'Nother Brother Entertainment

Open Letter from James McBride: Hollywood Forces Black Artists to Be 'Cultural Maids'

2012-01-28T12:04:00.000-05:00

Presents a thought provoking piece by writer James McBride

James McBride

Published Wednesday, 25 January 2012, 5:33PM
you can read it here

Red Tails - Review

2012-01-20T11:32:00.000-05:00

RED TAILS

Directed by Anthony Hemingway

Produced by Rick McCallum, Charles FloydJohnson & George Lucas

Cinematography by John Aronson

Released: January 20, 2012 (USA)

Cast

CubaGooding, Jr. as Major Emanuel Stance

Terrence Howard as Col. A.J. Bullard

Bryan Cranston as Col. William Mortamus

Nate Parker as Martin "Easy" Julian

David Oyelowo as Joe "Lightning" Little

Tristan Wilds as Ray "Ray Gun" Gannon

Daniela Ruah as Sofia

Ryan Early as Captain Bryce

Method Man as Sticks

Kevin Phillips as Leon "Neon" Edwards

Henry Garrett as Hart

Robert Kazinsky as ChesterBarnes

Rick Otto as Flynt

Lee Tergesen as Col. Jack Tomilson

Andre Royo as Chief "Coffee" Coleman

Ne-Yo as Andrew "Smoky" Salem

Elijah Kelley as Samuel "Joker" George

Marcus T. Paulk as David "Deke" Watkins

Leslie Odom Jr. as Walter "Winky" Hall

Michael B. Jordan as Maurice "Bumps" Wilson

Jazmine Sullivan as Deborah "Love Bunny" Gannett

Edwina Finley as CeCe

Stacie Davis as Mae

Aml Ameen as Bag O'Bones

Gerald McRaney as General Luntz

Summary: 1944. As the war in Europe continues to take itstoll on Allied forces, the Pentagon brass has no recourse but to considerunorthodox options - including the untried and untested African-American pilotsof the experimental Tuskegeetraining program. Just as the young Tuskegeemen are on the brink of being shut down and shipped back home, they are giventhe ultimate chance to show their courage. Against all the odds, with somethingto prove and everything to lose, these intrepid young airmen take to the skiesto fight for their country - and the fate of the free world.-Culture.com

Review

I’m gonna say upfront that this film has its madcorny and melodramatic moments, but I still enjoyed it. Obviously the most careand attention were given to the aerial scenes and no surprise those were donevery well.

You don’t have to wait long to see some aerial fightsbecause the film starts off with that as it introduces you to the maincharacters. As there are almost a dozen characters to follow in the cast (I posted most of them above) not much characterdevelopment is given to many beyond the two main characters Martin"Easy" Julian played by Nate Parker (The Great Debaters) and Joe"Lightning" Little played by David Oyelowo (Rise of the Planet of theApes).

Nate Parker

David Oyelowo

Those two were the heart of the film and gave really great performances.Nate Parker was really good as “Easy” and David Oyelowo stole the show as “Lightning”.Stole it!

Tristan Wilds

Tristan Wilds (pictured right) also did a really good job with his character Ray"Ray Gun" Gannon. The names that are top billed Cuba Gooding, Jr. asMajor Emanuel Stance and Terrence Howard as Col. A.J. Bullard are moresupporting characters, but did really nice jobs with their scenes too.

Of all the blurbs I read about this film (just blurbs, noreviews) this reaction sums it up "Eh. It was alright if you like CornyAudie Murphy type 50's patriotic war propaganda films." Ed R. @GetGlue.com

I LOL’d at the reaction because that’s exactly what itseemed like, a war propaganda film withblack folks. You had the standard archetypes the leader, the young kid, thefunny guy and the wild one. If you’re expecting a real deep historical filmthis film ain’t it, but it is entertaining.

I know this doesn’t sound like a resounding endorsement ofthe film, but I thought it was TERRIFIC and I enjoyed it. I wouldn’t be writingthis review if I had not.

Commentary
We all know the producer George Lucas is ahistory buff. His first big hit (yes he a big hit before Star Wars) American Graffiti(1973) was a nostalgic piece and he is also the producer behind the nostalgicIndiana Jones films. I think the “Corny Audie Murphy type 50's patriotic warpropaganda films” nature of Red Tails is due to him. I mean he bankrolled thefilm himself which hardly ever happens in Hollywood ESPECIALLY to this extent. (Lucas,put up $58 million of his own money toward the film after being turned down byall the major movie houses.) When you bankroll a film like this it’s gonna bemade how you like it.

Lucas knows HIS target audience better than anyone and thisfilm wasn’t made only for black people. It was made for everyone, young, old,black, white, Hispanic etc. Again he made the film he wanted to make and let’shope it’s successful. I mean I’ve seen WAAAY more cornier films like Super 8and Twilight and Twilight is a billion dollar franchise.

Is this film the dictum on the Tuskegee Airmen? No and NOFILM, narrative or documentary, is going to be. It’s a MOVIE, it’s made toentertain not be your only basis for history. Historical films like this aregood for just that the entertainment and maybe it’ll spark broader interestwhere you can go to your local library or in this day and age Google andWikipedia. Even those sources aren’t the authority, but good places to beginyour research.

As far as this film making or breaking future black films inHollywood—shrug.If it fails it won’t help future films like this, but it’s not the end ofanything. As with any other black film if it’s a HIT we may get a couple morein that vein (historical). If it FAILS we’ll keep struggling to get our filmsmade like we always have.

There’s an intriguing piece at the website Shadow & Act called“But Does Anyone REALLY Want To See ‘Red Tails’?” stating how emails and suchare going around stating that black folk MUST go see this film out some sort ofobligation. My feelings on the matter, and you know I have one, is if you wantto see the film—see the film. Not out of any obligation. I really wanted to seeRed Tails and I’m glad I did.

If you have any more questions or reaction to the film youcan add them in the comments below, post them on our Facebook or Twitteraccounts and I will respond. If you’re shy you can also email me at Dankwa@NotherBrother.com. I’ll alsobe adding more comments, reactions and conversation on those accounts above. (Ifyou’re reading this on the Opening Weekend you can see my reactions in theTwitter Feed bar to the right~>

External Links

Wikipedia page on the Tuskegee_Airmen

Redtails: Honoring the Tuskegee Airmen and taking a break from the usual media buffoonery

A REALLY great piece

Why Hollywood Still Doesn’t Take Black Audiences Seriously (And How You Can Make Them)

The piece I spoke of above “But Does Anyone REALLY Want ToSee ‘Red Tails’?” with great comments in the comment section. Now that I’veseen the film I’ll probably be adding my own eventually.You can read it here

Read ALL the Red Tails posts at our sista blog Cool BlackMedia here

The Help - The Review

2011-12-29T11:46:00.001-05:00

THE HELP

Written & Directed by Tate Taylor

Produced by Chris Columbus, Michael Barnathan, Brunson Green

Cinematography by Stephen Goldblatt

Released: August 10, 2011 (USA)

Summary: The Help is a 2011 comedy-drama film adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's novel of the same name. The film is an ensemble piece about a young white woman, Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, and her relationship with two black maids during Civil Rights era America in the early 1960s. Skeeter is a journalist who decides to write a controversial book from the point of view of the maids (known as the Help), exposing the racism they are faced with as they work for white families.

Review
Let me start by saying this will be a short review for the majority of what I have to say about the film is labeled as commentary and not really about the film itself.

The Help is a wonderful film. The direction, the acting and yes the story. As stated in the synopsis this is a comedy-drama and as that it succeeded. The film had A LOT of wonderful performances most notably in the leads Emma Stone and Viola Davis. Viola Davis is THE TRUTH as an actor we all know that. I’ve only seen Emma Stone in one other film (Easy A, a film I did not like), but she did a great job in this film.

Stand out supporting characters were played by excellent actors of their generation Sissy Spacek and the indomitable Cicely Tyson. Cicely’s fine portrayal affected me the most. Jessica Chastain also did a great job and I have to mention that Allison Janney was great as usual too. Bryce Dallas Howard as the villain of the piece was too cartoonish and should have been twirling a moustache. Of all the awards buzz about the acting in the film my favorite portrayal came from Octavia Spencer. Octavia Spencer’s performance was sublime.

In the end, The Help was simply one of the BEST films I’ve seen all year.

Commentary
Now I DID NOT want to see The Help. I don’t like those Driving Miss Daisy/Magic Negro types of movies. For the record, in movie circles, the figure known as a "Magic Negro," is a term that dates back to the late 1950s.

“[Filmmakers] give the black character special powers and underlying mysticism, " says Todd Boyd, author of "Am I Black Enough for You? " and co-writer of the 1999 film "The Wood." "This goes all the way back to 'Gone with the Wind.' Hattie McDaniel is the emotional center, but she is just a pawn. Pawns help white people figure out what's going wrong and fix it, like Whoopi Goldberg's psychic in Ghost"

Now I HATE films like that and from what I saw from the trailer and the TV Spots The Help looked like another Magic Negro movie. Here we go with the black maid helping the white character become a better person—PASS.

As a filmmaker though I will watch ANYTHING…probably not Soul Plane, but I digress. When a friend of mine wanted me to go see The Help with her, I said “Sure”. We never got around to it and that was fine with me. In the interim though blogs I frequent about black film eviscerated that’s the word they used—EVISCERATED The Help. I think I’m a smart discerning guy so I said I’ll reserve full judgment.

Well you saw what I thought about the film above and that is the film as a film, not the story it portrayed, but honestly I didn’t have a problem with the story either. Yes it was a sanitized version of the past, yes it had a simplified message, but I think that was the intent. It was also a “chick flick” which I don’t really dig either. Never saw Steel Magnolias, never want to see Steel Magnolias.

Now I have to share two varying opinions set forth by a friend I made over on the Nother Brother Twitter account (@NotherBrother) Journalist Candice Frederick on her blog REEL TALK.

I want to share two excerpts from her post 2011 ANNUAL FILM ROUNDTABLE (ROUND 1) where she and critic Julian Stark talk about Star Wars…just kidding…of course The Help

First up Journalist Candice Frederick or as I know her "Reel Talker"

“Ahh...The Help.

It's funny, every time I start thinking about The Help I really start thinking about what could have made it good, interesting. For instance, if it's called The Help, why isn't the movie about them? Wouldn't it have been cool if the person writing the movie was a black maid, who probably would have revealed a much more controversial look at the story from the help's point of view? Why is the most interesting thing about the help, or the most realized aspect of their stories, is that they take care of the children of their white employees, or teach them to fry chicken? I think a huge missed opportunity is that they didn't really dive into--spoiler alert--the fact that Aibeen's son died, or that Minny was getting abused by her husband. Every aspect of their lives was in direct relation to their white employers or to further develop Skeeter's role in the movie. They promote the "story" of The Help as being revelatory, but revealing that there are clearly a community of unhappy maids/housekeepers who take care of their employers' children is anything but that. And, if the story was so controversial in the neighborhood, the employers would have done a lot worse things than have them fired....The historical part of this historical fiction piece seems....blurred.”

Critic Julian Stark

“It’s not difficult to glance at the general plot, watch the movie, and think that Emma Stone’s character Skeeter is a magic white lady who makes everything sunshine and rainbows with her spunk and sass, but that’s not how it played for me. Rather, it was the maids that saved themselves. Stone wants to bring their stories to light, and sure, that’s what gets the action going in the first place. But without the firsthand accounts of the maids, there would have been no progress.”

You can read the full 2011 ANNUAL FILM ROUNDTABLE (ROUND 1) here

Now I shared those excerpts because I agree with them both, and that is the reason we’re here.

The whole reason ‘Nother Brother Entertainment is in existence is “To further propagate diverse images through development of films” I’m not going to denigrate someone else for making a good piece, even if I don’t completely agree with the ideology.

If we want to see a difference in Hollywood, we have to make a difference in Hollywood. I’ve reviewed several good independent black films here on the blog (Actually here ) and that is the only way were going to see true change. I haven’t seen many (any?) films directed by a white person that fully captured the black experience anyway. As much as I might try, I don’t think I can tell a female driven story as effectively as a female director could.

When it comes to The Help even though I thought it was one of the best films of the year doesn’t mean it was one of my favorite films of the year, but I did like it. I really liked it.

Related Links
At our Sista Blog Cool Black Media

The full article about The Magic Negro here

The piece I wrote When Viola Davis Played a Serial Killer here

Related articles about The Help most notably from The Association of Black Women Historians (ABWH) are posted at the blog for Spike Lee’s company 40 Acres and A Mule here

The Business of Show Business

2011-11-18T11:43:00.001-05:00

One of my favorite quotes describing the business of show business is below

Well, it's called "show business", it's not called "show". Even though it's called "show business", ain't no business, no show. You know, they ought to call it "business show", actually. - Denzel Washington

I just read an excellent recent article describing how that business works. Making movies isn't all about creative part of making it, but the financial part of it. As Denzel put it, IT IS a business.

'Twilight' Money: How Summit Plans to Make $1.2B Off 'Breaking Dawn'

By Brent Lang at

Nov 17, 2011 6:59pm EST

EXCLUSIVE

“The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 1” is on its way to a massive opening at midnight, but as confidential documents obtained by TheWrap demonstrate, the movie’s backers have lofty expectations for equally gargantuan profits.

Experts estimate that “Breaking Dawn” will have to take in about $650 million at the worldwide box office to reach the $228 million in profit that Summit Entertainment, the studio behind the franchise, projected in an investor prospectus obtained by TheWrap.

The document, used to raise $750 million last spring, projected that the final two films in the franchise would generate more than $1.2 billion in revenues and $447 million in profits for the studio and its investors.

That number does not appear to be out of reach. The last two "Twilight" movies grossed roughly $700 million each in worldwide box office, and the latest installment is expected to take in up to $140 million domestically this weekend.

The studio won’t be alone in raking in cash. The three stars of the series -- Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner -- will reportedly get $25 million each for performing in the last two "Twilight" films against 7.5 percent of the theatrical gross. (Summit declined to confirm or deny this information.)

Supporting cast members such as Kellan Lutz and Nikki Reed are getting $1.25 million a piece to return to the last two films, according to an individual with knowledge of their deals.

Summit anticipates that the first film in the two-part finale to the “Twilight Saga” will bring in $611 million in first-cycle revenue and $228 million in profits.

"First cycle" includes theatrical, paid and broadcast television, video on demand, merchandising, and disc sales through the 10th anniversary of the film’s release in theaters.

The capital raised last spring was used to finance the studio’s production slate, pay down debt, and to reward its original investors and key executives with a $200 million dividend.

Summit declined to comment for this article.

Whatever the fate of the studio beyond the "Twilight" series, Summit is poised to see a huge near-term windfall in a declining movie-going market from one of the few box-office events of the year.

Barring a plague of locusts, “Breaking Dawn -- Part 1” is on track to bank between $125 to $140 million this weekend domestically. It will also rake in big bucks in more than 50 foreign markets, including France, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.

Summit licenses the foreign rights to its film slate, meaning it will share “Breaking Dawn”s’ monster overseas profits -- but only after its foreign partners recoup all of their costs plus interest.

The prospectus filed in March explains that as part of Summit’s strategy, the studio has four long-term output agreements with E1, Nordisk, SND and Tele-Munchen, which contribute on average 31.5 percent of the production cost for each film on the studio’s slate.

Each partner pays a minimum guarantee for the film rights, and once those and other costs such as distribution fees are recouped, the remainder of the profits are divided.

The documents do not outline the split, but according to a prominent film financier, the industry standard is for the studio and the partner to divide profits evenly.

“Nobody gives away anything for free,” Hal Vogel of Vogel Capital Management and the author of “Entertainment Industry Economics: A Guide for Financial Analysis,” told TheWrap. “The advantage of a pre-sale is that you don’t get whacked if the film is a dud, but when you have a hit it limits the upside.”

Until the box office closes Monday, it will not be clear if the studio is on track to meet Summit's bullish projections.

What is evident is that the still relatively economical blockbusters have gotten progressively more expensive as the series has continued.

“Breaking Dawn -- Part 1” cost the studio $127.5 million and “Part 2” will cost $136.2 million. In contrast, the first three films were budgeted at a reported $37 million for “Twilight,” $50 million for “New Moon,” and $68 million for “Eclipse.”

The studio plans to spend a total of $100 million on marketing the two final films in the series.

Summit says that after-tax rebates, “Breaking Dawn -- Part 1” cost $110 million.

Thanks to Summit’s foreign sales deals, the studio’s exposure on the films is minimal.

“Their exposure is pretty small relatively speaking, but it’s bigger by a factor of almost four from the first films,” Vogel told TheWrap. “The revenues are flat, and even though they will still make a nice profit, their profits are going down.”

November 27, 2011
A great addendum to this article, talking more about "the business"
Lions Gate Said to Be in Merger Talks With ‘Twilight’ Film Producer Summit
Read it here

Jay-Z and Kanye West Get Guerilla Style 'in the Wild'

2011-11-07T06:08:00.000-05:00

While technically a music video, this is MORE a short film and an excellently done one at that, hence being posted here at the NBE blog. This thought provoking short film was done by The High 5 Collective. You can read more about them after the video.

The High 5 Collective didn't waste any time in adding Watch the Throne to their repertoire. The collective, who is at the top of the field when it comes to guerrilla music video making, added their twisted touch to the already ominous Jay-Z/Kanye West track, "No Church in the Wild." The collective has done a video for Frank Ocean, the guest vocalist on "No Church in the Wild" who steals the show. -Huffington Post

The High 5 Collective one sentence description of themselves is "We make art for artists that inspire us." Word! I can dig that! You can check them out here

You can read more about Frank Ocean at here

HUGE THANKS to a personal friend of mine, actor Brandan Tate for giving me a heads up about this excellent video/film. You can check out Brandan's IMDb page here

Taking an Internet Show to TV

2011-11-04T08:54:00.000-04:00

'Awkward Black Girl' Producer Shares Thoughts on the Web Vs. TV

By Tracy Oliver | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Nov 1, 2011

Last night, a few of my castmates -Issa Rae (J), Sujata Day (CeCe), Madison T. Shockley III (Fred), and Tristen Winger (Darius) came to my apartment to shoot a scene for the next "Awkward Black Girl" episode. Hours after we wrapped the shoot, we stayed in my living room passionately discussing the future of "ABG" til 3am. The topic of discussion: Should "ABG" stay on the Web or go to television?

