DIRECTOR, PRODUCER AND EDITOR STAFFORD U. BAILEY

Stafford U. Bailey is founder and president of 20 Four 7 Productions and Writer, Producer and Director of Blacks without Borders: Chasing the American dream in South Africa.  Stafford has over 2 decades of experience in production, beginning in 1980 as a producer for Baltimore’s WJZ, the city’s ABC affiliate.  While at WJZ he created and developed the popular series “City Line”  and worked on several projects with Oprah Winfrey.  He also produced a series of highly successful PSA’s and was creatively involved with two extremely successful commercial campaigns entitled: “This moment in Black History” and “This Moment in Sports History.”  In 1983 he moved to Los Angeles to join the creative team at Telepictures where he produced entertainment and lifestyle television reports for national broadcast.  At the same time he became an independent producer for such broadcast outlets as ABC, NBC, CBS, HBO and Showtime.  He also produced several television shows for national syndication.  In the early 90s he was hired to create, develop and produce a series of documentaries, that included:  “A Laugh a Tear” with Whoopi Goldberg, “The Black Road to Hollywood” and “The Other Side of Victory” series hosted by the late Arthur Ashe.  In 1993, Stafford and his wife Judy launched 20 Four 7 Productions, a concept to completion full service television, film and video production company.  At its inception, the company landed several major contracts to produce featurettes, electronic press kits, specials and DVD bonus features for such studios as; Disney, Paramount Pictures, New Line Cinema and DreamWorks.   In 2002, the company lead by Stafford expanded its services to include commercial production, television series, documentaries and original programming.

For over 20 years, Stafford has been creatively involved with various aspects of television, film and video production and has received critical acclaim for several of his documentaries and television programs.  While in South Africa in 2005, he saw a growing number of African Americans relocating to the region.  Following further research, he discovered that African Americans chasing the American dream on foreign soil was on the rise and no major documentary covering this topic was being made or was planned. So, in 2006 he began production for a series of documentaries that explores this trend called, Blacks without Borders.