“I’m always trying to expand on the projects that we do and the genres that we navigate. So scripted has been something I’ve had my eye on for a long time,” she said.” I did another project with BET+ called B-Boy Blues right after the pandemic. “I really enjoyed the process of working on a scripted project and wanted to do more. When this opportunity came about, this had been a very long time in the making. We had been developing this idea for quite some time. We jumped on it, and I’m excited to see it finally hit the screens.”
Much like Tyler Perry, who’s brought along his theater cast members to film, Scott-Young has brought LHH stars to the silver screen. Familiar faces like Yandy Smith, Karlie Redd and Young Joc have small parts in Atlanta Playboy, showing off other skill sets outside of music and reality TV. “I love seeing the cast moving on and building their brands, growing their businesses, creating opportunities for themselves, for their families, for other people, other women. When you look at Apryl, Joc, Karlie and Yandy, they all did a really good job carrying those roles, and I think it’s something that we should see them doing a lot more. Being able to have a platform in scripted that allows them to grow their talents and their skills into that arena, that’s just another bonus,” Scott-Young said.
Scott-Young worked with a real-life couple on screen (Diggs and Jones star in Atlanta Playboy as a gigolo and mistress) and shared that they did great at keeping their personal lives separate. “They were incredibly professional. There wasn’t even any hint of, ‘oh, they’re in a relationship, oh, it’s causing any kind of awkwardness.’ Even in their love scenes, they were consummate professionals.” Diggs’ role as Lance Herndon wasn’t too distant from the actual late Atlanta businessman the series is loosely based on. Herndon was a rising tech star who found himself in a love dilemma with multiple women that ultimately led to his puzzling death.
“We took some creative liberties with some of the composite characters and, of course, changed some of the names, but it’s really easy to go out there,” Scott-Young said about producing the film. “I think the story has been covered on a number of true crime shows as well, but it was one of those stories that still had so many dynamic elements, because this guy was such a successful entrepreneur back in the early days of tech. This Black man was a celebrity in his own right, and such a ladies’ man in the most outrageous way. It has all of those elements that the best writers in Hollywood couldn’t conceptualize.”
The challenge for Atlanta Playboy was walking the line between honoring factual elements and creating a compelling production. “We were constantly fact-checking, ‘Can this play? Is this too far off from what really happened?’ Especially because we’re keeping his name, but it is a blend of the real facts of his story but told in a movie format.”
The story’s real mogul was a self-made millionaire. Herndon moved to Atlanta in the ‘90s, which was a hotspot for young black professionals at the time. He built Access, Inc., the largest computer consulting firm in the Southeast. As portrayed in Atlanta Playboy, Herndon’s extramarital affairs cost him multiple marriages. After his third and final divorce, he dived into the dating pool headfirst, seeing multiple women at a time. Unfortunately, one of the women was reportedly unstable and took his life. Though part two’s ending shows Scott-Young’s interest in cliffhangers, it doesn’t actually identify Hendon’s killer. In real life, a woman by the name of Dionne Baugh was charged with Lance Hendon’s murder and spent 10 years in prison. She was released in 2011.
“I think, when you look at the title, the hope was that we’re going for a brand, an umbrella brand under which we can tell different stories in the passion thriller space,” Scott-Young said about future installments of the film. “So this one was Love and Murder: Atlanta Playboy, and the goal would be to be able to tell way more stories. I’m always looking for franchise opportunities, things that have legs that you can build and grow on, and that was the thinking going into this.”
Check out the official trailer to Love & Murder: Atlanta Playboy below and stream the two-parter on BET+ now.
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