Six months ago, that answer was emphatically television. I distinctly remember sitting in coffee shops with Issa, strategizing ways to reach potential producers, executives, and networks that may be a good fit for "ABG." We were even writing an extensive treatment for the series, visualizing how the characters and storylines could be adapted into a half-hour comedy.

I'll admit it. The prospect of "ABG" on television is enticing. The thought of millions of people sitting around their flat screens watching a weekly version of the show is pretty exciting. The thought of an African-American female lead with dark skin and a short fro starring in a mainstream comedy is downright revolutionary.

On television, "ABG" could be what "The Cosby Show" was back in the day -- a universal show breaking in several actors of color in front of the screen and writers and directors of color behind the scenes. In a perfect world, it could change the perceptions of African-American women at large and fill a void that's absent in mainstream media.

The only problem is, we don't live in a perfect world.

Television today often doesn't reflect the beauty in diversity, in front or behind the camera. The numbers of writers and directors of color working in television are dismal. The numbers of female writers and directors of color are even worse. According to a recent DGA study, white males directed 77% of all television episodes for the 2010-2011 season, while women of color directed just 1%.

When looking at these statistics, the reality of selling "ABG" to a network lends itself to many questions. Who will become the showrunner(s) and will they understand our vision? How many writers of color will be staffed? Will we able to maintain our current cast? How much creative control will we have over the content?

To answer these questions, Issa and I sat down with a television executive from a prominent network. In short, his response confirmed our worst fears. He felt that in order for "ABG" to become more mainstream, the entire cast would need to be replaced. His suggestion for the lead character, J, was a long haired, fair-skinned actress who looked more like a model from a rap music video than an awkward black girl.

Needless to say, the meeting was frustrating. But also very eye opening. This executive's thoughts on making "ABG" more mainstream stripped the show of what made it a hit in the first place -- its relatability. The truth is, he didn't get our show. He didn't get our vision. And worse, he didn't get our audience.

Our audience is the reason "ABG" is where it is today. They support our vision, and the Web allows us a unique opportunity to stay true to it. Though we haven't yet found a way to monetize the series as we would in television, the trade off is being able to have full creative license over the content, which is ultimately why we're excited to do what we're doing and why our fans are excited to watch.

Tracy Oliver is a writer/producer/actor whose work can be currently seen in the hit Web series, "The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl," also known as "ABG." "ABG" has been featured on several sites and publications, including Vibe magazine, Clutch magazine, CNN, The Root, Shadow & Act, AOL, and the Huffington Post. You can find "ABG" episodes and information here

Related Post
Let's Hear it for the Awkward Black Girls

Two Upcoming Buzzed About Films from Black Directors

2011-10-26T10:26:00.001-04:00

I’ve been hearing (really reading) a lot about two upcoming films by black directors and as their release dates are vastly/fastly approaching I will present them below in order of their release date.

First up is SHAME (2011)

Left, movie poster for Shame, Right, director Steve McQueen

The film from British director and co-writer Steve McQueen, stars Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan. Below is the synopsis.

In New York City, Brandon's carefully cultivated private life -- which allows him to indulge his sexual addiction -- is disrupted when his sister Cissy arrives unannounced for an indefinite stay. - IMDb

The film Releases in the United States

December 2, 2011

You can see the Official Website here and see the trailer below

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Last, but not least is PARIAH (2011)

Left, movie poster for Pariah, Right director Dee Rees

The film written and directed by Dee Rees,stars Adepero Oduye, Kim Wayans and Charles Parnell. Below is the synopsis.

A Brooklyn teenager juggles conflicting identities and risks friendship, heartbreak, and family in a desperate search for sexual expression. - IMDb

The film Releases in the United States

December 28, 2011

The film will initially open across select theaters in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco, but will expand soon after throughout the winter."-Shadow & Act

You can see the Official Website here and see the trailer below

CLICK the button below to see all of our Reviews on other great black films

Related Posts

Watch the star of Pariah Adepero Oduye in a very nice short film RIGHT HERE on the blog in the post here

At our sista blog Cool Black Media a post about another film by a black director, but this one has the marketing muscle of George Lucas behind it read all about it here

What Does a Film Producer Do?

2011-10-19T11:28:00.000-04:00

From

Ask the Filmmaker: What Does a Film Producer Do?

Written by Deborah Osment

Does anyone have any idea how many movies are made each year as opposed to how many get distribution of some kind? It has to literally be in the thousands. DVDs sit gathering dust on shelves everywhere and every single one of those DVDs is responsible for at least one person who calls themselves a producer. Usually it’s more like five or six people who have that title on that DVD.

It used to be that people would ask me what a producer is when I told them I was a film producer. Now I hear that they’re a producer, too, or their cousin is or some guy they know at work, or all three.

I don’t mean to, in any way, suggest that these people don’t have the right to call themselves by that title. What I’d like to suggest is that “producer” is a job in itself and other than a few selcet MFA programs, no one is teaching what it really is. More is required than buying a digital camera, writing a script and getting your friends and family to play along. The reason I’d like to suggest this is that there are some good ideas out there that never seem to make it from script to screen.

A producer is the person who keeps the production on track and that track should be straight to the movie screen or one of the thousands of television/cable/satellite channels anxious for product these days.

I’ve never understood, for instance, how there can be such a thing as a producer/director. Unless, of course, said person is an actual schizophrenic and capable of arguing two sides of a question at once. He or she also would have to be a person capable of squeezing 48 hours out of your average 24-hour day because both producing and directing are full-time jobs. And we’re not talking the traditional 40-hour week here. My license tag once expired during a long shoot and I put a sign in my back window that read “In production, will get my tag renewed as soon as I remember my name.” As I lived in Venice, California, at the time, I went without a ticket.

The producer is the problem-solver. You have to be able to solve any problem and to do it instantly. I once was called into the make-up trailer to find the leading lady and her make-up person in hysterics because – you ready for this? – her blusher had dropped and the powder had spilled all over the floor. This was at midnight on a night shoot and it was expensive make-up that was only available in a few exclusive stores. I, being the producer, knew that I could call Nordstrom and they would open the store and replace the blusher for me. I knew that fact and that number because I was the producer and that was my job. Don’t think about this as a run to replace makeup, think about it as a run to keep from burning money because a crew was standing around or, worse yet, getting paid for a full day (per contract) and not working at all. And, no, you cannot tell the lead actress that another blusher will do just as well.

The producer has to see problems before they happen. I was involved early on in a shoot which is just finishing up in Michigan. A period piece, part of it was set in the jungle in Vietnam and those in charge were determined to shoot that part in the Ann Arbor Arboretum. Feel free to go back and read that sentence again. I was the only one arguing against it. In fact, it is supposed to be based on a true story and the dude who had written the script insisted that the arboretum looked exactly like Vietnam. I insisted that he just wanted his movie to be made and would agree to anything. I pointed out that, even if the Ann Arbor Arboretum did look exactly like the jungles of Vietnam, there would be traffic noise, planes flying overhead, kids riding skateboards, and so on. As far as I know, I’m the only one not working on the film. They are, however, shooting part of it in Vietnam. But it came down to this for me, if they were ready to make that kind of decision before the film was even greenlit, what would they do during production? I hope they’ve made a wonderful film.

So, what is a producer? A producer is someone who has to know everything about everything. They have to be able to keep their cool when everyone else is losing theirs. The primary job of a producer, however, is to make a creative bubble in which the director, the DP, the actors and all the crew can create a film. The producer has to start working on the project before anyone else but the screenwriter and can’t stop working on it until every penny of revenue has come in and every bill has been paid.

More tales of movie-making fun to come …

Deborah Osment, is an award-winning screenwriter and producer. Her work has been screened at the Cannes Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, HBO, AFI and many other venues throughout the world.

Check out the Filmslate website here

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As Ms. Osment stated

how there can be such a thing as a producer/director. Unless, of course, said person is an actual schizophrenic and capable of arguing two sides of a question at once. He or she also would have to be a person capable of squeezing 48 hours out of your average 24-hour day because both producing and directing are full-time jobs.

YES that is true, but on the lower end budget stuff I had to produce it wasn't THAT hectic, but it is grueling at times. You have to constantly make on the spot decisions and you just say "YEAH go with that." It always helps to have a good co-producer and a good AD (Assistant Director) to help you carry out tasks, but the producer/director is the final decision maker. As she stated "A producer is someone who has to know everything about everything. They have to be able to keep their cool when everyone else is losing theirs." and that is 100% correct.

A Good Day to Be Black & Sexy - Review

2011-10-17T10:24:00.000-04:00

A Good Day to Be Black & Sexy

Written, Produced, Edited & Directed by Dennis Dortch

Cinematography by Brian Harding

Released: December 5, 2008 (USA)

Starring:
Kathryn Taylor
Brandon Valley Jones
Chonte Harris
Marcuis Harris
LaKeisha Blackwell
Mylika Davis
Allen Maldonado
Jerome Hawkins
Natalia Morris
Alisa Sherrod

REVIEW
As I’ve said in the past, I usually post movie (and other media) reviews at Cool Black Media. I don’t usually post movie reviews here at the ‘Nother Brother Entertainment Blog, UNLESS it is an independent film worthy of distinction and A Good Day to Be Black & Sexy is such a film.

I never even heard about this film before a friend at work recommended it. Months later, a friend of mine on Facebook mentioned it was good, I thought I like films, I like black films, I like the combination of the two, maybe I should watch this and I’m glad I did.

As stated in the summary “the complex world of love, relationships and sexuality” is indeed explored in this film and done so WITHOUT gratuitous sex scenes, not that I’m against that. That is not to say that they sugar coat anything. This film has A LOT of sex and sexual matters. The opening of the film opens with a particular sexy, yet funny scene.

While the visual style takes some getting used to, you do as the film goes along and the acting is real and natural. The actors do a great job at being real given the sexual situations.

A good film that every adult should check out because it was indeed A Good Day to Be Black and Sexy ;-)

Commentary: I talked about distribution and marketing at length here on the blog and this film is a prime example. Had it not been for the good word of mouth I would never have heard of this film. As you might know, I read a lot about film before, during and after many films are in production and anything that I do see and I think is noteworthy I share on this blog and on social networks like Facebook and Twitter (You can join BOTH our page and feed to the top right, right below my smiling face :-) ~>

If you see a good black film PLEASE recommend it to your friends, every film can’t buy advertising on television or even radio. As evidenced by this review, good word of mouth is still relevant and in this era of the world wide web - pervasive.

Watch their trailer below

You can watch a wonderfully sensuous short film right here on this blog at the link below
Sensuous Short Film - If I Leap

See all of the good independent films I reviewed here on the blog at this link

Black Screenwriters Roundtable

2011-10-14T06:53:00.000-04:00

Graphic courtesy of Shadow & Act

From the great site

Every now and then, we like to pull pertinent material from our archives to share with new readers of S&A. Today, we’re featuring a 2009 black television writers roundtable. Tambay [The site's Chief Editor & Writer] had a chance to speak with Courtney Lilly (The Cleveland Show, Everybody Hates Chris, Arrested Development, I’m Through with White Girls), Kriss Turner (Something New, The Bernie Mac Show), Kenya Barris (Are We There Yet?, Soul Food, Girlfriends, The Game) and Bashir Salahuddin (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Chocolate News) on their experience and outlook of the industry. Hear how they got started and worked through the maze known as Hollywood. If you haven’t heard this before, this is a MUST!

I listened and I wholeheartedly agree. You can listen to the podcast below and click their logo ABOVE^ to check out their site.

CLICK the graphic below to see all of our blog posts about diversity

Tyler Perry: Buffoonery or Opportunity?

2011-10-13T06:17:00.000-04:00

Found this clip courtesy of SWAN (Morgan State University Screenwriting and Animation) More information about SWAN at the bottom.

For the record, I generally enjoy all of Tyler Perry’s films. Perry’s movies ARE disarming in order to slide a message in there. People are more likely to watch a Madea flick than ‘Precious’, while an amazing film is horribly depressing, and yes “poverty porn”. I think we can have hamburger and prime rib as long as we know the difference between the two.

In the end, I think people can take things too seriously, it’s all make believe.

Also for the record, I studied screenwriting at Morgan State University's Writing for Television program (Now SWAN -Screenwriting and Animation) and it was an excellent program. Even though I wound up getting my degree (in film) from Towson University, I tell people all the time “Everything I learned about screenwriting, I learned at Morgan State!”

Click Morgan's logo below to read more about their Screenwriting and Animation program.

Related posts at our sista blog Cool Black Media

Tyler Perry is Highest Paid Man in Hollywood

A message from Spike Lee himself:
No Fued-Spike Lee & Tyler Perry

You can also CLICK the graphic below to see all of our blog posts about diversity

Cinematography - Time Lapse

2011-10-12T06:41:00.000-04:00

A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera (the art and science of which is known as cinematography). The title is generally equivalent to director of photography (DP), used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image.-Wikipedia

Basically a cinematographer is the person behind the actual camera and making sure everything is lit right (with electrical lights or through natural lighting using bounce cards (reflectors) Pictured below)

From cinematographer Dustin Farrell, below is some amazing time lapse photography.

A year's compilation of my time lapse work. All shot on the Canon 5D2 and processed in Adobe After Effects. The majority of the shots are in my beautiful home state of Arizona. Goblin Valley State Park and Natural Bridges National Monument in Utah also make an appearance. Most of the motion control for this video was done with the Stage Zero Dolly by Dynamic Perception. In addition to the Stage Zero, I also used a three axis motion controlled CamTram.-Dustin Farrell

Check out his work below.

Landscapes: Volume One from Dustin Farrell on Vimeo.

Landscapes: Volume Two from Dustin Farrell on Vimeo.

Read a blog post about Dustin Farrell "Dustin’s behind the scenes"here

Gunplay in Film

2011-10-10T08:08:00.000-04:00

In the below video several people were arrested for staging a fake robbery for a music video. Thankfully no one was hurt, but the cast and crew was justifiably arrested. I say justifiably because it was a "misguided" idea in the first place and after the video I explain why.

See the original story here

Everybody wants to play “cops and robbers”. They think it’s cool and adds a heighten sense of danger and it does, when done properly. A lot of people want to go out and shoot an “action scene” without the necessary precautions. A real weapon, even unloaded, on a film set is NEVER wise. A real weapon is unsafe for a myriad of reasons, but one only need to look at the tragedy of Brandon Lee.

On March 31, 1993, while making The Crow, the crew filmed a scene in which his character walks into his apartment and discovers his fiancée being beaten and raped by thugs. Actor Michael Massee, who played one of the film's villains, was supposed to fire a revolver at Lee as he walked onto the scene.

Since the movie's second unit was running behind schedule, they decided to make dummy cartridges (cartridges that outwardly appear to be functional but contain no propellant or primers) from real cartridges by pulling out the bullets, dumping out the propellant and reinserting the bullets. However, the team neglected to remove the primers, which, if fired, could still produce just enough force to push the bullet out of the cartridge and into the barrel (a squib load). At some point prior to the fatal scene, the live primer in one of the improperly constructed dummy rounds was discharged by an unknown person while in the pistol, leaving the bullet stuck in the barrel.

This malfunction went unnoticed by the crew, and the same gun was later reloaded with blank cartridges and used in the scene in which Lee was shot. When the first blank cartridge was fired, the stuck bullet was propelled out of the barrel and struck Lee in the abdomen, lodging in his spine. He fell down instantly, and director Alex Proyas shouted "Cut!". When Lee did not get up, the cast and crew rushed to him and found that he was wounded. He was immediately rushed to the New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington by ambulance, but following a six-hour operation to remove the bullet, Lee was pronounced dead at 1:04 pm on March 31, 1993. He was 28 years old.- Info from Wikipedia

As an independent filmmaker I’m all for “getting the shot”, but it should always be safety first. A DP (Director of Photography) I was working with wanted to get a shot of the ground in a moving car hanging out of the window and I said “ABSOLUTELY NOT!”. His safety wasn’t worth a shot. If we couldn’t afford a car mount (Examples below) we weren’t going to get the shot.

Camera car mounts

In this era of heightened security, the independent must also be aware of what could be seen as a possible security threat. At a Legal Rights for Filmmakers seminar I attended a story was told about filmmakers getting footage of water towers and being detained by police. Now you can only venture to guess what can happen if you are getting footage of government buildings, major bridges etc. They exclaimed DO NOT try to get that kind of footage without notifying the police.

I’m aware that sometimes as an independent filmmaker you must also try to get some footage “guerrilla style”, and don’t have money or time to get the proper notifications and permits, but sometimes you must me smart and err on the side of caution and safety.

I Will Follow - Review

2011-09-16T07:40:00.000-04:00

I Will Follow

Written and Directed by Ava DuVernay

Produced by Howard Barish, Ava DuVernay, Molly M. Mayeux

Cinematography by Miguel Bunster

Released: March 11, 2011 (USA)

Summary: Chronicles a day in the life of a grieving woman, and the twelve visitors who help her move forward.

Starring:
Salli Richardson-Whitfield
Omari Hardwick
Michole White
Beverly Todd
Dijon Talton
Blair Underwood
Tracie Thoms

REVIEW

As I’ve said in the past, I usually post movie (and other media) reviews at Cool Black Media. I don’t usually post movie reviews here at the ‘Nother Brother Entertainment Blog, UNLESS it is an independent film worthy of distinction and I Will Follow is such a film.

THIS is the type of black movie that should always get made and get made often. This is not a movie about black people, but more a movie about people who happen to be black, in a story that’s universal.

The story told here, happens everyday and is happening as you read this. Someone dies and the family has to deal with the aftermath. As usual with the death of a loved one there is conflict within the family for a myriad of reasons and most of them are never about the person who has died, but what they leave behind literally and emotionally.

This movie isn’t all about death and despair, there are lots of light moments and a REAL human story at its center. I’m being intentionally vague because I went into this film COLD. I didn’t even watch the trailer and I think I am better for it. I think you should too, but if you MUST see a trailer, their official website is linked at the bottom of the review.

I Will Follow is a really nice story without a lot of histrionics and sweeping plot twists. That is not to say that there aren’t revelations in the story, but they are all organic and many aren’t revealed until the story is over.

In fact the whole movie just seems real with performances that are organic and true. Salli Richardson-Whitfield as Maye turns in a really nice performance at the center of the story. She deals with the various elements of the day with vigor and determination without being melodramatic. Michole White turns in a particularly strong performance as Fran.

