A dramatic web series set in Los Angeles, CA, BREAKING POINT follows a group of friends as they deal with their dreams, triumphs, and heartaches. They struggle to prosper as day-to-day transitions and setbacks begin to threaten their relationships and livelihoods. When their struggle becomes one of maintenance and their world tilting off course and out of their control, some may go to extreme measures and commit a few wrongs. This everyday drama explores how ordinary life can be changed when lived with extraordinary passion.
Dana, a newly promoted police detective, is ready to take a step in her personal life with her close friend, Ben. A loveable playboy, Ben is ready to commit when a blast from his past threatens his new relationship.
Gabby is a newlywed with a secret and a baby on the way. The first few months of marriage have tested her love for her husband Dennis. Struggling to maintain a balance between work and home, Dennis is a mild-mannered entrepreneur with a ruthless sense of business and a dangerous hobby.
Vic was once top of the world but a successful music career, a beautiful wife and a bouncing baby girl couldn’t keep him from his high. He went to prison and lost it all including his wife, Imani. On the outside, Imani is a woman with self-confidence, style, and a will to go after her desires. What you don’t see is the pain that she has gone through… and getting everything in the divorce is only a small comfort.
After taking a chance on a new love, Crystal left her husband only to be hurt by that new love. For the first time in her life, she is alone. With a chance to make it right again with her husband Crystal must make a choice between her old life and her heart, which still belongs to someone who doesn’t deserve it.
Crystal Coney as Crystal
Crystal McLaurin Coney was born in Goldsboro, North Carolina but was raised in 6 
different states: North Carolina, Alabama, Ohio, Michigan, California and North Dakota, Crystal still considers herself a southern girl at heart without the accent. Crystal is a graduate of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication and a concentration in Dramatic Arts. She has consistently worked in the entertainment industry for more than 15 years. One of Crystal’s proudest moments was when she captured the Miss North Carolina USA crown in 1997 and went on to be the first African American woman to represent North Carolina in the Miss USA Pageant.
She enjoys not only watching sports, but also playing them. College basketball tops her list; more specifically “North Carolina Tar Heel Basketball” and she feels she can go to head-to-head with any guy on that subject. Her other hobbies and interests include working out, figure skating, and most recently hiking, surfing and trapeze.
Olivia Dunkley as Detective Dana Parker
Olivia is so excited to be a part of the new hit webseries “Breaking Point”. It will be her third lead series regular in a webseries, along with “Mail Pack & Ship”, and the “Vamps Next Door”. Olivia has also starred in several films including “Demon Haunt” by Ted V Mikels, “That’s My Purse Bitch”, “Just Like That”, and Match Made in Heaven”. Other film credits include “Allegiance” where she plays the assistant to the President, and “The Good News” where she played a woman with breast cancer. Olivia has also had re-occurring roles on TV in Soap Opera’s and on Scare Tactics. She has also started her own dance company, The Bohemia Dance Co, which performs on a weekly basis, and has toured through Paris, Germany, Sweden and Dubai. A true triple threat, Olivia grew up singing as a soloist, in small groups and performance choirs, and has recently started writing and producing her own songs.
Keena Ferguson as Imani
A proud graduate of The Ohio State University, Keena has starred in numerous commercials (Home Depot; Coors Light, Coca-Cola); TV shows (Two and a Half Men, Boston Legal and On the Lot produced by Steven Spielberg); and other various independent films and television shows. Recent projects are: a commercial campaign for Conan O’Brien, an episode of the hit show Victorious, Kai which she wrote, produced and starred in and the leading role in the feature film Consinsual (www.consinsual.com) and the new soap opera Breaking Point. She’s also worked alongside Tracee Ellis Ross in the lead role in the play What Would Jimi Do?; (written/directed Felicia D. Henderson). See her next in the feature film “Dating While Black,” “Poolboy: Drowing in Fury,” The Lawyer, The Thug and The Princess and the web series The New 20’s. She is also a member of the burlesque group The Brown Betties. (www.brownbetties.com) For more info or to find out what she is up to next please visit her at www.keenaferguson.com and www.kashkeproductions.com which she is a co-owner.
Cardell Jackson as Vic Brown
Cardell began acting in 2006. After the death of his brother in 2007 Cardell stepped away from acting to get his life back in order. After 2 years away Cardell choose to pursue acting again and since then have done commercials such as K Swiss, NCAA and Right Guard to name a few. He has also done films such as Island of Fantasy, The Rule of Law, Strong hold and The Hammer. Cardell is looking forward to his future in the entertainment industry.
