A LITTLE OFF THE TOP

A LITTLE OFF THE TOP is an animated series that combines documentary with scripted narrative to tell the stories of a group of barbers and the support they provide to their teen customer. Each webisode explores a pressing issue, where the customer asks the barber for advice on various issues affecting a young black man in today's America.

As of March 2024, two episodes have been created for the project. The pilot episode, created in 2023, introduces us to CJ, a self-conscious teenager who is new to the area, and the barbers he meets at a local barbershop. CJ tells them about his troubles fitting in at his new school, and through the support of the barbers and their mentoring, CJ leaves the shop feeling self-assured and thankful for their advice.

The second episode was created to promote the COVID Vaccines, on behalf of NNICE (National Network to Innovate for COVID and Adult Vaccine Equity). This animated digital short (7 minutes) combines elements of narrative and documentary to tell the story of a group of Black and Latino barbers, as they offer words of encouragement to a vaccine skeptical teen customer (i.e., CJ from the pilot episode). 

The project is directed and created by William D. Caballero and features actual barbers, based in Charlotte North Carolina. Click here to watch a cool behind-the-scenes video for the project. Our team’s goal is to turn this into a full-fledged series. Contact project creator William D. Caballero if you wish to collaborate or are interested in providing funding opportunities to make this a reality.

This project is produced by Colibri Creative Media for a presentation of the Black Public Media with major funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and NNICE.