A really nice movie with a lot of good performances. Definitely one of the best black movies I’ve seen all year. This movie keeps it real and that’s a good thing.

You can see the trailer and more at the official website by clicking the graphic below

Commentary: I was kind of apprehensive about seeing this film and not for the reason you might think. I wrote about this film and the “movement” that promoted and distributed it, AFFRM, quite extensively here on the blog. As I posted in that entry:

AFFRM - the African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement hopes to spread the distribution of black-themed films through black film festivals based in New York, Atlanta, Seattle and Los Angeles including our online contact Reelblack in Philadelphia. The film festivals will share the profits from the film for helping to promote its wider release.

I Will Follow was the first film distributed by AFFRM. I thought, what if I don’t like the film? What will I do then? Probably nothing. Whether I liked the film or not, the MOVEMENT is what’s important. If I didn’t think it was important I wouldn’t have written about it. If I didn’t like the film I wouldn’t have reviewed it because I don’t diss films on this blog. I don’t diss films because I know what hard work it is to make a film and no matter the result, at least they got the film made!

All of my trepidation about I Will Follow is moot because I liked the film, I really liked the film. Whew. LOL.

You can see all of the info and video I posted on AFFRM by clicking their logo below

Writers Guild Presents - Writing in Color

2011-09-14T09:44:00.000-04:00

PRESENTS

WRITING IN COLOR II

Interviews with-
Alan Young, Producer, Parks and Recreation,
Karen Horne, Vice President (Entertainment Diversity Initiatives, Comedy & Drama Programming). NBC & Universal Media Studios,
Halsted Sullivan, Supervising Producer, The Office.
Alsha Muharrar, Executive Story Editor, Parks and Recreation
Dan Harmon, Executive Producer/Showrunner, Community.

Sponsored by WGAW Committee of Black Writers

Moderated by David Wyatt, Chair, WGAW

Writing in Color, 1 of 4: Getting started in comedy writing In this episode, the panelists discuss how they got started in comedy writing.

Writing in Color, 2 of 4: Stereotypes In this episode, the panelists talk about how "The Office," "Parks & Recreation" and "Community" deal with ethnic stereotypes in different ways.

Writing in Color, 3 of 4: Dan Harmon on why he's obsessed... In this episode, "Community" creator/showrunner Dan Harmon discusses why he's obssesed with race Part 3 of 4

Writing in Color, 4 of 4: Writing "race neutral" characters In this episode, the panelists debate whether it's better to include race when writing TV characters or write them as "race-neutral."

CLICK the graphic below to see all of our blog posts about diversity

External Link-
Found out about this series from the great website Shadow & Act. Click their logo below to check them out.

The Diversity Round

2011-09-14T09:13:00.000-04:00

I might be a scholar, but I am by no means a scholar on the subject of diversity. I do bring with me a lifetime of observing trends in the media (Self proclaimed Mediaphile) and always having the black eye. By “black eye” I mean whenever and I mean WHENEVER I see something in the media, television or film, I look for the black person(s). Does it make a difference in the overall enjoyment of the medium? More than likely not, but it is always good to see a vista that is not devoid of diversity.

As I stated before the mission of ‘Nother Brother Entertainment has always been "To further propagate diverse images through development of films." To that end a lot of blog posts on this blog are also devoted to diversity.

I find a lot of stuff on the Internet related to diversity and I will put it here. Starting it off below are two blog entries where I compiled my thoughts on the issue PLUS a lot of information.

Diversity in Hollywood 2011 and Beyond

Diversity in Hollywood 2011 and Addendum

September 21, 2011
From the L.A. Times blog
Will color return to this year's Oscar season?

September 22, 2011
At our sista blog Cool Black Media
Why Taraji Crams to Understand: Black Marketing in Hollywood

October 13, 2011
Tyler Perry: Buffoonery or Opportunity?

October 14, 2011
Black Screenwriters Roundtable

November 1, 2011
The blog Diversity Ink has reposted the article "The Rise and Fall and Rise Again of Black TV" from the May 20, 2011 issue of Entertainment Weekly. Read it here

CLICK the graphic below to see all of our blog posts about diversity

Behind the Scenes of the 9/11 Commercial Tribute

2011-09-12T07:19:00.000-04:00

Behind the scenes of one the BEST tributes I've seen this past week, the tenth anniversary of 9/11.

Director Spike Lee takes goes behind-the-scenes of State Farm's 9/11 "Thanks" project, sharing commentary and intimate interviews with the school children and NYC firemen.

Watch the long version of the commercial below

Download the full-track of Empire State of Mind (Part II) from iTunes, and see more behind the scenes videos by clicking the logo below

Proceeds from the download benefit the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation

(http://www.firehero.org/).

Related posts-
Read my 9/11 memories here

See all of my posts about Spike Lee here

See the video and more links about the source song Empire State of Mind at our sista blog Cool Black Media here

September 11th Memories

2011-09-11T08:46:00.027-04:00

On that fateful day, September 11, 2001, I was a student at Towson University. That morning I just got out of Chemistry class and I had like a 60-minute break before my next class. I decided to go to the record store (remember those?) and get that new Jay-Z CD .(The Blueprint [1] pictured below) that was just released that day.

The Blueprint

I don't listen to the radio (too many commercials and the same 7 songs over and over) so I listened to another CD on the way to the store. After picking my CD I tried to pay with my debit card and it took forever to go through. In fact all of the transactions were having problems. The purchase finally went through and I listened to the CD all the way back to school and in the parking lot until it was time for class.

TV Studio classroom

I was going to my TV Studio Operation class in the Media Center (pictured above) and the note on the studio door said class was cancelled. I ran into one of my professors and said, "What's going on?" He said, "We're being attacked! You can watch it in the studio down the hall”. I said to myself "The hell with that. I'm going home". I went home and like everyone else, I watched the rest of the event (history) on television.

I soon found out that ALL the phone lines were screwed up. I couldn’t make any calls on my cell phone on the way home. In retrospect, the phone lines (used to process the transactions in the record store) were tied up because of the tragedy.

I didn’t listen to the radio the whole time so I wouldn’t have heard ANY news. If one of those planes were targeting Towson Maryland I would have never known. I still don’t listen to the radio, but I still think that maybe I’m going to miss something huge one day.

No pictures of what happened, just what was...

Attack the Block Updates

2011-08-23T08:10:00.003-04:00

Still from Attack the Block

Friday, August 19, 2011 Attack the Block expanded to six more cities - Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Washington D.C., Orlando and Phoenix taking in an additional $83, 478 bringing the U.S. total $604, 420. With a budget of $13 million, the film has grossed $4,275,216 overseas bringing the worldwide total to $4,879,636. -Info courtesy of Box Office Mojo

Read my review here

Update August 29, 2011
Because the film finally opened in Baltimore I wanted to post another box office update so soon.

Total Lifetime Grosses
Domestic: $720,002 14.4%
+ Foreign: $4,275,216 85.6%
----------------------------------
= Worldwide: $4,995,218

-Info courtesy of Box Office Mojo

UPDATE September 1, 2011: Attack the Block's John Boyega has been cast in the lead of a HBO boxing drama being helmed by Spike Lee. Read more about it here

Previous updates about the film-

UPDATE: June 10, 2011

Attack the Block will have a limited platform release on July 29, 2011 starting slow in the cities where it will have the most immediate interest and then build on the buzz for future expansion.-ShockTillYouDrop.com

So it may or may not be in your town on the 29th, but hopefully it will be soon after. This type of release happens to movies like this all the time.

UPDATE: August 1, 2011
Attack the Block opened last weekend July 29-31 and became the HIGHEST GROSSEST FILM...however, according to the great site Shadow & Act-

The film opened in only 8 theaters across the country making a total of $130,000 with an average of $16,250 per screen.

That makes it the highest grossing film per screen, better than The Smurfs which came in second with $10, 660 per screen average, though it opened in 3,395 screens nationwide.

If you know the business of film, "Per Screen Average" is a huge barometer of a film's success. Hopefully Attack the Block will soon be coming to a screen near you.

Related links-
Read more feedback about the opening weekend at Shadow & Act here

Read a great interview with the Writer/Director of Attack the Block Joe Cornish and star John Boyega at Ebony/Jet.com here

Official website
http://attacktheblock.com/

COOL FAN ART

Sensuous Short Film - If I Leap

2011-08-22T06:08:00.000-04:00

Found out about this film through the site Shadow & Act

Anslem Richardson and Adepero Oduye in If I Leap. Photo courtesy of Shadow & Act

Synopsis:

Zipporah (Adepero Oduye), a sister in a religious order, is dealing with a secret about her desire for something she has never experienced—erotic love. When Luca (Anslem Richardson), the nephew of the Mother Superior, seeks refuge at the convent after deserting the army, Zipporah engages in an intimate relationship with him that will change the course of her life.

You can watch the 20-minute short film below:

You can read more comments about this film at Shadow & Act by CLICKING their logo below.

Let's Hear it for the Awkward Black Girls

2011-08-11T06:01:00.000-04:00

The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl -- ABG for short -- is a web series about a socially handicapped black woman who finds herself in hilarious situations.

The star and creator, Issa Rae (pictured above), sets her series in various Los Angeles locales, and in the main character's office.

This web series reminds me of another awkward black girl, Monie on a great animated show Hey Monie! who also was socially handicapped black woman who finds herself in hilarious situations.

Hey Monie! is an animated American black sitcom produced by Soup2Nuts. Hey Monie! originated as one of 14 animated-short components of X-Chromosone (1999), a series on the Oxygen cable network. Proving popular enough to stand on its own, the cartoon series expanded to 30 minutes and moved to Black Entertainment Television and, afterward, on the Oxygen Network in 2003.

Its main character, Simone ("Monie"), works at a public relations agency in Chicago. She lives in an apartment building with her best friend Yvette. The show chronicles her life living as a single career woman in the big city.

The series' voice talent included the Frangela duo (pictured below); Angela V. Shelton as Monie and Frances Callier as Yvette, Melissa Bardin Galsky and Brendon Small.- Some info from Wikipedia

Frangela - Frances Callier & Angela V. Shelton

You can find a couple episodes of Hey Monie! on YouTube, but they are of low quality. It really is a funny show and Frangela translate their real life chemistry to their animated counterparts.

Below you can see a video explaining more about how they put the show The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl together

Related link-
The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl Official website
www.awkwardblackgirl.com/

The Film that Started a Career - 5 Deep Breaths

2011-08-10T07:10:00.000-04:00

Found this film through the great website Shadow & Act

Seith Mann’s impressive 20-minute short film called 5 Deep Breaths - his NYU MFA thesis project in 2002, which helped launch Mann’s career, directing several notable television shows – notably episodes of HBO’s hit, The Wire.

Some of the short film’s accolades: premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival; it was one of 4 American shorts selected to screen at the Cinefondation Competition at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival; It won the Best Narrative Short Film award at the 2003 Los Angeles IFP/West Film Festival. Filmmaker magazine named Mann one of their 25 new faces of independent film in 2003. And the IFP gave Mann the Gordon Parks Awards for Emerging African-American Filmmakers; and there’s a lot more.

Television producer Robert F. Colesberry saw Five Deep Breaths, and introduced the other producers of The Wire to it. The producers approached Mann and asked him to shadow their directors during production of the third season in 2004. And 2 years later, in 2006, Mann joined the directing crew of The Wire’s fourth season, and later went onto helm episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, Cold Case, Entourage, Friday Night Lights, Heroes, and many more shows.

Mann has been working on a feature film script titled Come Sunday, which would be his debut. The script won two development awards (the Emerging Narrative Screenwriting Award and the Gordon Parks Award for Screenwriting) from the IFP in 2004. Most recently, Seith was hired to adapt and direct the graphic novel MISS: Better Living Through Crime, which, as he told us, is still in the works, with a last draft of the script shipped off to the production company, which will be followed by the search for talent and financing. Spike Lee is executive producing that by the way.- Tambay, Shadow & Act

Watch the film below in Two Parts

Part 1

Part 2

CLICK their logo below to check out their site

Profound New Documentary - Dark Girls

2011-07-28T10:45:00.000-04:00

Dark Girls is a documentary exploring the deep-seated biases and attitudes about skin color particularly dark skinned women, outside of and within the Black American culture. The film is slated for a Fall/Winter 2011 release, is directed and produced by Bill Duke (Duke Media) and D. Channsin Berry (Urban Winter Entertainment).

The independent project, set to premier in October [2011] at the International Black Film Festival in Nashville, is in need of funds to be completed. Duke and Berry’s goal is to raise $250,000 by July 31. They’ve raised, to date, slightly more than $4,700.-Ebony/Jet.com

The below 9 min. clip is profound to say the least...

To see more clips from the upcoming Dark Girls documentary, to make a contribution and/or post videos of your own testimony, visit: http://officialdarkgirlsmovie.com/

You can read the Ebony/Jet interview with Bill Duke and D. Channsin Berry here

Inside Industry info with Melee Entertainment

2011-07-27T08:27:00.002-04:00

Starting around 31 minutes into the podcast, Bryan Turner founder and president of Melee Entertainment gives updates on some of his latest productions in the works, including The Under Shepherd, as well as specifics regarding his desire to seek new filmmakers and writers.

Melee is the company behind films like Friday, Next Day Air and You Got Served.

Listen to internet radio with Shadow And Act on Blog Talk Radio

Me & Raiders of the Lost Ark

2011-07-25T07:00:00.004-04:00

I was one of the few people who never saw Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) in theaters.

Scenes from Raiders of the Lost Ark

Of course I saw all of the famous clips, Indy running from the huge boulder and Indy duel the guy with the scimitar (sword) and such (pictured above), but I didn’t see the film until at least a decade later (on videotape. Remember those?) and frankly I didn’t see what the hubbub was about. It was ok.

Recently on Facebook during a discussion about Indiana Jones an actor friend of mine Ryan Thomas went on and on about how great this film was. Never one to back away from an argu…er debate. I told him I didn’t think it was all that great. He was aghast and told me I should really see it again something about better than Citizen Kane and The Godfather combined or something like that. Not really what he said, but that’s how adamant he was in my opinion. Since I’m a fair guy I decided maybe I’ll give this film another try. In the past when I have given movies another try, turns out I was right the first time, they sucked!

Several weeks ago I re-watched the movie and guess what…it didn’t suck. I said guess what because I’M SURPRISED since I’m never wrong. I’m man enough to admit when I’m wrong, which I never am…didn’t I say that?

But with all seriousness the movie was VERY GOOD. It deserves all the accolades it got, especially from Ryan. I liked everything about it, it was adventurous and fun and everything the filmmakers set out to make. I guess maybe I was expecting more the last time or maybe my tastes have changed.

This leads me to why I’m writing this. It seems as though my liking of this film was more than likely a shift in my thinking towards movies. Since studying film I think I look at movies a whole different way.

Let me be clear the FIRST time I see a movie I can “turn off the director” in me and just enjoy the film. The second time I can (and will) analyze the film’s aspects. Now when I watch films (the 2nd & subsequent times) I recognize the technical skill it took to make such a film. Sometimes that is good, sometimes that is bad.

I’ve seen some films that everyone is calling a classic and thought “eh”. I’ve seen Midnight Cowboy and recently Serpico and wasn’t impressed. Concurrently within the last 5 years, I’ve seen Cool Hand Luke, Citizen Kane and The Good, The Bad & The Ugly for the first time and realize why everyone says they are great as they say they were. It also works in the reverse. I’ve re-watched some movies that I liked in the past and I think WOW the acting sucked or the direction sucked etc. Maybe some films just outlive their resonance.

When I watch a movie now I can appreciate all of the hard work it took to achieve some of the themes, the acting, the cinematography and of course the direction. In the end a great film is a great film and will stand the test of time whenever you see them and yes Ryan that means Raiders of the Lost Ark.

In some rebranding, repackaging nonsense Raiders of the Lost Ark for its 1999 VHS re-issue, the outer package was retitled Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark to correlate with the film's prequel Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and sequel Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The subsequent DVD release in 2003 features this title as well. THAT 2003 DVD was the one I got from Netflix (Pictured below) setting off my ire!

I just hate when “marketing execs” rebrand an established brand with the intention of developing a differentiated (new) position in the mind of consumers. Just seems like trickery and I for one will not be fooled by their folly! I SHANT! Okay I’ll calm down now.

Scorsese By Ebert - My Review

2011-06-27T06:00:00.014-04:00

Scorsese by Ebert by Roger Ebert

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When I saw that my favorite movie critic wrote a book about my favorite director I knew I had to read this book!

From the book’s introduction-

Roger Ebert wrote the first film review that director Martin Scorsese ever received—for 1967’s I Call First —when both men were just embarking on their careers. Ebert had never been touched by a movie in quite the same way before, and this experience created a lasting bond that made him one of Scorsese’s most appreciative and perceptive commentators. Scorsese by Ebert offers the first record of America’s most respected film critic’s engagement with the works of America’s greatest living director. The book chronicles every single feature film in Scorsese’s considerable oeuvre, from his aforementioned debut to his 2008 release, the Rolling Stones documentary, Shine a Light.

The book does recount every review Ebert wrote including several of the obligatory interviews with the director during the some of his movie’s press tour as well as some reconsiderations on his earlier reviews. I also thought it would be illuminating to read the thoughts of someone who was there from the beginning of Scorsese’s career or as the introduction puts it “when both men were just embarking on their careers”. They’re generally the same age and have similar backgrounds and are ideally kindred spirits.

Not surprisingly I enjoyed the writings about the Scorsese films I either liked or have an interest in the most. It was also good to read about Scorsese’s early works when he was just starting out. You can read how someone who is considered one of the great American filmmakers started out with struggles with the studios and to get his films made. Through Ebert’s interviews with Scorsese you can see how passionately and deeply he feels about the art of film.

Scorsese’s passion is evident in a chapter I particularly enjoyed, a reprint of a transcript from a master class Scorsese and Ebert had (Part 4: Reflecting; page 157) when Scorsese received an award from the School of the Arts at Ohio State University in 1997. You could really visualize Scorsese’s enthusiasm for film when you read it.

The last chapter of the book, a chapter I was looking forward to “Part 6: Masterpieces” was actually the worst. It was pretty much a regurgitation of what was said earlier in the book. For the record said "Masterpieces" were -Mean Streets, Taxi Driver , Raging Bull, GoodFellas & The Age of Innocence.