Michael Teh as Dennis Edwards
MICHAEL TEH is a sophisticated BENJAMIN BRATT meets KEANU REEVES leading man and villain. After several degrees & careers, full-time theater & improv training in NY, he moved to LA & has worked on 30+ films, mostly in lead roles. Dramatic leads include one opposite ADRIAN PAUL in “Wraiths of Roanoke” (premiered prime-time on SyFy) & as the antagonist in the recently released martial arts film “White Wall”. He recently played the heroic Queequeg in “Moby Dick” opposite Renee O’Connor & Barry Bostwick, Jesus Christ in “The 3 Angels’ Messages” & a rock star in “Groupie” w/ Academy Award nominee ERIC ROBERTS. “Flame of the West” premiered as an Official Selection at the CANNES FILM FESTIVAL. And yes, he appeared in “Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus” J (SyFy). He was named Semi-Finalist & Prize-Winner out of thousands of nationwide contestants in the last TNT Dramatic Auditions competition & was recnetly nominated for an Achievement in Acting award @ the SoCal Film Fest (for his lead role in the film I.D.*).
Kyle Steven Templin as Ben Campbell
Raised in Pineville, Louisiana, Valedictorian and athlete of Tioga High School. As a young buck, most of my days were spent running through the woods, fishing and hunting, playing sports, playing in the band (trumpet), and participating in the occasional science fair. College life wasn’t much different….except I replaced the running through the woods with running after women, the trumpet became a six-pack, and the science fairs were substituted with parties. Somehow, between the fraternity (SAE), school, and my more structured campus life, I managed to graduate cum laude from Louisiana Tech with a Bachelor’s of Science in Chemical Engineering. I moved to Texas for a corporate job, which I was successful at but I soon had my fill of morning coffee. I headed to Los Angeles and within five feet of the state border, my truck broke down. Not much has changed over the years. The fishing poles have been hung up, the six-pack’s now scotch and a cigar, and the beautiful country’s been replaced by the bustling city. But we all know, you can a man out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of a man. Saddle up!
Jessica Tome as Gabby Edwards
Jessica Tome is a native New Yorker of Puerto Rican descent. She graduated from Fordham University and landed in the center of midtown Manhattan as an advertising executive. During the day, she handled business and at night, she studied acting at The Terry Schrieber Studio in NYC. She credits her successes to having both components in her life. These seeds were planted during bus trips she took as a child to upstate NY where she “played” out scenes in her head of what her future may hold. Years later, she literally packed two bags to revisit one of these dreams landing on the set of ABC’s General Hospital in the role of Leticia Juarez. Her motto, “Be prepared for when it’s your turn.”
The Crew
Caryn K. Hayes, Creator /Director/Executive Producer
Caryn K. Hayes is an L.A. based writer-producer-director hailing from New Orleans. She has produced, written, directed, and coordinated numerous web series, documentary and corporate videos, short films and commercials. In 2007, Caryn wrote “The Ridge,” a spec teen drama, which won the 2007 TV Pilot Award from the Organization of Black Screenwriters, and in 2009 she repeated her win with the adult dramedy, “Dirty Thirties.” Caryn created “The World of Cory & Sid,” a comedic web series, which was nominated for Best Television or Web Series in 2009 by the Urban Mediamakers Film Festival. The second annual Los Angeles Web Series Festival honored Caryn with the Outstanding Writing Award for her dramatic series, “Breaking Point.” Caryn produces sketch comedy with BrevityTV.com, and is currently in pre-production for more episodes of “Breaking Point.”
Katrina Nelson, Producer
Katrina Nelson has over 15 years experience in the Entertainment Industry. Her expertise includes serving on the Executive Board of Baltimore’s Public Access Television, CEO of Blackarazzi Entertainment and The Hollywood Glitz and currently she is the Co-Editor of The Hollywood Official. Katrina has produced and been an on-air talent for WEAA-FM in Baltimore, Maryland and Blackarazzi Pod Cast Radio in Los Angeles. She is a writer and producer most recently producing a web-soap entitled Breaking Point, music videos for NHI on MTV videos and upcoming artist H’Wood of The Real Teens of Hollywood. In addition, she has worked as a Paparazzo in Hollywood, Network Media Coordinator for Disney/ABC Television Group and as a red carpet correspondent and videographer for the Organization of Black Screenwriters and other entertainment agencies. She holds a Masters degree in Telecommunications Management from Morgan State University.
