It actually took years to introduce Dorothy Dandridge, the film starring and produced alongside Halle Berry. The idea came from a 1988 industry birthday party where a friend mentioned that Dandridge would be the perfect vehicle for Vince to produce for his client Halle Berry. Dandridge’s story is compelling as the first African-American woman to be nominated for an Academy Award.

Cirrincione started working on the project immediately and brought Josh Maurer along as co-producer. Vince knew he needed the rights to one of the three existing Dandridge biographies. Whitney Houston had the option on Donald Boyle’s biography and Janet Jackson had the option on the biography by Earl Mills. When Jackson gave up those rights, Vince and Josh tracked down Earl and set a meeting at the location of Mills’ representative’s choice…Denny’s in Palm Springs. Eventually Vince met Earl himself and viewed the large collection of memorabilia he had collected.

The movie Vince simply had to make did get made at HBO. Berry won the Golden Globe and Emmy Awards for her performance. Vincent received an Emmy nomination as producer.