In the end though I enjoyed the book and reading about an auteur and whom I consider a master of film.

View all my reviews

The Reina Williams Music Video

2011-06-24T06:00:00.011-04:00

The set of the music video

THE MEETING
I met Reina Williams years ago when meeting with a group of creative artists to discuss working on a pilot for a local television show. In the meeting I liked a lot of what she had to say – game recognizes game or for this purpose - art recognizes art. When we all exchanged info she gave out her MySpace, (remember that?). The one cool thing (only cool thing?) about MySpace was that you could post music tracks there. I really liked what I heard and when you find someone like that you remember them. She is also quite prolific. Her music has already been featured in shows on CBS, NBC, Cinemax, MTV as well as various feature films.

"Credits Include . . Monte Carlo (2011) Hawaii Five-0 (CBS) "Table for Three" (2009) Friday Night Lights (NBC) Melrose Place (CW) The Hills (MTV) Punk'd (MTV) and more. . ." — SelecTracks/Bug Music

She was also voted "Best Solo Artist" in the City Paper's Best of Baltimore [2010].

THE PART
When it came time to find music for my film The Part I contacted Reina and she graciously let us use her music. (You can read more about that on the blog for that film here )

THE ORIGIN
Since she let us use her music we’ve become friends. I not only became a fan of her recorded music, but her live performances as well. I’ve seen Reina perform at least a half dozen times (You can see one of my cell phone pics below) and it is always great!

Reina & friend performing live at Joe Squared April 1, 2010.

After her performances we would talk about doing a music video and tossed around some ideas. When the time came I told her I would direct the video and after a couple more ideas (part of the creative process) it was a GO!

THE SONG, THE STORY
The song is called easily enough THE VODKA SONG. The story for the video was written by Reina herself and I just had to break it down for shooting purposes. My job was to visually make the story just as fun as the song itself.

THE SETS
The video was shot over two days at two primary locations. The great Joe Squared and a location in East Baltimore. The first day was at the former and the second at the latter.

For the first day we had to get there bright and early to shoot the video before Joe Squared opened and we had a lot of great people to come and be extras at that early hour. The second day wasn’t as intensive. We didn’t need the amount of extras and we didn’t need to get there as early. Both days went great and we got every shot that I planned. Something always good for a set.

THE SOCIAL NETWORKING
Since I only joined Twitter like 5 minutes ago I decided to try and have

There is a lot of downtime for the director on a set like this while the DP (Director of Photography) and crew set up the lights and the camera for the next scenes to be shot so I decided to take pictures and post them live on Twitter with my own unique brand of commentary. I even established our own hashtag (Twitter people know what that is) where you can STILL get the updates about the video. The hashtag is the easy enough

Ultimately it was harder than I thought it was. Turns out I didn’t have as much time as I thought. There were several directorial decisions that had to be made and it took forever to upload some of the pictures. Next time I think I’ll get a PA (Production Assistant) to do it. LOL.

On both of our social networking destinations I tried to update the progress of the video and still am. I also thanked a lot of the people involved in the production on our Facebook Page.

You can see a slideshow of some of the photos from the sets below and you can always get more up to the minute updates on the post production of the video on our social network sites (linked at the end) as well as see more photos and a LIVE PERFORMANCE VIDEO from the set.

I’m not just saying this because she’s a friend of mine, but I think Reina Williams is on the verge of stardom and (I’ve told her this) it was an honor and a privilege to direct this, her FIRST music video.

You can see a BIGGER version of this slide show here

REMEMBER you can check out our social network destinations to get ALL of the up to date information on the Vodka Song Video and MORE by clicking the buttons below.

The BEST Horror Movie I've Seen in a Long Time - Coming Soon

2011-05-31T07:48:00.012-04:00

Attack the Block

Written & Directed by: Joe Cornish

Produced by: Nira Park, James Wilson, Mary Burke, Edgar Wright

Cinematography by: Thomas Townend

Released: July 29, 2011 (USA)

Summary: A teen gang in South London defend their block from an alien invasion.

REVIEW

I usually post movie (and other media) reviews at Cool Black Media . I don’t usually post movie reviews here at the ‘Nother Brother Entertainment Blog, UNLESS it is an independent film worthy of distinction and Attack the Block is such a film.

This is absolutely the best horror movie I’ve seen in a long time. Even though I’ve grown tired of the Final Destinations and Saws I have seen others like the remakes to Friday the 13th (2009) , A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) and sequels like Scream 4 (2011) and felt woefully unimpressed like I have from those original films. These new films failed to capture the peril and excitement and plain ole fun of those original films. Attack the Block made me feel like I did when I watched those originals - with black people to boot! To digress a little, these are black kids because it’s not set in America so they can’t be African American even though they are “negroes”. You can’t call someone like the British Idris Elba African American can you?

Back to the “Block” this movie had the usual horror movie prerequisites, teens trying to make sense out of numerous murders, and then trying to stop it themselves. This film took a conventional plot and injected a lot of originality and fun into it. The humor was balanced with real fear and suspense along with a kickass climax.

But don’t just trust what I say, and I don’t know why you shouldn’t, these are some other blurbs I found about the film.

Following its premiere at SXSW, Scott Wampler of The Examiner rated it A+ and said it was officially the best film of the festival and likened it to other debuts such as Neil Blomkamp's District 9 and Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs.

Matt Patches writing for Cinemablend said "Attack the Block, even on its small scale, may wind up as one of the best action movies of the year".

IGN gave it four stars saying "Cornish directs with the confidence of a seasoned pro" and calling the film "a blast from start-to-finish."

Block is fun and with its cast of mostly unknowns features some nice standout performances, particularly the kid who plays the leader of the hoodies, John Boyega (who's got great screen presence). –Hollywood Reporter

I cannot agree more with the last quote. Those who know me and have read my writing know that I'm discerning and I don't really recommend anything that I don't think is of high caliber. When I see a great performance I recognize it.

Last year when I saw True Grit I thought the movie was good, but I was WOWED by the performance of Hailee Steinfeld (the little girl in the film) and was SHOCKED that she was only nominated for “Best Supporting Actress” and not “Best Actress” at the Academy Awards® for she was excellent. (You can read what I said about True Grit here )

Having said that, I think John Boyega (pictured center above) gave another excellent youth performance. Like the above quote stated, he had “great screen presence” which A LOT of actors do not have.

It’s a difference between being a “star” and having enough screen presence to be a lead. You not only rooted for this unlikely hero, but when he gave orders you could see why everyone in the film listened to him. He wasn’t just the hardass all the time either. You could see his vulnerability when dealing with his boss and the plight he was faced with in the film. I hope he has a long and prodigious career unlike other child phenoms like that Sixth Sense kid. Where is homeboy? LOL. In any case remember this guy.

John Boyega

UPDATE: September 1, 2011: John Boyega has been cast in the lead of a HBO boxing drama being helmed by Spike Lee. Read more about it here

Their trailer is below

Official website
http://attacktheblock.com/

MORE UPDATES

UPDATE: September 15, 2012: Attack the Block is coming to Blu-Ray/DVD on October 25, 2011. Read all about it here

UPDATE: November 1, 2011: John Boyega has been cast in the lead of a HBO boxing drama being helmed by Spike Lee called Da Brick read all the news about the show at our sista blog Cool Black Media via the link more about it here

UPDATE: August 1, 2011
Attack the Block opened last weekend July 29-31 and became the HIGHEST GROSSEST FILM...however, according to the great site Shadow & Act-

The film opened in only 8 theaters across the country making a total of $130,000 with an average of $16,250 per screen.

That makes it the highest grossing film per screen, better than The Smurfs which came in second with $10, 660 per screen average, though it opened in 3,395 screens nationwide.

If you know the business of film, "Per Screen Average" is a huge barometer of a film's success. Hopefully Attack the Block will soon be coming to a screen near you.

UPDATE: August 23, 2011
Read about the current Box Office at More Attack the Block Updates at the post here

Related links-
Read more feedback about the opening weekend at Shadow & Act here

Read a great interview with the Writer/Director of Attack the Block Joe Cornish and star John Boyega at Ebony/Jet.com here

_______________________________________________________

Related posts-

I also saw several more international independent films at the 2011 Maryland Film Festival and you can check out what I thought was the BEST film I saw there here

I talk about True Grit and ALL TEN 2011 Academy Award Best Picture nominees here

Click the graphic below to see all of my media reviews at Cool Black Media

The Great Movies by Roger Ebert – My Review

2011-05-30T07:18:00.003-04:00

The Great Movies by Roger Ebert

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Not only do I like watching great films, but I like reading about them too. As a filmmaker people are always surprised that I haven’t seen some “classics”. Generally, I haven’t seen too many films before I was born (70s) and I really have no interest in several genres like war/military films and westerns. I have to say though that as a filmmaker I will watch ANY film when recommended.

When it comes to movies, no one knows them better than Roger Ebert. Forget the movie side; he is one of the best writer/journalist period! His essays are analytical without being too scrutinizing. They really celebrate what it is like to FEEL what the film is trying to convey and how they made him feel. He also has been watching films from around the world at a young age (25) and brings with him a wealth of knowledge of film technique and career of pretty much any given filmmaker in the last 50 years.

The essays in this book were deductive, insightful and most of all filled with fondness of something Roger Ebert perhaps knows just as well as any great filmmaker – film.

~Post Script~

The movies that I haven’t seen, but want to after reading this book are

2001

The 400 Blows

The Apartment

Body Heat

The Bicycle Thief

The Big Sleep

Bonnie & Clyde

Casablanca

Double Indemnity

La Dolce Vita

Lawrence of Arabia

The Maltese Falcon

Network

The Night of the Hunter

On The Waterfront

Raging Bull

Seven Samurai

Sunset Blvd

With the exception of ‘The 400 Blows’ I have heard of all of these films, but have never seen them. Ebert covers A LOT of films and since there were so many I read only the essays of those films I heard of. I hope to see these films – eventually.

When I do I will more than likely review them on a public forum like Rotten Tomatoes http://bit.ly/DB_RT_ratings

View all my reviews (book reviews)

Inside Scoop on the Development of 'Jumping the Broom'

2011-05-24T03:31:00.004-04:00

From Our Stories Films Inc., the company behind

Tracey Edmonds (Pictured right), long-time producer, and now President and Chief Operating Officer of Our Stories Films Inc. describes all of the details of getting the film from script to screen.

She talks about:

-Development of the script
-The budget
-The casting
-The marketing
-The shooting locations
-The test audiences with the studio executives present

Ms. Edmonds describes it all in the podcast below (45 minutes) courtesy of the great website Shadow & Act

Listen to internet radio with Shadow And Act on Blog Talk Radio

You can read more about Ms. Edmonds career at Wikipedia here

The Showrunner Transcripts

2011-05-23T03:40:00.003-04:00

In last week's issue, New York Magazine surveyed fourteen of the top TV showrunners about their process and craft. All during upfront week, we'll be running longer transcripts of these conversations: some will include extended answers to our questionnaire, some will break free altogether, but all will provide a revealing and insightful look into the minds of the people who make our appointment television.

Showrunner is a term of art originating in the United States and Canadian television industry referring to the person who is responsible for the day-to-day operation of a television series — although such persons generally are credited as an executive producer.-Wikipedia

Showrunners are also typically the Head Writer of the series. They don't write every episode, but they shape the direction of the storylines and the direction of the show. They also typically write important episodes, Season Premieres, Season Finales etc., themselves. Whereas film is a director's medium, television is a writer's medium.

Among the showrunners interviewed are

Grey's Anatomy's Shonda Rhimes

Community’s Dan Harmon

30 Rock's Robert Carlock

Breaking Bad's Vince Gilligan

How I Met Your Mother’s Carter Bays and Craig Thomas

The Good Wife’s Robert and Michelle King

Justified’s Graham Yost

Cougar Town’s Bill Lawrence and Kevin Biegel

Check out all of the interviews here

They also have a cool feature — Fourteen Creators on Influences, Failure, And the Shows They Wish They’d Written here

UPDATE: October 12, 2011

has announced their

Check it all out right here

The Best Film I Saw At The 2011 Maryland Film Festival…

2011-05-17T03:33:00.004-04:00

Before I get to that film (I know I’m worse than Ryan Seacrest with his “we will reveal who’s eliminated…right after the break”, but give me one (a break) LOL. Allow me to digress for a moment.

Every year I try to see all of the black films I’m interested in. Not all of the films I see are black films, but the majorities are. I take this opportunity to see films I most of the time would not get from Netflix, Red Box or more than likely would not watch on Cable if I’m channel surfing. Sad to say, a lot of films must get media attention or a lot of attention through my grassroots networks for me to see it. Another reason why marketing and distribution is important. I saw a truly bad independent film because a friend of mine heard about it through marketing (I spoke of that film, though NOT by title, here ). Film festivals are also important for filmmakers, like me, and film lovers alike to seek out what a festival’s staff choose to put on. Don’t get it twisted I’ve seen movies at the festivals that wasn’t that great, but you can’t like everything ESPECIALLY a discerning chap such as myself.

So the Best Film I Saw At The 2011 Maryland Film Festival was…

Here’s what I said on our ‘Nother Brother Entertainment Facebook page-

I really enjoyed this documentary for it did what the best docs, which are not about really dense subjects; do…be informative, sometimes amusing, and sometimes tense. It also had an inventive visual style that I will not give away, but is clever. In the end this documentary was fun and informative about what it’s like to be in a band that throughout its history, while influential, has been teeter-tottering on success.

Of the five films I saw this year, this was easily my favorite. I liked all of the films I saw this year (not always the case), but this one was a whole buncha fun. From the very beginning with the “inventive visual style” I thought “this is good”. The first time I even heard of Fishbone was in the Damon Wayans comedy special ‘Damon Wayans: The Last Stand?’ (1990). He talked about this black rock group Fishbone and the only one I ever heard of before was Living Colour (NOT related to the television show ‘In Living Color’).

At the Q&A after the film, the directors Lev Anderson & Chris Metzler said that while Fishbone won’t necessary make money from their film, they do allow the group to show the film at their concerts for free and hopes that it will prompt interest in their music and that’s true. Even though punk-funk is not my cup of tea, after the movie I did check out their music at online music stores.

As a fan of “all black everything” I wanted to see this film and discovered that the group did indeed strive to combat racial stereotypes. A black punk group? Who ever heard of that? You mean “P-Funk”? No PUNK, as in a form of rock music. Black people play that? Yes and its name is Fishbone.

See what my favorite film from the 2010 Maryland Film Festival, a film you can see for FREE NEXT WEEK right here here

I wrote about ALL the films I saw at the 2011 Maryland Film Festival EXCLUSIVELY at our Facebook page and Twitter feed. Click the buttons below to check them out

Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone Official Website
http://www.fishbonedocumentary.com/

Watch their 'Everyday Sunshine' trailer below
(WARNING: Brief nudity (buttocks))

"Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone" - documentary trailer

Freedom Riders - An Excellent Documentary Premiering on TV

2011-05-02T03:42:00.010-04:00

Last year this time I saw the EXCELLENT Freeom Riders at the Maryland Film Festival. I thought it seemed like an interesting film since I like seeing African American based films. When I saw it I had no idea I would have such a reaction and had to write about it. After screening around the country the doc is now premiering on PBS stations around the country as part of their American Experience program. American Experience airs documentaries about important or interesting events and people in American history.

PREMIERED MAY 16, 2011

They have a great extensive multimedia websitewhere you NOW WATCH THE WHOLE FILM. CLICK the graphic below to check it out

Freedom Riders website

UPDATE: September 12, 2011
Freedom Riders wins Multiple Emmys

Outstanding Picture Editing For Nonfiction Programming - 2011
	Winner Freedom Riders PBS A production of Firelight Films for American Experience Lewis Erskine, Edited By; Aljernon Tunsil, Edited By

Exceptional Merit In Nonfiction Filmmaking - 2011
	Winner Freedom Riders PBS A production of Firelight Films for American Experience Stanley Nelson, Produced by; Laurens Grant, Produced by; Mark Samels, Executive Producer; Sharon Grimberg, Senior Producer

Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming - 2011
	Winner Freedom Riders PBS A production of Firelight Films for American Experience Stanley Nelson, Written By

Go back to the TOP of this blog entry.

Check out their Wikipedia page-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Rides

Related post-

You can see the trailer and read about what I said about Freedom Riders here

Diversity in Hollywood 2011 and Addendum

2011-04-08T06:35:00.005-04:00

Last time I talked about diversity I stated:

Yes there is a big diversity problem as there has ever been in Hollywood. I personally started my company to try in my little way to combat that. Hence the mission of 'Nother Brother Entertainment is "To further propagate diverse images through development of films."

I was tired of seeing substandard television in particular featuring African Americans ...something I have been keenly following for about 20 years now...

Of course this discussion can (and probably will) go on forever, but some more examples and ideas came to mind and had to post them as well.

Even though I have loved television for…ever, I have always been aware, even acutely aware of black stories on television. When a black show came on I would always try to check it out. In the 90’s a plethora of black shows debuted on television and probably not for the reasons you think. Dr. Jason Johnson explains a lot of it in the excerpts below as he compares it to the predicament of former RNC Chairman Michael Steele.

Quiz Time: Do you remember “Sister, Sister,” “The Jamie Foxx Show,” and “The Steve Harvey Show?” What do all of these shows have in common?

Each of these shows was part of the now defunct WB network’s television line-up from the mid-90’s. They were all popular African-American sitcoms that were ranked in the top 10 in black households before getting the axe in 1999. Basically the WB used black shows to stabilize the network then dumped them all when things got better. This “WB” syndrome as I like to call it, can also apply to politics, as it perfectly explains the recent plight of former RNC Chairman Michael Steele.

Broadcast television was dominated by NBC in the 1990s, so when the WB was launched across the nation in 1995 Warner Brothers executives had a novel idea: Why not create programming for a niche African-American audience that was all but ignored by other networks at the time? From this idea shows such as “Jamie Foxx,” “Steve Harvey” and “Sister, Sister” were born to huge ratings and critical acclaim across black America. In fact, it was black programming that kept the WB alive in the ’90’s as most of their other show attempts had failed (Anyone remember Kirk Cameron’s sitcom “Kirk”? Didn’t think so).

