At a private dinner for CNN correspondent Roland Martin last night in Los Angeles, BET.com caught up with some of our favorite celebs behind the camera, on TV and in music.

Tracey Edmonds shed more light on her upcoming Fox Searchlight Basketball Wives film that will be in theaters next year. “I’m producing the film with Shaunie O’Neal. It’s about the lives of Basketball Wives, but it’s not a derivative of the reality TV show,” says Edmonds. “It’s an ensemble piece, they are four main characters and it’s a multi-ethnic story. We’ve got a lot of really empowered female characters and there’s a sisterhood theme so it’s a positive piece. Elizabeth Hunter (Jumping the Broom) is writing it and the script is fantastic. These women are dealing with a lot of conflicts, juicy things going on with their lives and a lot of really deep issues. They’ll be a lot of twists and turns to the story, we’re excited about the project.”

Jackée Harry, who in August will be heading back to the small screen in the sitcom First Family [for Bryon Allen’s Entertainment Studios] which will reunite her with 227 co-star Marla Gibbs, shared that she doesn’t see any women in young Black Hollywood carrying the comedic torch. “There are some beautiful, young African-American actresses out here but comedy is hard. It’s hard. It’s not hard for me, but people don’t know how to do it,” says Harry. “I don’t see African-American females or any other ethnicity really hitting comedy because women are not easily accepted in that milieu. There’s Mo’Nique and Adele Givens, but there’s not a lot of others. I was thinking about teaching a class, but they might make me mad if they’re not funny. [laughs] Just kidding.”

As Erica Campbell of Mary, Mary prepares for season two of her reality series with sister Tina, she says she hopes viewers always get the positive message of forgiveness they always try to convey. “I think a lot of the time on other reality shows you see a lot of conflict but you never see the resolve. And we’re committed to the resolve,” says Campbell.
“We’re not a perfect Black family but we’re a good Black family and a healthy one. I don’t think we see a lot of that on television so we’re very proud to show that. Sometimes we make wrong choices, do the wrong things, but the beauty of it is there’s always forgiveness, redemption and understanding. And I think if people see that we can do it, it’s accessible for them too.”

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(Photos from left: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images, Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)