HBO Picks Up Urban Short From Clarendon Entertainment.

Clarendon Entertainment, Inc., a distributor of urban-oriented films, announced the completion of a license agreement with Home Box Office, Inc.

(“HBO”) for its comedy short “The Date.” Under the terms of the deal, HBO will receive the pay television rights to “The Date” for a period of two years on a non-exclusive basis. The film will be available on a number of HBO’s premium services including Cinemax and the various digital networks of both HBO and Cinemax.

“The Date” is the first of a series of urban-oriented short films produced by Clarendon for distribution via theatres, home video/DVD and television. The 12-minute comedy stars Wendell Pierce, notable for his roles in such films as “Waiting to Exhale” and “Get on the Bus,” as a naive restaurant patron whose blind date is not quite what he expects. Roderick D. Giles directs from a script written by Kelvin Z. Phillips. Rounding out the cast is Veronica Welch, stand-up comedian Garfield, Fidias Reyes and Duane C. Ferguson.

“The Date” was an audience favorite at the 2001 Urbanworld Film Festival in New York City and was screened at this year’s Pan African Film & Arts Festival in Los Angeles. The film’s website address is www.thedatethemovie.com. Clarendon is currently planning to shoot the second installment of its series in mid-March. The new film, “Gully,” is a hard-hitting psychological drama featuring supermodel Tyson Beckford, Sheik Mahmud-Bey (“Night Falls on Manhattan” and the upcoming “Buffalo Soldiers”) and Stu “Large” Riley (“Shaft,” “The Best Man” and the upcoming “Pluto Nash”).