Then, in 1999 it all changed. The station had finally stabilized financially and began to focus exclusively on creating and promoting shows targeted at white teens and young adults. Goodbye “The Hugleys”, hello “Dawson’s Creek,” “Smallville,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Charmed.” It didn’t matter that the black shows were successful. Executives at the WB always aspired to grab the white teen audience like Fox and MTV and had no problem using black shows to get there. I call this the “WB syndrome” – throw some blacks in there early on to sell the product then dump them the moment the white audience is secure. You saw the same thing with Jennifer Lopez’ dating life and Timberland boots.
...

In order to avoid cancellation, the WB eventually merged with UPN, both stations purged themselves of any remaining minority targeted programs and created the CW. Despite their best efforts to survive on white viewers alone the CW is still firmly planted in last place.

Excerpted from "Michael Steele: The WB Network of Politics" You can read the entire editorial here

Ever since “the purge” there really haven’t been that much minority programming on broadcast television. Even the newly formed CW purged itself of all minority shows in 2009 (something I posted in our sister blog Cool Black Media here )

It is also important to note that UPN , The WB and eventually The CW “borrowed” the model that the Fox Network started of “narrowcasting” when it began in 1986 to build an audience. In 1994 after Fox cancelled the black shows The Sinbad Show, Roc, South Central and In Living Color, Representative Ed Towns (D-NY) stated

“Fox-TV created its niche based programming based upon racy, black, and youth oriented programming. Apparently as the network moves to become more mainstream, its attitude to positive black programs is, we don’t need, nor want them anymore…” - The Fox Network and the Revolution in Black Television (linked below)

Again this discussion happens over and over and over and over and…well you get the idea. I even dug through my uncle’s old Jet magazine collection and…well not really I’m a little more advance than that. LOL. Through a Google search I found a Jet magazine article from Aug 9, 1999 titled "Why Are So Few Blacks Starring On TV?" You can read it here

There has been recent news of a deal to bring an African American broadcast network to television, something that has only antecedently been achieved only in cable and satellite. (You can read about that in our sister blog Cool Black Media here )

There have also been several sound bites by film stars Idris Elba and Morgan Freeman on the matter

"Can I be candid? I don't like all of Tyler Perry's films. Yes, I did work with Tyler for 'Daddy's Little Girls' because it portrayed a positive image of a black father. I am happy for Tyler's success...we need Tyler Perry ... by going to support his movies, we need to show economic strength. But we are also responsible for elevating film. I'm not with buffoonish characters like Madea or Big Momma."

-- Actor Idris Elba weighing in on Tyler Perry's success in Hollywood and buffoonish imagery. (Vibe)

When asked by BET for his take on the lack of African-American actors on stage, at this year’s Oscars, Morgan Freeman replied,

“I think we need to get over that sh*t. How many Chinese do you see? You don’t see them out marching and sh*t. Oh God please. I think … We need to get over it, that’s all.”

You can read more info on the Morgan Freeman quote, as well as a lot of reader comments at the great website Shadow & Act here

When it concerns diversity like I stated before “IT HAS been the same ol’ song and things probably won’t change that much. We just have to do what we can to ensure that our stories are being told.”

Related Link 1-

FROM

MEDIA AND POPULAR CULTURE

Apr 11, 2011

Panelists talk about media and popular culture. This program was part of an Aspen Institute symposium on the state of race in the United States. (1 HR 41 MIN)

Panelists

Will Griffin
Chair and CEO
Hip Hop on Demand

Donna Byrd
Publisher
TheRoot.com

Mona Eltahawy
Middle East Columnist

Spike Lee
Filmmaker

CLICK the graphic below to view the video

Related post-
Diversity in Hollywood 2011 and Beyond

Related Link 2-
The Fox Network and the Revolution in Black Television
http://nettrice.us/media_lit/zook_fox_network_and_the_revolution.pdf

Dr. Martin Luther King & Me

2011-04-04T03:37:00.065-04:00

CLICK on graphic for BIGGER view

The news about the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination today (April 4, 1968) got me thinking about the script I wrote about it, Down with the King, and the large amount of research I did to validate what is a fictional story or as Hollywood likes to say “Based on a True Story”.

Even though I didn’t start actually writing Down with the King until the summer of 2001 it was around this time I was seriously considering this to be my next script. I think about a script A LOT before I ever put pen to paper so to speak (I actually prefer a computer). I was actually struggling through MCOM 411 Comm Process that semester, a mass communications theory class that was required for graduation in my major. It probably wouldn’t have been that bad if it wasn’t a three hour class--on a Friday afternoon--in the spring. While everyone else was enjoying the new warmer spring weather we were in class talking about what the red in Run Lola Run represented. In retrospect I liked the class, but at that time it seemed like torture.

Anyway as stated below, after I saw a news report about the assassination I thought to base a story around it and yes the script was heavily influenced by the conspiracy theory film Oliver Stone’s JFK (1991). You can read more about the script below, but on this day I wanted to revisit a script and subsequent film I wrote a decade ago. Rest in peace Dr. King. Your dream does indeed live on.

Down with the King
(article written circa 2004)

Synopsis: Two sisters uncover clues leading to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Characters:

Adina Shawnessy-FBI agent

Vera Shawnessy-Journalist

Hershey-Vera and Dina’s cousin

Maranthol-Mysterious old friend of Vera and Dina’s father

I wrote Down With The King the summer of 2001. It was my ninth entry into the Scripps Howard Broadcasting contest. Down With The King won first place in 2002 making it my third first place win.

The script was produced by the local Scripps Howard station, WMAR Channel 2 (an ABC affiliate) and theatre company Arena Players (The nation's longest, continuously running, African American community theater.) Basically the station handled the technical part, and the theatre company handled the theatrical part. Arena Players auditioned and hired all the actors and directors, Channel 2 personnel, who would normally work on news programs, handled the filming aspect.

After viewing a news report on the inconsistencies in the murder investigation of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., I thought what if someone found this one little thing and it snowballed into uncovering one of the greatest crimes of the century.

I also wanted the person/people who uncovered it to be investigators by nature and profession, a cop and a reporter. I made the two sisters. Then I chose to make the “cop” a FBI agent and make it the same character from my first winning play Without a Doubt. I wanted to make these two sisters augmentative, but also have an underlying love for each other. I patterned this contentious relationship and named the characters after my aunt and mother “Adina” and “Vera”.

The play had its “world premiere” party at Arena Players February 13, 2002 and aired on Channel 2 February 17, 2002. For the first time the premiere party had a “celebrity host” Judge Hatchett whose eponymous television show was of course shown on Channel 2. (That is an example of the invitation at the top)

Even though all of my plays are special, this one had its distinction also. It was not only my third first place win (something no other writer had done), it was the 20th and subsequently the final winner of the Arena Players/Channel 2 competition for they chose to end the annual competition.

Even though I “retired” from the contest after “setting a record”, [they didn't announce the end of the contest until a year later] I was sad to see the contest end. It was and could have been a great opportunity for aspiring writers.

• The lead character of “Shawnessy” was originally introduced in my play Without a Doubt as just “Shawnessy”. In this play she finally gets a first name [Adina] as well as family members.

• The actress who played “Shawnessy” in Without a Doubt, Laura Sligh, reprised her role in Down With The King.

• In my research for this play I actually contacted the FBI and found out these facts:
As of 2001 there were:

11,275 agents overall

Of them:

9,439 white
1,996 women
830 Hispanic
631 Black
327 Asians
48 Native Americans

Below is a slideshow of stills from the televised play. (*Note: The stills are so small because they were captured from videotape and to make them bigger will distort the quality.)

You can read the Baltimore Sun article about Down with the King here

Related post-
Sun Days

The BEST Movie I've Ever Seen - About Making a Movie

2011-03-25T18:12:00.003-04:00

BAADASSSSS! is a 2003 American biopic, written, produced, directed by, and starring Mario Van Peebles. The film is based on the struggles of Van Peebles' father Melvin Van Peebles (played by Mario himself), as he attempts to film and distribute Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, a film that was widely credited with causing Hollywood to create the blaxploitation genre in order to try to market films to the black audience which it proved existed. The film also stars Joy Bryant, Nia Long, Ossie Davis, Paul Rodriguez, Rainn Wilson and Terry Crews.

Of Baadasssss! Roger Ebert said "It's one of the best movies I've ever seen about the making of a movie." and I TOTALLY AGREE. An excellent film!

Baadasssss! Wikipedia page-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BAADASSSSS !

Watch Ebert's review below.

Diversity in Hollywood 2011 and Beyond

2011-03-24T06:17:00.009-04:00

Yes there is a big diversity problem as there has ever been in Hollywood. I personally started my company to try in my little way to combat that. Hence the mission of 'Nother Brother Entertainment is "To further propagate diverse images through development of films."

I was tired of seeing substandard television in particular featuring African Americans ...something I have been keenly following for about 20 years now and I totally agree with the excerpts below.

Below is an excerpt from the editorial "SURVEY – It’s Time To Put Up Or Shut Up! (About That “Hollywood Whiteout” Problem)-February 24th, 2011" at the great website Shadow & Act

Loooong time readers of Shadow And Act will be familiar with what follows below – initially posted on May 29th, 2009, almost 2 years ago, and only about a month after Shadow And Act was launched. Seems like an eternity. But it’s been a fun ride.

In light of recent articles and the conversations that they inspired, I thought I’d repost it as, in effect, my response to all the noise. I’m referring specifically to the New York Times article titled Hollywood Whiteout, by Mahnola Dargis and A.O. Scott, that was printed on February 11th. ...

That article was sent to me by several of you, wondering if I would respond to it on S&A, but I really have had no interest in doing so. It seems like an annual occurrence now – mainstream media articles are written lamenting/criticizing/analyzing the film industry’s “diversity problem.” We all share them, discuss them, etc, but, ultimately, little, if anything, actually changes… until the next year, when the cycle only repeats itself and another batch of “Hollywood Whiteout”-style pieces are written, shared, discussed, and so on.
...

So… what I see and hear here is just more of the same – a lot of analysis, criticism and whining, with little actual action to go along with it. And I’m over that! I also see a lot of reaction instead of proaction. The New York Times (or some other mainstream media site) pens a critique of the film industry’s so-called diversity problem, written by whites usually, and we all jump… because it’s the New York Times. Meanwhile, here on Shadow And Act, we’ve been talking about this sh** forever; and not only just talking about it, there’s actually action to support all the talk! Eff the New York Times! I don’t need them to tell me that there’s a diversity problem! Do you? Isn’t it evident? Hasn’t it been evident since the medium was invented? We’re certainly not the first to have these discussions. Our parents, grandparents and even great-grandparents had the exact same discussions.

Written by Tambay-Shadow & Act read the entire editorial and excellent discussion (in their comments section) at their website here

I don't have much more to say than those sections I excerpted above. IT HAS been the same ol’ song and things probably won’t change that much. We just have to do what we can to ensure that our stories are being told. There have been success stories like the independent film I Will Follow (Read more about that here and the return of a cancelled show (which NEVER happens) The Game (Read more about that here )

Ultimately I recently came to the realization that as much as WE (African Americans) want to see our images and stories on the screen so do THEY (Caucasians) and they control the studios, distribution etc.

I have tried to explain distribution and give light to a new distribution model for African American films at the links below.
Why Distribution is Important

The NEW Black distribution model

I also post many articles at our sister blog Cool Black Media
Lack of Diversity at Oscars 2011

African Americans at the Oscars

UPDATE: April 8, 2011-I posted a follow up Diversity in Hollywood 2011 and Addendum

Finally, I also agree with what Roland Martin and Anthony Mackie said below.

GO BACK TO THE TOP OF THIS POST

UPDATE: April 8, 2011-I posted a follow up Diversity in Hollywood 2011 and Addendum

Why Distribution is Important

2011-03-23T06:37:00.007-04:00

Really the whole point of film festivals is to secure distribution deals for good movies. The three most prestigious film festivals are commonly regarded to be Cannes Film Festival, Toronto International Festival and Sundance Film Festival. Of course there is also Tribeca and South By Southwest (commonly spelled SXSW).

Distribution deals help get your film into theaters and other/further platforms: DVD, cable and network TV. Other rights can include soundtrack CDs, posters, games, toys and other merchandising.

A distributor already has a relationship and connections with all of these outlets. It’s the difference between trying (emphasis on trying) to get a meeting with ONE distributor like (Disney owned) Buena Vista and someone who can and WILL get a meeting with Buena Vista and SEVEN other companies. Buena Vista will probably not let you near the building. Sometimes a lot of films with big stars won’t secure distribution through the festival circuit.

Of course there are new trends like online distribution, but securing a distribution deal especially for a picture that costs several million dollars will offer a ROI (return on investment). There is also a new distribution model I talked about here where a network of theaters across the nation is committed to showing several black movies in a strictly grassroots (word of mouth) means.

The whole point of making a film is to get it seen by an audience. Distribution will further that goal.

To further crystallize I have this funny story.

I want to compare two African American films I saw last year. Since I have made it a practice NOT to diss a bad movie on my blog, for I know what hard work it is to get a movie made, I will call one movie "Bad Movie X" or BMX and the other which I do like…Night Catches Us or NCU.

A friend of mine calls me up and says I want you to check out this movie. I say what is this some vampire flick? (She likes vampires). She said no check this movie out. I say ok. What I saw was the most ridiculous crap I ever seen. It wasn’t satire like ‘Don’t Drink Your Juice in the Hood’ or whatever it’s called. It was supposed to be drama. I have to say that she is not into film like me, but even she could see what a bad film this was. I told her it looked like they had some money to shoot this though. It looked like at least $1 million to me. Surprisingly we BOTH wanted to see this movie. We thought maybe it’s better than it looks.

I checked and BMX was playing in like seven theaters in Maryland. We saw it at a theater with the other two couples there (six people total audience) and…our instincts weren’t wrong. BOY was it bad. About halfway through I turned to her and said “Is this supposed to be a comedy?” The acting, story…just bad.

After I see a great movie I like to read all about it (Wikipedia/IMDb etc.) and weirdly I had the same desire of research for this movie. I subsequently found out that:

BMX had a Domestic Total Gross of $2,595,644 with a Production Budget of $1.6 million.
Night Catches Us had a Domestic Total Gross of $76,185 with a N/A Production Budget.

I also found out that BMX was distributed by Bad Movie Releasing (not the real name) who has distributed about 2 films a year since 2006 according to my research.

I think it’s a shame that a good movie like Night Catches Us can’t get distributed in theaters in Maryland and this one could. NCU was picked up by Magnolia Pictures and it was THEIR choice to distribute it on OnDemand and iTunes which they probably had NO problem doing so. Magnolia will help NCU in the long run get into MORE media outlets. Bad Movie Releasing will get their movie out there, but not like Magnolia.

Say Bad Movie Releasing will get 10 DVDs to Netflix while Magnolia will get 50 DVDs to Netflix. Something like ‘Transformers 2’ will get like 150-200, but that’s the environment.

Personally I like seeing bad movies as much as I like seeing good ones. Yes it wastes my time, but you have to see the bad to know what NOT to do.

You can read what I had to say about Night Catches Us (and another great film) here

Related posts-
The NEW Distribution Model

Related link-
A more technical breakdown of film distribution can be found at
How Movie Distribution Works

Happy Birthday Mr. Lee

2011-03-20T11:52:00.007-04:00

Today is the birthday of Shelton Jackson Lee, better known as Spike Lee. His early works influenced me to become a filmmaker and I am a huge fan of his overall body of work. I have posted many articles about him at our sista blog Cool Black Media and you can read those articles at the links below.

Happy Birthday Mr. Lee and many more to come.

Cool Black Media links

Brooklyn Week Inauguration

No Fued-Spike Lee & Tyler Perry

Another Spike Lee Joint Joins the National Film Registry

__________________________________________________

JUNE 1, 2011
I recently added reviews of two books Mr. Lee wrote to GoodReads. Those reviews are below.

By Any Means Necessary: The Trials and Tribulations of the Making of Malcolm X by Malcolm X

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I don’t even know why I bought this book about the film ‘Malcolm X’ (1992) but if you ever want to know how hard it is to get a film made in Hollywood ESPECIALLY a period piece epic, this is the book you should read. Even if you’re not that interested in how a movie is made, it is STILL an interesting read as a tale of “Trials and Tribulations”.

By Any Means Necessary is not just a means to piggyback on brother Malcolm’s famous phrase, but it crystallizes exactly the mentality Mr. Lee had in mind when making this film. To me the narratives in this book were just as engrossing as the film itself.

PS: For the record the famous quote is-

"We declare our right on this earth to be a man, to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary. ” — Malcolm X, 1965

__________________________________________

Do the Right Thing by Spike Lee

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

‘Do the Right Thing’ is my FAVORITE “Spike Lee Joint”. Don’t know why it took me so long to get this book, but it did. Probably because I owned, and poured over all of the extras on the 2 Disc DVD. What more could I learn right? Turns out a lot more. Yes the DVD was very detailed, but much insight is to be gained in this book mostly curated from his journals while making this DTRT.

For most of all of his early films, Spike Lee published an accompanying book. This was also mostly before DVDs with all of their commentaries and extras. Even back then it seems that Mr. Lee knew that other filmmakers like me were interested not only in his films, but the stories behind them as well.

View all my reviews

Fifteen Things to Prepare for when Making a Film

2011-03-15T22:05:00.002-04:00

Even though I have been to film school there's the great article at NoFilmSchool.com. Really relevant stuff...and if I didn't agree with it I wouldn't have posted right?

Fifteen Things to Prepare for when Making a Film
Check it out at the link below-
http://nofilmschool.com/2011/03/fifteen-prepare-making-film/

Social Media Has Got 'Game'

2011-03-14T10:12:00.005-04:00

Twitter: The Reason Behind BET's Surprise Success for 'The Game'

1/27/2011
by Marisa Guthrie, Jose Antonio Vargas - The Hollywood Reporter

_____________________________________________

On Jan. 12, Hollywood collectively gasped when ratings were released for the previous night's series premiere on BET.

The show drew an extraordinary 7.7 million viewers. After the TV industry overcame its shock, the next question was, "What was the name of that show again?"

In fact, fans of The Game — and they are legion — have been pining for the show's return since the CW axed it in 2009. A grass-roots social media campaign combined with a dearth of scripted programming for African-American viewers helped juice tune-in to unprecedented levels. Game set a record as the most-watched scripted-series premiere ever on ad-supported cable. And it was the second-most-watched program in BET’s 30-year history, behind only the 2009 BET Awards, which aired three days after Michael Jackson died and pulled in 10.2 million viewers.