Credit list
CREATED, WRITTEN and DIRECTED BY … Caryn K. Hayes
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER … Caryn K. Hayes
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER … Carolyn O. Jacobs
CRYSTAL WOODS … Crystal M-Coney
DANA PARKER … Olivia Dunkley
IMANI CLARKE … Kenna Ferguson
VIC BROWN … Cardell Jackson
DENNIS EDWARDS … Michael Teh
BEN CAMPBELL … Kyle Steven Templin
GABBY EDWARDS … Jessica Tomé
LYNETTE JENSEN … Claudia Perea
TORY SCOTT … Jillian Peterson
WES WILLIAMS … Mark Harley
DETECTIVE PATRICK CHASE … Jordan Preston
TATE JENSEN … Wesley Alan Johnson
RICK ROSS … Haile D’Alan Tsalani
T.J. … Noah J. Smith
EMILIO … Neto DePaula Pimenta
HOSTESS … Ma’Shae Alderman
BOY … Bertran Walls II
PRODUCED BY … Katrina Nelson
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER … Bridgett Michele Lawrence
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY … Adam Sherer
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR … Gintare Urbutyte
EDITING, SOUND DESIGN AND MIXING … Zac Hargrave
SCORE AND THEME BY … Dori Amarilio
ART DIRECTOR … Bridgett Michele Lawrence
LOCATION SOUND … Rudy Alvarado
LOCATION SOUND … Ivan Donadic
SOUND DESIGN & MIXING … Zac Hargrave
MAKE UP ARTIST … Armee Jacob
MAKE UP ARTIST … Francis Ferris
GAFFER … Shane Moore
GAFFER … Steven Chang
GRIP … Dave Zimmerman
GRIP … Mike James
ASSISTANT CAMERA … Brian Santos
SCRIPT SUPERVISOR … Gintare Urbutyte
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT … Ji Baek
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT … Julie Nickerson
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT … Jeff Sadden
Director’s Statement
I never once imagined myself as a director. As a child I wanted to practice law, teach, have many babies, and like most, I once thought, I would make a great thespian. I didn’t consider directing even after I set my sights on television writing and producing. However, when I began writing “Breaking Point,” I knew that this project was one I had to shepherd from beginning to end.
I saw the scenes so clearly, more so than I’ve ever seen anything that I’ve written before. It wasn’t just the scenes I saw playing out; I saw the shots and knew where I wanted every cut to be. The style was also very important to me; I wanted the series to have the feel of primetime television, with a hint of premium cable, and a few dashes of daytime for fun and variety. I also knew that working with our limited budget would require someone who understood those limitations and could work within them. Though I had only had two directing credits to my name, having cut my teeth on two episodes of my first web series, “The World of Cory & Sid” the year before, I knew that I had to direct this one.
Knowing that the burden of the producer is a great one and one far too large to sit on the shoulders of the writer/director alone, I brought Katrina Y. Nelson on to co-produce with me. Together, she and I worked with the Casting Director, Dominic Davis, to find our cast. Casting went quickly and relatively easily and we filled the first 13+ roles within three weeks. With each of the actors we brought on board we felt confident that they could deliver the intention of the character with skill and heart and as an added bonus, they would look good doing it. The other bonus is that we were able to cast the series “colorblind” and as a result, we were left with a largely diverse cast. As good as I thought the script was I think we really ensured a great project with our magnificent cast.
We went into production in November of 2010 after more than a few project-threatening hiccups that mostly consisted of location and budget woes. We had a small crew of eight on the first day and that number fluctuated for the next five days to as many as 11 depending on how many volunteers I could rustle up. Each location we shot in was due to a favor from a friend or at the charge of $200 or less a day. At twelve hours or more a day, I feel the project was blessed, especially with the priceless additions of Adam Sherer, working as the Director of Photography and Bridgett Michele Lawrence, the Art Director and Associate Producer. The two of them, along with every member of the crew, worked tirelessly to produce the best series possible and exceeded my expectations every time. Though the series is almost as low budget as it gets, I believe everyone’s hard work and talent kept the production from looking that way.
The days were long and arduous but in the end, the cast and crew were one of the best I’ve ever worked with and I can’t wait for the opportunity to return to set and do it again.
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