"The social networking movement really kept the fan base alive," says David Wilson, founder and managing editor of African-American news site TheGrio.com. "A lot of people who hadn’t seen the show picked up on it through social media. And that really united the show’s fan base."

But The Game wasn't exactly burning up mainstream-media buzz meters. There was no full-blitz ad campaign like the wall-to-wall promos for American Idol, just a smattering of billboards around town and a handful of reviews. In fact, Game’s news cycle had probably peaked in April, when BET and CBS Television Studios announced they were partnering to produce new episodes of the show. But if you looked a littler closer in the online world, the dramedy about pro football player Derwin (Pooch Hall) and his wife Melanie (Tia Mowry) was a very hot topic on Twitter and Facebook.

"I heard a lot of people had FB statuses that night that said, "Don't bother me from 10 to 11, I'm watching The Game!" says Debra Lee, CEO and chairwoman of BET Networks. "People also used the show’s photos as their profile pics."

And so it is, just as execs are still getting their heads around digital streaming and DVRs, TV in the Twitter era has become an invaluable weapon in the race for ratings.

A spinoff of the 2000-08 CW sitcom Girlfriends, Game averaged 2.3 million viewers in its first season on the CW (2006-07), climbing to 2.5 million in its second. But by Season 3, the CW had begun to target young women with dramas including zeitgeist hit Gossip Girl, and Game was shunted to the Friday night graveyard, where it languished, finishing the season with an average viewership of 1.8 million. Creator and executive producer Mara Brock Akil tried in vain to convince the CW to turn Game into an hour drama while the show's cast launched a YouTube campaign called "Save The Game."

When the CW canceled it anyway, producers Brock Akil and Kelsey Grammer sold Game to BET, which began running off-net reruns. By that time, broadcast TV had become rather monochromatic. The CW — the last redoubt for shows that spoke directly to African-American audiences — had canceled Girlfriends in 2008, and Chris Rock’s Everybody Hates Chris finished its four-season run the year before.

Game, observes Brad Adgate, senior vp research at Horizon Media, "helps fill a void on television."

"A lot of networks have abandoned African-American viewers," Wilson adds. "There are actually fewer shows, particularly scripted shows, for African-Americans than there were in the '90s," he adds, rattling off a slew of network comedies of yesteryear including The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The Cosby Show and its spinoff A Different World. "So The Game is bound to get a lot of attention."

To take advantage of that attention, BET embarked on a multifaceted and social media-oriented marketing campaign. Its digital division monitored social networks such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter; and instead of creating its own Facebook page for the show, executives found 35-year-old Stacey Mattocks, an insurance agent from Miramar, Fla., who created a page for The Game on her own while the sitcom was still on the CW. BET brought Mattocks onto the team part-time and paid her to run the page. Mattocks even attended the show’s BET premiere and walked the red carpet. The Facebook page now has more than 3.5 million members, up from 3 million in April. The official Twitter feed — @BETTheGame, which BET uses to tweet tune-in reminders and links to preview clips — has only 133,278 followers; BET as a whole has 279,000 followers on its feed. But all those followers have followers. And so on.

"We've definitely been experimenting," Lee says. "It's hard because something has to happen organically. The more you try to influence, the less it works. Fans and audience have to be passionate for it to work. It's a good supplement to traditional marketing. Social networking helps us stretch the dollar. Fans do the promoting for us."

Perhaps even more important, BET took advantage of the stunning figures for Twitter usage by African-Americans: They make up 12 percent of the U.S. population but represent 25 percent of Twitter users, according to a study by Edison Research that’s been widely disseminated and dissected since it was published in the spring. Indeed, Twitter in many ways can be more influential than Facebook — which, after all, is largely about a user’s private social network. Twitter is about having your own public broadcast channel; BET can cut out the middleman and share information directly with friends, yes, but also strangers, who will happily retweet for you.

BET learned this lesson after the 2009 BET Awards. On the night of the three-hour-plus telecast, the 10 top-trending topics on Twitter were related to the event, and BET’s Twitter feed for the show jumped from slightly more than 10,000 followers to 40,000-plus. Meanwhile, traffic at BET.com doubled compared to the previous year’s BET Awards.

And BET saw similar Twitter trends in the run-up to the Jan. 11 premiere of The Game.

"We found Twitter to be a great early indicator as to how well The Game was going to do," Lee says. "The night of the premiere, the show was one of the top 10 trending topics. People were talking about the cast the night of the show and DNA testing, which was part of the story line. All in all, I was hoping it would be a hit but no idea it would be this big. It's all a very pleasant surprise."

For those on the ground in social media, Game’s success is not surprising. Angela Benton — a fan of the show and the founder of Black Web 2.0, which covers technology and new media — was as glued to the television as she was to her laptop during the show, scanning her Twitter stream for comments from friends and strangers during commercial breaks. While watching a recent episode, she says, "I checked in to make sure I wasn't crazy for thinking Melanie was wrong for taking a DNA sample of Derwin’s baby without his permission," says Benton, 29, a divorced mother of three who lives in Charlotte, N.C.

In other words, The Game is more than appointment TV: It is television as a real-time, interactive, collective community, where conversations can at once distract and enhance the TV-watching experience.

This season's second episode of Game was down from the opener but maintained impressive audience levels, averaging 5.9 million viewers. And the show has helped BET launch the comedy Let's Stay Together.

"I hope one of the lessons that the industry will learn from this is that you can have a show that is targeted at African-Americans and it can do well," Wilson says. "You just have to engage the audience on several levels. You cant just run a 30-second spot because people aren't living there. They’re living on Facebook. They’re living on Twitter. Fortunately for The Game, it had this grass-roots social media following that translated into viewers."

Cast of 'The Game'

__________________________________________________
I don’t even watch The Game, but I applaud their comeback. Usually when any show is gone it’s GONE, not to mention a black show.

I do have many Facebook friends who are fans of The Game and one of the main topics of discussion Tuesday night is The Game. I also think that it is cool that Stacey Mattocks who created the Facebook fan page for fun for The Game eventually got hired by BET to run the fan page. The page which at last count was 4.1 million fans can be found here
-Dankwa Brooks

UPDATE: March 2011: The Game Season Finale Ratings

New Post- April 2011: BET Announces MORE New Shows

Related link-
New York Times: ‘The Game’ Is a Winner, Helped by BET Loyalists

Related post-
From May 2009: CW Cancels Two Black sitcoms

The NEW Black distribution model

2011-03-11T15:11:00.007-05:00

This month a great new film distribution model starts. Founded by Producer/Director Ava DuVernay, AFFRM - the African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement hopes to spread the distribution of black-themed films through black film festivals based in New York, Atlanta, Seattle and Los Angeles including our online contact Reelblack in Philadelphia. The film festivals will share the profits from the film for helping to promote its wider release. (Ava DuVernay was also Director & Executive Producer of the BEST production I've EVER seen on BET My Mic Sounds Nice: The Truth About Women in Hip Hop (2010 TV documentary) )

The African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement starts with Ava DuVernay’s film I Will Follow, which stars Salli Richardson-Whitfield and Omari Hardwick.

Read an interview with Ms.DuVernay by my friend Felicia Pride of Backlist here

Watch several videos about AFFRM held at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival below.

NIGHT ONE

NIGHT TWO

NIGHT THREE

Watch an interview with Ava DuVernay below

Related websites
AFFRM
Reelblack
Backlist

Read more about AFFRM in the New York Times here

Check out the trailer for AFFRM's first film below

***NEW INFORMATION***

March 15, 2011

March 18, 2011

New related post-
Why Distribution is Important

UPDATE: September 16, 2011: I have FINALLY seen I Will Follow and have reviewed it here

The Academy Awards

2011-03-01T10:15:00.005-05:00

Yes I LOVE the...

This is what I said in one of my blog entries.

Like everyone I’ve watched the Oscars off and on throughout my life, but with recent achievements by African Americans (Denzel, Halle, Jamie, Forest, etc.) I have been watching them more and now EVERY YEAR.

I have even composed a page of all of the African American Academy Awards winners at our sister blog Cool Black Media.

I love the Oscars because they reward the previous year’s greatest cinema achievements as determined by some of the world’s most accomplished motion picture artists and professionals. It also helps that because I'm a filmmaker I now know what a Cinematographer is (and does) and have an appreciation for "Best Foreign Film" and the like. I am also well aware of the current disparages over the lack of diversity in the awards and I have a very definite opinion on that which I will write soon.

All of my Oscar blog entries have been posted at my aforementioned blog devoted to African Americans in the media

Read the blog entries at the links below-

Cool Black's Oscar picks 2011

Cool Black Media: Lack of Diversity at the Oscars 2011

Cool Black Media: African Americans at the Oscars

Cool Black's Oscar Recap Past & Present

2011 Best Picture Race

***UPDATE***

March 24, 2011- I have completed my piece on the lack of diversity in Hollywood. Read it here

150 Movie Lines & Catch-Phrases

2011-02-28T17:57:00.000-05:00

At almost 11 minutes (10:51) this has some of the great quotes in movie history. (Warning: Some quotes have EXPLICIT LANGUAGE)

Vin Diesel's 1st film about acting

2011-02-25T08:38:00.002-05:00

I read about this film, Multi-Facial (1994), years ago after becoming a fan of Diesel's after the seeing him in Pitch Black (2000, pictured left). The 20 minute short film was produced by and starring Vin Diesel. I have never seen the film until seeing it posted on the great website Shadow & Act.

The story depicts the professional and emotional issues faced by Mike (Diesel), a multiracial (Italian and African American) actor. The film was noticed by director Steven Spielberg, who would cast Diesel in Saving Private Ryan (1998).-Wikipedia

Watch the whole film below in two parts

Part 1

Part 2

Ckeck out Shadow & Act by clicking the graphic below

R.I.P. Dwayne McDuffie

2011-02-22T19:02:00.052-05:00

Dwayne McDuffie’s death shocks comics industry
Feb. 22, 2011 | 3:08 p.m.

Sad and shocking news from the comics world today as word spread about the untimely death of Dwayne McDuffie on the same day that “All Star Superman” – which he wrote the screenplay for — arrived on home video.

Dwayne McDuffie (pictured above left), who wrote scores of comic books for Marvel and DC and founded his own publishing company before crossing over to television and animation, has died. He was 49.

DC Comics says the Detroit native died Monday, a day after his birthday. His cause and place of death weren’t immediately known.

McDuffie wrote comics for the New York-based DC and Marvel, including runs on “Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight,” “Fantastic Four” and the “Justice League of America.” He also penned several animated features, including the just-released “All Star Superman” as well as “Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths” and the animated TV series “Static Shock” and “Ben 10: Alien Force.”

News of McDuffie’s death was first reported Tuesday by the website Comic Book Resources. As recently as last week, McDuffie attended the premieres of the new “All Star Superman” film in Los Angeles and New York, and was scheduled to appear at an event this week at Golden Apple Comics in Los Angeles.

McDuffie tweeted last week that he was “Taking a break from a script I owe to attend the LA premiere of ‘All Star Superman.’”

McDuffie’s work for Marvel included “Damage Control,” which took a serious but fictional look at a company whose job it was to clean up the damage — both physical and legal — resulting from battles between superheroes and supervillains. In 1992, however, he formed the comic book company Milestone Media, which gave him the freedom and leeway to create his own characters, many of whom were of differing ethnic backgrounds.

Milestone Media focused on multicultural superheroes including Hardware, Icon, Blood Syndicate, Xombi and Static, which was turned into the popular children’s cartoon “Static Shock,” on which he served as a story editor. McDuffie also wrote for other titles and characters, including Black Panther and Deathlok.

Milestone comics

Besides comics, McDuffie was a producer and story editor on Cartoon Network’s “Justice League Unlimited,” and wrote and produced episodes of other cartoons, including “What’s New, Scooby Doo?,” “Ben 10: Ultimate Alien” and “Teen Titans.”

McDuffie was nominated for two Emmy Awards for “Static Shock,” a Writers Guild award for “Justice League” and three Eisner awards for his work in comic books, his website said.

McDuffie’s death took his colleagues and friends by surprise.

Dan DiDio, co-publisher of DC Entertainment, said the writer “left a lasting legacy on the world of comics that many writers can only aspire to. He will not only be remembered as an extremely gifted writer whose scripts have been realized as comic books, in television shows and on the silver screen, but as the creator or co-create of so many of the much-loved Milestone characters, including Static Shock.”

Added DiDio: “The industry has lost a true talent.”

Tom Brevoort, Marvel’s senior vice president for publishing, said McDuffie was a force behind bringing more diversity into comics.

“He was very interested in creating a wider range of multiculturalism in comics, having been profoundly affected by the example of the Black Panther when he was growing up, and wanting to give that same opportunity to others of all races, creeds and religions, which is one of the reasons he left Marvel and co-founded Milestone,” Brevoort told The Associated Press. “And he eventually came back to write both Beyond! and Fantastic Four for me.”

– Associated Press

_____________________________________________________

I’ve been a fan of Mr. McDuffie’s for a while. I was one of the people who bought the early issues of Milestone comics. I was still reading comics and I was excited about this new company by black people and featuring black characters. I even did a paper/presentation in college on the company.

When I saw that one of the comics Static was being produced as a cartoon Static Shock, I watched it. As I spoke about in my Verb piece I always enjoyed seeing cartoon characters that looked like me. I didn’t have brown palms like they did, but I wasn’t picky. Ever since I started studying film I also started reading the credits for television/film. Credit reading, I noticed Mr. McDuffie’s name as have written a lot of great episodes of not only Static Shock, but another great show that I watched Justice League. He was also the writer of the BEST animated action movies I’ve ever seen Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (2010) and that was mostly because of the great story. (I named it one of the best films of 2010 in my Entertainment Review here )

His stories weren’t about race or favoring a particular character they were just good stories. He explains himself in one of the clips below about how that is a misperception among black writers and he says it better than I ever could.

As the title of the article above says, his death shocked the industry, but it also shocked this fan. His talent will be missed. Rest in Peace bro.

-Dankwa Brooks

_____________________________________________________

Below are two excerpts from the documentary Shaft or Sidney Poiteir: Black Masculinity in Comic Books featuring Dwayne McDuffie.

About the film-
Through interviews with prominent artists, scholars and cultural critics along with images from the comic books themselves, this film examines the degree to which early Black superheroes generally adhered to common stereotypes about Black men. From the humorous, to the offensive, early Black superheroes are critically considered.

A cool tribute featuring footage of McDuffie and many of the characters he help give "voice" to.

Related links-

Shaft or Sidney Poiteir: Black Masculinity in Comic Books
http://blacksuperherodoc.com/

2011 article about Milestone Comics

Celebrating Milestone Comics

Milestone Media's Wikipedia page
Wikipedia - Milestone Media

A cool site devoted to every issue put out by Milestone Comics
Milestone Rave

Dwayne McDuffie's official website
http://dwaynemcduffie.com/

Ocober 19, 2011
The site Shadow & Act posted Website Of Emmy Award-Winning Writer Dwayne McDuffie (1962 - 2011) To See Changes read it here

Everything is a Remix-Part 2

2011-02-16T14:49:00.003-05:00

Some excellent, excellent points made in this short film about films.

Look out for the new film 'Mooz-lum'

2011-01-09T11:40:00.002-05:00

Looks like it could be a good movie dealing with the African American muslim movement.

An interview with the director Qasim Basir.

Vote to bring this to your town or your college at

at the link here

Mooz-lum exceeds box office expectations

By Sergio, on February 15th, 2011
Shadow & Act

It’s always good news when a good and worthy black film does well at the box office. So it was great news when it was announced earlier today, that Qasim Basir’s film Mooz-lum did better than expected at the box office this past weekend.

Opening in limited release in ten cities, on 11 AMC Theater screens, the film earned an excellent $12,712 per screen, making it one of the highest per screen averages in the country. That’s better than this weekend’s top two films, Just Go With It, and Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, which averaged $8,601 and $9,505 per screen respectfully.

Not surprisingly, the film will open in five more AMC theaters in Columbus Ohio, Elizabeth NJ, Minneapolis, Phoenix and Seattle, and adding another screen in Atlanta.

According to AMC: “the rate at which movie-goers packed the theaters to see Mooz-lum proved the film’s viral marketing approach – drawing heavily on Eventful Demand it!, Facebook and Twitter along with word-of-mouth promotion and targeted public relations – is working.”

Hey can you think of any better news?

Our favorite commericials

2010-12-06T20:26:00.000-05:00

Check out some of our favorite television spots better known as commercials.

Add Verb!

2010-12-03T22:59:00.000-05:00

This is a quick blog about a black superhero I have an affinity for.

Back in the Brooklyn in the 70’s (yeah I’m that old) there weren’t any black cartoon characters really and DEFINITELY black superheroes. SchoolHouse Rock! was also in heavy rotation during Saturday morning cartoons (remember them?) and it was always great see this cat who looked like me and with such a catchy tune to boot.

I even designed a “vanity logo” based on homeboy for our company below

Well here he is. I’ll probably add more info later, but he is the best superhero from my childhood and to quote the most incredible Bill Cosby “if you’re not careful you might just learn something”.

Coming Soon-Two films to see!

2010-12-01T08:52:00.013-05:00

I’ve been involved with the MFF (Maryland Film Festival) for 5 years so far. Three years of those years I was also a volunteer (that’s me as “Line Captain” to the left at the festival). I try to see all of the black films I’m interested in. Not every film I see is great and here is a list of them:

Ok there is no list. I will never do that to another filmmaker for I know what hard work it is to put together a film and no matter how crappy it is, I have to give them props for finishing the film.

I do come across some very good/excellent films and this year was a banner year. I want everyone to look out for these two films:

My tickets stubs from the films 'Freedom Riders' and 'Night Catches Us'.

First I want to talk about the wonderful Night Catches Us

Here is their trailer-

About the film:

In 1976, after years of mysterious absence, Marcus (Anthony Mackie, “The Hurt Locker”) returns to the Philadelphia neighborhood where he came of age in the midst of the Black Power movement. While his arrival raises suspicion among his family and former neighbors, he finds acceptance from his old friend Patricia (Kerry Washington, “Ray,” “Lift”) and her daughter. However, Marcus quickly finds himself at odds with the organization he once embraced, whose members suspect he orchestrated the slaying of their former comrade-in-arms. In a startling sequence of events, Marcus must protect a secret that could shatter everyone's beliefs as he rediscovers his forbidden passion for Patricia.-Night Catches Us, official website

The film directed by Tanya Hamilton, distributed by Magnolia Pictures is available NOW on iTunes and OnDemand is scheduled to hit theaters December 3, 2010. I encourage you to check it out on any of those platforms.

About the stars:
I’ve been a fan of Anthony Mackie since I saw him play the lead in She Hate Me (2004). While the film wasn’t that great his performance was great I could see he was a great talent. He has since starred in a ton of films like Notorious (2009) where he played Tupac Shakur and the Best Picture Oscar winners Million Dollar Baby (2004) and The Hurt Locker (2009). I think he is one of the next big black stars in Hollywood.

Another next big black star is the fantastic Kerry Washington. Kerry Washington also starred in a ton films including Ray (2004), The Last King of Scotland (2006), and the recent For Colored Girls. I’ve seen her in a lot of different films and Kerry is one of the BEST African American female actors in Hollywood.

Update-February 2011 Kerry Washington has signed on to headline Shonda Rhimes' (Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice) drama pilot for ABC titled Scandal. Read more about it here

Based on what I described above is why I went to see this film. I really liked it and I think the director Tanya Hamilton did a fantastic job WITHOUT monitors or storyboards. (Filmmakers will know what I’m talking about.)

As usual for the Maryland Film Festival, after the film, there was a Q & A with someone/people from the film to talk about the film. At this Q & A was the director Tanya Hamilton and one of the co-stars Wendell Pierce. Pierce also starred in a ton of films, but is most famous for playing “Bunk” on The Wire. You can see my cell phone pic below. I know you can’t really tell, but it’s them. LOL.

Left to right: Co-star Wendell Pierce and Director Tanya Hamilton during the Q & A for 'Night Catches Us'

I found out Ms. Hamilton was a director much like myself, a person of few words in front of crowds. Wendell Pierce stepped in like the acTOR he is and “emceed” the Q & A. During this Q & A is where I found out that Ms. Hamilton directed this film without monitors and storyboards. (Again filmmakers will know what I’m talking about.)

After the Q & A I got a chance to meet Ms. Hamilton and Mr. Pierce. They both were very cool and Wendell Pierce was really cool. Of course I told him I was a filmmaker and he remarked “Maybe we’ll get a chance to work together”. Your lips to God’s ears bro.

UPDATE: Night Catches Us was released to DVD on February 1, 2011.
You can go to Night Catches Us official website below-

http://www.nightcatchesus.com/

Last, but definitely not least, I want to talk about the excellent Freedom Riders
Here is their trailer-

FREEDOM RIDERS is the powerful harrowing and ultimately inspirational story of six months in 1961 that changed America forever. From May until November 1961, more than 400 black and white Americans risked their lives—and many endured savage beatings and imprisonment—for simply traveling together on buses and trains as they journeyed through the Deep South. Deliberately violating Jim Crow laws, the Freedom Riders met with bitter racism and mob violence along the way, sorely testing their belief in nonviolent activism.

From award-winning filmmaker Stanley Nelson (Wounded Knee, Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple, The Murder of Emmett Till) FREEDOM RIDERS features testimony from a fascinating cast of central characters: the Riders themselves, state and federal government officials, and journalists who witnessed the Rides firsthand.-Freedom Riders, official website

Of the movies I see at the MFF, most of them are African American (narrative) films and documentaries. These films always range from bad, good, very good and excellent. Most of the documentaries I see are good, but toooo looong. They start off good, end off good, but lose something in the middle. If they shaved 45 minutes out of the middle they would be great. Freedom Riders avoids all of those pitfalls.

The official website’s description “powerful harrowing and ultimately inspirational story” is absolutely right. I was interested, but did not know what a powerful experience this would be. I’ve heard and seen footage all my life about the civil rights movement, yet this was a story I never heard of before. The absolute CRAP the “riders” had to go through was shocking, yet then it wasn’t. I’m never surprised at the depths of depravity that racism would stoop to. What shocked me was my visceral reaction to the amazing real footage and interviews with most of the Riders.

Excellent work by the filmmaker Stanley Nelson and makes me want to check out his other work. I urge EVERYONE to check out this film!

Freedom Riders, a production of American Experience, Premieres on PBS May 16, 2011.

Check out their PBS webpage-
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/freedomriders/

Check out their Wikipedia page-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Rides

My Trip to Columbia-A photo essay

2010-11-26T09:00:00.015-05:00

Exactly two weeks ago this time I was on my way to Columbia and I didn't even need to catch a plane. I wasn't going to the country I was going to

This is an excerpt from their invitation:

Please join Columbia University School of the Arts MFA Film Program for its annual Open House on Friday, November 12 from 5pm to 7 pm. This will be a great opportunity to learn more about the program and meet current students and faculty.

Instead of driving I decided to take a different mode of transportation.
The trip was great in less than 3 hours I was in the state of my birth NEW YORK. I was smack dab in Manhattan.

Less than 5 minutes after getting off the bus someone asked me for some money. WELCOME TO NEW YORK. My [New York] cousin asked me if I "looked lost". I guess I did and looked like an "easy mark". LOL. Yes I gave him some change.

I got to NYC early so I could see the fam before the Open House. So it was time to do something I hadn't done in over 20 years. Ride a New York subway.
The trains looked the same. I was expecting to see some graffiti and breakdancers, but no such luck :( LOL

By the way, there was TONS of graffiti back when I rode the NYC trains, but breakdancing wasn't even out like that. The trains used to look like this.

Photo courtesy of en-derin.com

I hear they still have breakdancing, but the whole trains covered in graffiti like you see above and in 'Beat Street' or something has been long gone.

In my second WELCOME TO NEW YORK statement, almost to my cousin's house, they kicked EVERYONE off the train. Something about "structual damage" to the tracks. I really felt home then.

They kicked us off here. People were on their way to JFK airport with luggage and stuff, but again WELCOME TO NEW YORK..."now do the Rockaway. Lean back, lean back". Sorry I couldn't resist. I do the same thing when I drive to Queens and I see Farmer's Blvd. (L.L. Cool J used to shout it out in like every other song.)

My cousin came to meet me and I told her before I even came to New York there was one place I had to stop.

You just can't get these burgers in Baltimore. Well you can, but they look like this.NOT the same. I got my real burger and went to my cousin's mother's house (also my cousin, but I'm trying to clarify things here.) When I got there...

SMASH TIME!

After enjoying my burgers and chilling with the fam for a sec it was time to go to the place I came to New York for in the first place COLUMBIA!

How was I going to get there? I had to go...

I'm going to admit, going to Queens to the visit the fam on the subway, I felt kinda lost. I felt like a tourist, but on the way back to Manhattan, I had it down! It was like riding a bike. I knew where I was going and how to get there! I knew the transfer point and the trains I needed to take. Just like old times.

On my way back I ran into rush hour.

I remember the packed trains too.

After a long trip from Queens to Manhattan...

I HAD ARRIVED!

I'm probably reading a whole lot of things into this, but this was the first thing I saw at the top of the subway steps.

I thought it was for the film school because the School of the Arts is like right there off the subway, but it turns out this is for the NYC tourism bureau, nycgo.com. I still think it was a sign that NY film is where I need to be!

I made my way here to Dodge Hall, home of Columbia's School of the Arts. I did not take this photo or can't you tell?

Inside was the most exhilarating part of my trip.

I got inside to a pack house. Here were a lot of prospective MFA candidates and the faculty leading a great introduction to the program. Afterwards there was a fantastic Q&A with the faculty and current students. I didn’t have to ask a question because a ton of the questions I had were already asked and answered.

It sounds like SUCH a great program full of collaborative artists. After the Q&A, was the reception where I had a chance to meet some of the MFA students and faculty one on one.

I really could have stayed there for more hours, but I had to go to catch my train to my bus. Besides having a chance to talk to some great artists I just met, I had a chance to talk to an artist I already knew, my boy the great AAA-African American animator-Mark Stansberry.

When I asked my cousin, who shall remain nameless, about which train I needed to take to her house she was a little too slow…a LOT too slow to give me an answer. You done got “bougie” on me cuz. Park that car and ride the trains once in a while. LOL.

Well, while my cuz was “slow in her role” I decided to ask my boy Mark and he gave an answer forthwith. Mark also met me at Columbia and we had a great discussion about art in Baltimore and the artistic possibilities and opportunities in New York.

Thanks Mark!

On my way back to my bus I had to get off of the subway and walk several blocks to the designated bus stop and I had to go past the most incredible...

I finally made my bus and made my way back to Baltimore. I arrived back home full of promise and a new invigoration about what I wanted to do...MAKE FILM. I had my great info and keepsakes from Columbia.

My Columbia University folder and Columbia Film Festival 2010 DVD

Finally, I have to make it clear I have not yet been accepted, even though I have applied.

Thank you for submitting your application to the Film - MFA Program at the School of the Arts. We look forward to reviewing the hard work that you have put into your application.
Please note that most admissions decisions will not be made until April of 2011.
Thank you for applying to the School of the Arts.
Best,
Admissions

And thus, the waiting game begins.

I am also applying to another MFA film program at another school, but this was such a great experience for me, I had to share it. I’ve been back to New York several times, but as I stated this was the first time I’ve been back on the subway and got that whole “city vibe”. It was a fun trip and I had a great time. Stay tuned, for when I do get accepted to Columbia “Start spreading the news…”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Check out this video of my friend Mark "Loves NYC" Stansberry at work!

Happy Birthday Mark Baltimore

2010-08-12T06:15:00.012-04:00

Today is Mark's 37th birthday and to that end I have re-edited the last film. As I stated before Mark’s cousin is a childhood friend of mine. He stated that the family would perhaps like a “clean” version. The original version is raw hip hop the way I wanted it to be, but I could see how his family would like to see and hear him without all the swearing. Even Mark had his reservations later.

I asked Mark if he got my email with the film and this is what Mark wrote me via Facebook on November 10, 2008 at 11:35am.

yeah it was a good look...
it looks like i travel in time...
and back then saying [n-word] that much
wasnt that big of a deal... lol
but it looks great and thanks..

He didn't say "n-word", but everything else is him. I also included a special ending for Mark and his family in this second version that you can see below. I hope they enjoy it. Happy Birthday Mark!

Facebookers you can show love to Mark's page right here

You can see and read about the original film in the blog entry Hip Hop Rules

You can read more info about Mark right here

R.I.P. Mark Baltimore

2010-06-23T20:27:00.020-04:00

Today Mark moved to another plane, a better plane. This is what I wrote about Mark in my blog entry Hip Hop Rules

I shot all this footage with the rapper and had to edit it down to I think 10 minutes or less. When I started editing I was like wow this stuff with Mark is good. Turns out after all the hours and days I shot with the rapper Mark’s stuff was the best. Every time I showed my piece (and it wasn’t many times) people would like what Mark had to say best. Truthfully even I did and one of Mark’s sound bites closed the piece because I thought it was so strong.

Mark was evertyhing a filmmaker would want in a subject. You can't manufacture that kind of charisma and personality. They say Baltimore is small and it's just "four corners" and that turns out to be very true. Mark is the cousin of a childhood friend of mine and we talked about him just yesterday. I only had a chance to work with Mark that one time, but as you can see he was memorable and that's what you will always be bro memorable.

Facebookers you can show love to Mark's page right here

The Baltimore Sun did an article on Mark at the link below
Party promoter Mark Baltimore dies at 36 - baltimoresun.com

You can see the one chance we had to work together, my 1999 student film featuring him below. First a WARNING, the video contains explicit language. Having said that...ladies and gentlemen Mark Baltimore

Oscar Micheaux: Going Postal

2010-06-22T07:51:00.007-04:00

The 33rd stamp in the Black Heritage series, issued June 22, 2010 honors pioneering filmmaker Oscar Micheaux, who wrote, directed, produced and distributed more than 40 movies during the first half of the 20th century. An ambitious, larger-than-life figure, Micheaux thrived at a time when African-American filmmakers were rare, venues for their work were scarce, and support from the industry did not exist. Micheaux’s entrepreneurial spirit and independent vision continue to inspire new generations of filmmakers and artists.

This stamp features a stylized portrait of Oscar Micheaux by Gary Kelley. The artwork is based on one of the few surviving photographs of Micheaux, a portrait that appeared in his 1913 novel The Conquest.

Although only 15 of his movies are known to have survived in whole or in part, Micheaux has become a cinematic icon. In 1986, he was posthumously awarded a special Directors Guild of America award. In 1995, the Producers Guild of America established the Oscar Micheaux Award to honor “an individual or individuals whose achievements in film and television have been accomplished despite difficult odds.”

Read more about Oscar Micheaux on Wikipedia here

July 7, 2010 UPDATE: USA Philatelic (stamp collectors) has a great page with LINKS to collectors editions of the stamp right here

"The Part" Press Release

2009-11-23T06:00:00.001-05:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

‘Nother Brother Entertainment presents “The Part”
Baltimore, Maryland-November 23, 2009 - The Part, a Dankwa Brooks film, is a short film shot in Randallstown, Maryland.

Aisha is apprehensive, not ashamed, of revealing her new acting part to her family. Her father doesn’t make matters better by putting her on the spot to reveal it at a family cookout at their house.

Written in December 2007, The Part has its World Premiere December 15, 2009 at the Rotunda Cinematheque in Baltimore, Maryland.

With the majority of the story set at a cookout, The Part was shot in August 2008 with additional shooting (called pick up shots) during the spring and summer 2009. The cast and crew had a chance to see the film last October at a Private Screening and now the general public gets its chance.
The World Premiere will feature our film The Part as well as outtakes and bloopers. We will also be showing our film Making History with a bonus Special Secret Screening of one of our films.

The Part is listed on IMDb, the Internet Movie Database and we also created a blog Part Blog, Part News detailing much of the process it took to make the film.

‘Nother Brother Entertainment, LLC is an independent film production company in Baltimore, Maryland formed by multi-award winning writer and filmmaker Dankwa Brooks.

For screeners or to arrange an interview with Dankwa Brooks please contact:
Dankwa Brooks
Phone: 443-817-0757
Email: Dankwa@NotherBrother.com

###

Keeping It 100

2009-11-04T06:00:00.009-05:00

Last year this time I COULD NOT WAIT to get up to go vote. This WAS the most important election of my lifetime and I was excited. I must also say that it was something I still did not think would happen.

I’m optimistic about most things, but when it came to America electing a black president I felt like a Public Enemy song “Can’t Truss It”. I thought “they” would find him in bed with a dead hooker and a live boy or something. The history of this country just couldn’t be ignored and I just didn’t want to get my “hopes up”.

I got up early, voted and went to work. After work I had somewhere to go and when I got home the election results were too early to clarify a winner. I went to sleep with the election results on. When I woke up I decided to record it. My DVR says I started recording November 4, 2008 9:57 PM (NBC coverage). It wasn’t until 11pm that they announced the news that Barack Obama was elected 44th President of the United States :-D. After that it was no sleep until THE MAN came on to give his acceptance speech. In the meantime John McCain gave one of the most eloquent concession speeches I ever heard. Major props to him for that.

By my DVR “the next first family of the United States” came out in Grant Park in Chicago (pictured above) at 11:56 PM. Even though I wasn’t there I could feel the energy! Riveted to the screen would be a major understatement. I stayed up and recorded more coverage about an hour after his speech and then I finally got a few hours of sleep before work. I also received several text messages that night and the next morning.

November 5th 2008 was no walk in the park at work because I was so sleepy (what I called a “non alcoholic election night hangover”), but so proud. “Proud” too is an understatement. One word cannot capture what I felt that night and to this day.

And now, a word from the man himself.

*You can read more about what I did last year on November 4, 2008 in 100 Minutes

Our Newest Film-"Making History"

2009-10-18T13:52:00.011-04:00

After casting Kesha Afrika Oliver in The Part and having a chance to talk to her I decided to film an “interview” with her to maybe put on The Part DVD. I found her experiences at Colonial Williamsburg to use her words “interesting”.

Kesha Afrika Oliver in Making History

I really had no intention of committing to another film when I hadn’t even completed the first film. I had to film her interviews after rehearsals and shooting of The Part. The footage was so engrossing I decided to make a short documentary from the interviews. Making a documentary (if done right) is a long process. It’s not just an “interview”. You have to add additional footage (video and photos) and possibly even more interviews. So I decided to undertake this task because I just couldn’t pass up this opportunity.

So now a documentary that started as an interview, that was only for “special features” for a DVD, is now being shown as a film by itself. Somehow a copy of Making History got out and now it will be shown at the end of October. Ok I know how it got out, but it isn’t really relevant to this story LOL. It seems as though the people at Docs in Progress found Making History equally interesting.

I, Writer & Director Dankwa Brooks, will be there and I’m trying to get Kesha Afrika Oliver to attend as well to answer questions. You can read our Press Release about Making History here and stay tuned to this blog for future information.

Making History will screen Thursday, October 29, 2009 at the Creative Alliance at The Patterson.

You can read more about The Part at our blog devoted to the making of the film Part Blog Part News

Making History-Press Release

2009-09-30T18:00:00.010-04:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

‘Nother Brother Entertainment is “Making History”

Baltimore, Maryland-September 30, 2009 - The newest film by Dankwa Brooks, Making History, is a documentary about the effort to include African-American educational programs at Colonial Williamsburg.

Colonial Williamsburg, a venerable historical landmark and a living history museum, has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in Virginia. Colonial Williamsburg is an assemblage of restored architecture, populated with historical re-enactors. These performers, or as they are called "interpreters" , illustrate and enlighten audiences about life in 16th - 17th century America through their attire, language and customs as they would have in colonial times.

Actor Kesha Afrika Oliver (pictured left) talks about her unique experiences as an African-American interpreter at Colonial Williamsburg.

‘Nother Brother Entertainment, LLC is an independent film production company in Baltimore, Maryland formed by multi-award winning writer and filmmaker Dankwa Brooks.

For screeners or to arrange an interview with Dankwa Brooks or Kesha Afrika Oliver, please contact Dankwa Brooks at 443-296-2424 or by email at Dankwa@NotherBrother.com

###

Ron Waters...at it again

2009-08-03T22:00:00.017-04:00

Check out the trailer from my friend Danny Green's film.

There is EXPLICIT LANGUAGE so be warned...and ENJOY :-)

Related link-
Check out some of Ron Water's stand up in my previous post:
Ron Waters at The Mint

Michael Jackson Memories

2009-07-09T12:43:00.002-04:00

I remember the first time I worked with Michael Jackson. I was at Towson University in the Directing for Film class and our instructor said that one lucky student director would get a chance…ok I can’t keep that up any longer. I’m just kidding. Don’t you hate when people make up crap like that?

Seriously when Michael Jackson died I thought it was some rumor. I had somewhere to go that night and by the time I left CNN hadn’t even confirmed anything more than he had cardiac arrest and was in the hospital. When it was finally confirmed I couldn’t think of my favorite Michael Jackson song. Thriller was my favorite album (isn’t it everyone’s?), but I couldn’t think of just one track that I could call my favorite. Truthfully some of my favorite tracks weren’t even singles (Human Nature and Lady in my Life)

Several days later I finally remembered what my favorite track was and it wasn’t even from Thriller. Man in the Mirror is my favorite Michael Jackson song (from the album Bad). In retrospect Bad is a great album, but like other great Michael Jackson albums it has been totally eclipsed by Thriller.

Despite my joke (ill conceived joke? perhaps) at the beginning many of us never met Michael Jackson or were even lucky enough to see him perform live. Most of our memories are tied to seeing him on television.

I don’t think I know anyone in my neighborhood that wasn’t watching Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever (May 1983) and the “event” that made the special go down in television history. The Jackson 5 reunion and eventual Michael Jackson performance was the highlight of the special. As much as his death has been the talk of the town (world), so too was this performance. Later that same year I had my favorite Michael Jackson memory…and it’s the truth this time.

As a child of the inner city we never had MTV, truthfully that inner city, Baltimore City didn’t even have cable capabilities (Baltimoreans from the 80’s will remember that). We had to get our music video fix on late night shows like Friday Night Videos and Pump It Up! (which came on like 3 o’clock in the morning, but that’s another blog).

It was December 1983 and I don’t know why my grandmother was up that late, (about 12 o’clock) but she was and for the only time I could remember we watched Friday Night Videos together. That night my favorite and perhaps the greatest music video ever came on…Thriller. In retrospect Thriller isn’t even a great song (my opinion), but the video was…ground breaking! I loved the story, I loved the make-up and of course the dancing. Pop, locking zombies? I mean come on who did that back then…ever? The dream ending was also PERFECT. We were both completely transfixed and thought it was FANTASTIC! The Thriller video was also the talk of the town (world) and especially school that next week.

That was 20 something years ago and a music video isn’t so much an event anymore since you can catch one anytime on the Internet or even buy and download it.

There will never be an artist like Michael Jackson. One who could create a music video that could mesmerize a 60 something woman and a teenage boy at the same time. I can’t think of another artist in my lifetime that could accomplish the same feat and become the talk of the town…make that the world.

Sun Days

2009-05-01T14:00:00.006-04:00

For those who don't know I was in

now "The Baltimore Sun" on more than one occassion. The Baltimore Sun is the largest general circulation daily newspaper in the state of Maryland.

I was featured in the paper every time I won a local writing contest.

The Scripps Broadcasting drama competition, which lasted from 1982 to 2002, in a partnership with Arena Players (The nation's longest continously running African American community theater.), was a writing competition for African-Americans living in the state of Maryland. The First Place winner received $1,000 and his or her entry filmed and shown on WMAR, Scripps' ABC affiliate in Baltimore, during Black History month.

I won that contest three times, each time appearing in The Sun, and also making me the ONLY three time winner in the contest's 20 year history. Now I have finally posted all three articles on the 'Nother Brother website as part of our new "Press page". I'm hoping to add more press and more pages, but for now you can read the "history":-)

Go to our Press page here

Ron Waters at The Mint

2009-04-29T13:00:00.008-04:00

Hey check this cat out. He's a friend of friend, a Richard Pryor, Bernie Mac type of comedian so there is EXPLICIT LANGUAGE. He's catching on, and he's going to continue to catch on. Check him out below and pass him along.

BMORE HACKS

2008-12-11T11:03:00.007-05:00

Last night (December 10th ) I went to the world premiere of BMORE HACKS and I had to share it with you all. That film is an independent motion picture directed by Maxie D. Collier. I found out about this film through an email like five days ago and was intrigued (and available) to go see it.

The picture was beautifully shot on FILM. All of you independent filmmakers may remember film. (To the uninitiated a lot of independent motion pictures are shot on digital video nowadays). The film had a terrific cast and great music. Also if you’re from Baltimore you will love to see the locations around town where the film was shot.

I encourage you all to support [black] independent film and buy a DVD or digital download. Believe me I DO NOT support projects that I don’t believe in or that I did not like. I really liked this film and I think you will too.

You can check out their social network for more information about the film at http://bmorehacks.socialgo.com/

100 Minutes

2008-11-04T18:00:00.001-05:00

100 Minutes is about how long it took me to vote today. For the mathematically challenged that’s 1 hour and 40 min. There were forecast of lines lasting three hours or more. Thank goodness it wasn’t like that in my area. Truthfully I was more than prepared to wait the three hours or more. Today was SO important I would have done it. I was even hyped to do it. Today was like Christmas morning I couldn’t wait to get up and cast my vote. As excited as I was, there were people there more excited than I.

There was shouting as people left the polling place, several people were taking pictures with cell phone cameras; there were even some video cameras. As a filmmaker I thought about taping the event, but I KNEW there would be many others taping and I predict that by this time tomorrow they will be like a zillion of ‘em on YouTube. The people were excited though and several even honked their horn at the line as they were leaving. One woman even had her music turned up and played a tambourine in one hand while she drove with the other, I kid you not. You can’t make stuff like that up.

Even though I didn’t videotape the event I did document it in my own way.

This is my ballot before my vote

After my vote

Right before I cast my final ballot.

Today was history in the making and I was SO GLAD to be part of it.

Halloween Baltimore

2008-11-02T21:03:00.019-05:00

This year Halloween fell on a Friday so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to create a film that captured the impish, the mischievous, the prankish, the puckish, the pixilated, in other words drunk people in costume. To be fair not all of them were drunk, but they were having a good time and so did we.

This project was a “collabo” between NBE and Central Pop Images. We went downtown Baltimore (is there any other place?) to see how many people we could get to give us permission to tape them and there were many. The people were more than eager to tell us about their costume and even act the part a little. One “Joker” even did a whole scene from The Dark Knight.

As soon as we edit the film we will put it on the Internet for everyone to see, until then, enjoy our slide show below :-)

The 13th Amendment

2008-10-28T10:35:00.007-04:00

An Internet contact of mine Philly's own Mike D of Reelblack is doin' it "reel" big. Forgive the pun. :(

Reelblack’s latest short film production, THE 13TH AMENDMENT was recently awarded the Grand Jury Prize for the first ever CNN IREPORT FILM FESTIVAL. IReport is CNN’s user-generated video blog. The 13th Amendment was chosen among hundreds of submissions dealing with this year’s election submitted from around the world. Grand Prize is a trip for two to his 2009 Presidential Inauguration and a hi-def video camera.

According to Mike he "chose the title The 13th Amendment to remind folks that there wasn't always a time when all Americans had the right of freedom. One of our greatest privileges is the Right To Vote. Please do it on November 4." I can't agree more.

Congrats to Mike D and his awesome company/movement, Reelblack! You can view The 13th Amendment below

You can view the award announcement at http://youtube.com/user/reelblack

Mike Klein's article in Philly Inquirer about the win can be viewed here: here

Hip Hop Rules

2008-10-18T23:30:00.002-04:00

It was the fall 1999, a cold and blustery day. Okay I don’t know what the weather was and it isn’t even really relevant to this story. I just always wanted to say that like the narration to some old movie LOL. Let me try this again.

It was the fall 1999. I was looking in the course catalog for some film/television classes. I came across MCOM 430-Media Producer being taught by “White”. The first day of class I meet our instructor Rick White. I was surprised to see Rick teaching this class. You see I met Rick in 1996 when he directed my first winning script Without a Doubt. (You can read more about that at the link.) Rick is a Director/Producer from the local television station that co-produced my script, WMAR TV 2 (in Baltimore). I came in kind of late and he was showing his reel and the opening to my film was part of it. :D

Knowing his field Rick taught us how to be a television producer, showing us exactly how they produce the news among other things. Our final project was to produce our own piece and that brings me to the point of this blog entry. (It took me long enough I know).

I knew this rapper and I decided to produce a profile about him. I shot hours of footage on several different days to get some good footage. One night I met him in the studio and that’s where I interviewed his producer Mark Baltimore.

This was one of the three final production projects I had to complete. I shot all this footage with the rapper and had to edit it down to I think 10 minutes or less. When I started editing I was like wow this stuff with Mark is good. Turns out after all the hours and days I shot with the rapper Mark’s stuff was the best. Every time I showed my piece (and it wasn’t many times) people would like what Mark had to say best. Truthfully even I did and one of Mark’s sound bites closed the piece because I thought it was so strong. If I had the time I might have went back and shot the whole thing about Mark, but I was under the gun. For some dumbass reason I was taking THREE production classes. I was taking Video/Film Editing, Directing For Film and the aforementioned Media Producer. In retrospect, I should have never done it because it was grueling. Let that be a lesson boy and girl film students, DO NOT take three production classes in one semester. It was our final project and I had to finish it. It took me about 14 hours to edit the piece down and I got it down to around 5 minutes.

This re-edited piece is all Mark Baltimore. I combined the “old school” ‘Nother Brother opening with new ‘Nother Brother animation. I threw in some quick transitions to break up what I thought was the best stuff he had to say. Most of it is from the original piece, but I included NEVER BEFORE SEEN FOOTAGE. (I always wanted to say that too.) There really is no clear narrative to this re-edited piece, it’s basically sound bites strung together. I kept the same music and the same “strong sound bite” closes the piece along with the “old school” ‘Nother Brother closing. I digitized the original project and then went and found the original footage and digitized some of that. (Never lose your footage boy and girl film students; you never know when you might need it.) I rushed this re-edited piece also, but before you say some people never learn let me explain. I didn’t want to spend an inordinate amount of time on this because I am still editing The Part . I also wanted to show some of the hard, hard work I did in college. Okay it wasn’t that hard (LOL). You never know, if this gets like a gazillion hits I might shoot an update with Mark.

For the filmmakers, I originally edited this with Media 100 editing software and the new edit was done with Avid. By the way I got a B in the class. :D

Well here it is no real frills just “The Rules”. First, a WARNING the video contains explicit language. Having said that...ladies and gentlemen Mark Baltimore

CAmm I am

2008-10-15T14:45:00.015-04:00

Since 1995, The Creative Alliance (pictured left) has promoted Baltimore, Maryland as a dynamic center of art in all genres. With members ranging from artists and educators to neighbors and supporters, The Creative Alliance cultivates community through collaboration.

The Creative Alliance is based in the old Patterson Theater hence their full name The Creative Alliance at The Patterson. I'm a member of CAmm, the Creative Alliance MovieMakers.

Creative Alliance MovieMakers (CAmm), a media resource group, offers workshops, screenings, equipment, and networking to folks who work in (and/or love) film, video and digital media. Created by artists working in film, video, and digital media, Creative Alliance MovieMakers’ mission is to establish Baltimore as a national center for distinctive and significant film and new media-making. Building on Baltimore’s heritage of original voices, CAmm cultivates a community that supports the creation and promotion of innovative work in film, video and new media.

I started going to the Creative Alliance because of CAmm events, screenings, workshops, etc. They have other artist events, workshops etc, but as you know, I’m all about film. They have the CAmm Cine Lounge (formerly the CAmm Salon).

Two of Baltimore’s most important filmmaker programs merge to make one powerhouse professional and networking opportunity for filmmakers and actors!CAmm Salon and Cinema Lounge team up as the NEW CAmm Cine Lounge! Cinema Lounge, the vibrant film gathering formerly at Gardel’s, moves to The Patterson, merging its lively following with the CAmm Salon’s detailed critiques and short format screenings.
Cinema Lounge’s Stacie Gentzler (Black Ink Films) hosts! Bring your new film or work in progress (max length 15min) for critical conversation with your peers(plus written feedback!) Bring business cards, headshots, press packets, etc for our info exchange tables! Networking power hour w/ drink specials finishes the night!

The Salon (yeah Imma call it the Salon for a minute) is a great way to see what other filmmakers are doing and give your feedback. To be a filmmaker you must, first MAKE FILM, then you must WATCH other films. In my opinion to be a good filmmaker you must always be a student of film. I have to make a concerted effort to just WATCH a film and not analyze it. As a filmmaker you are always saying WOW that’s a beautiful shot, that’s a cool camera movement etc. At the Salon you can admire and critique people just like you...independent filmmakers. I suggest if you are a filmmaker you get down to the CAmm Cine Lounge (okay I said it) and not only see films, but meet other filmmakers; plus remember...bring plenty of business cards.
The Creative Alliance also offers the CAmm Cage.

Based in traditional film, digital video and new media technologies, CAmm also offers access to affordable production equipment rental.

They have a blog @ http://cammcage.blogspot.com/. You can see a video about the CAmm cage below.
You can go to Creative Alliance’s website at http://www.creativealliance.org/

How and ‘Y’ I started directing television

2008-09-29T09:24:00.001-04:00

I directed a lot of stuff in college, but it was all film directing. I took a class in “TV Studio Operation”, but because it was like 30 of us in the class I never got around to directing. It was years later that I actually got a chance to direct television.

Everybody at work knew about my background in media. I kinda let everybody know that I was a “superstar”, I won some contest , had my degree in film and get to know me now before I become famous (more famous? LOL). One of those people who knew about all of that was Duane Murrill. Again because of my background Murrill and I would often talk about movies and when he started hosting this new show he told me I should come check it out. I did and met the producer and creator of the show Arleen. The show is shot in a television studio donated for public use by Howard County Comcast (in Maryland). It's free to use the equipment; all you have to do is volunteer to be there to run the show.

Said show “The Y-Factor” is a one-hour discussion talk show about relationships between men and women. The host, Duane Murrill, asks questions to a roundtable of 2 to 4 people. It's a free flow of discussion about everything it involved. Murrill is a great host because, and I don’t think I’m putting him out here, he knows a lot about relationships and he knows how to talk! A mutual friend of ours (what’s up Faye) asked “is he a good host” and I said “Of course. You know Murrill can talk!” LOL

I started on the show working one of the cameras. Soon I was directing. As director I am in the control room viewing studio action through a set of television monitors. Each one links to one of the three studio cameras and I issue instructions to the cameramen. I also set up microphones and set layout. Some times, if needed I work the camera on the floor while Arleen directs, wherever she needs me.

I haven’t directed The Y-Factor in a while for two reasons. One, is my schedule is busy because I’m trying to expand the ‘Nother Brother Entertainment brand and work on my short film The Part. (I know that’s two things, but bear with me.) Two, (or three if you want to be technical) is when I am available I like to work on Arleen’s new show 15 Minutes of Fame (I spoke about it in the blog post here). I miss the Y-Factor not only because it’s where I got my start directing, it’s a fun show to not only watch, but to direct. Sometimes I have to stop watching and laughing and concentrate on directing LOL. I think I’m going to ask Arleen if I can I direct the Y-Factor again next month.

The Y-Factor gets down without being dirty about the good and bad of relationships. If you think they go soft on the talk because it’s on television you’re wrong. They get quite frank without being lewd and raunchy. Like philosopher and psychologist William James said “Whenever you're in conflict with someone, there is one factor that can make the difference between damaging your relationship and deepening it. That factor is attitude.” and the Y-Factor has plenty of attitude!

Thanx again Arleen for this great experience and of course my main man Murrill for introducing me to Arleen.

You can watch a clip from one of the first shows below.
You can check out the show’s MySpace for more video and info about how to get on the show!

http://www.myspace.com/theyfactorshow

15 Minutes of Fame

2008-09-24T11:53:00.001-04:00

I’ve talked about my “day job” so now it’s time for the “night job”. Sometimes in the evening I direct public access television shows. We shoot in television studios donated for public use by cable companies. It's free to use the equipment; all you have to do is volunteer to be there to run the shows. We tape this show in the Howard County Comcast public access studio (in Maryland). As director I am in the control room viewing studio action through a set of television monitors. Each one links to one of the three studio cameras and I issue instructions to the cameramen. While the action goes on I switch to one of the three cameras while we record it. I also set up microphones and set layout. Sometimes, if needed I work the camera on the floor while the producer directs, wherever the producer needs me.

One of those shows is the new 15 Minutes of Fame. Below is its intro.

I actually started directing that other show mentioned “The Y-Factor”, but recently I have been concentrating on “15Mins” as we call it. Below is a segment of one of the first shows if not THE first show I directed. The set looks empty because we had to move the set because the singer needed room for her dancers. There are three songs and the dancers appear in the last song.

You can check out the show’s MySpace for more video and info about how to get on the show!

Website: http://www.myspace.com/15minstv

My First Day

2008-08-02T00:15:00.007-04:00

After taking care of all of the administrative stuff for my new assignment (paperwork, parking space etc.) I immediately went on a video shoot. In fact I was in the garage on the way back from parking my car in my new space when my peeps from the Media Production Unit (what's up Laylla and Gino) gave me the tripod and said let's go we're on our way to the van.

It had been years since I had my hands on a professional video camera (in school) , but it was like riding a bike. I jumped right in! It was a FREEZING cold February day. I had nice insulated leather gloves that I COULDN'T operate the camera with so I had to take them off to shoot the video. :(

You'll see the purpose of the video, but it was requested (by the guy in the video) because of the many "Larceny from auto" crimes in the area to air as a PSA.

A public service announcement (PSA) is a non-commercial advertisement broadcast on radio or television, ostensibly for the public good. PSAs are intended to modify public attitudes by raising awareness about specific issues. Television stations are required by law to allot a certain amount of time for PSA's each year.

Below is a famous 1987 PSA

Below is the kickass 1998 "remix" with actor Rachael Leigh Cook.

The video from our PSA wasn't taken from a "street camera" it is a recreation. Actually that opening shot from the street sign to the "criminal" is one of mine :)

A mini van was towed from the police impound lot to that street for the recreation. Here are some cell phone photos I took "after the smash".

We only had one chance to get the smash so we had to do it last and get it right. Good thing too because the actor cut his hand during it. (He was fine. A bandage was all he needed.)

Anyway, our PSA (below) wasn't as slickly produced as those anti drug ads, but I like it the most because...it was my first day.