Hey ya'll,

Really,I'm not sure if anyone is reading this but that's okay.Anyways, its been over a month since I've been on the blog and a lot has happened.Original this blog was going to be on the production of MJ but because theirs a lack of black movies in general it'll cover the development of The Ebony Cinematheque.

The Ebony Cinematheque is my production company which I launched in late August.The reason being I needed one just to get the name of my work out there.While frustrated of the lack of luv for Mike as a potential film property I took the Sophia Coppola method,write something inbetween to past the time.That "something" turned into my 1979 rollerdisco flick called "TILT".The film was inspired by this pic of MJ with Jermaine and YES! thats Barry White.Here's the synopsis:

Tremaine, a Los Angeles teenager works in a record store during the day and roller discos at night with his two sisters Lavelle and Sharon and best friend Freddy before leaving for college. He wants to be a prolific writer like the black literary greats of the previous generation and guards his heart like he protects his thoughts in his notebook. Tremaine, Freddy and his sisters hang out at the Tilt roller rink with their various friends. One day while working in the record store Tremaine meets Nova, a sexy New York transplant that go-go dances at night and the two begin a romance of funk music and roller-skating.

But everything changes when his best friend who works at the rink is killed, shot in the head standing outside the rink called The Tilt. While trying to deal with the death of his friend, he comes to terms with his relationship with Nova and the loss of Freddy. A few weeks later the rink is opened and Tremaine and his friends have a memorial skate to their fallen friend. That night, Tremaine and Nova consummate their relationship making their bond stronger. In the last week before Tremaine leaves, Jackson’s Off the Wall album is released and in one final skate with his sisters and Nova, he says his goodbyes underneath the sparkly disco ball.

Then things blew up.I finished the film and then start to look into making my this movie myself.See, I had been reading Spike all summer and other black filmmakers and when you get right down to it, its like my professor said: Do it yourself!

So I put together the company, and started the development and preproduction of my film.I've turned my script into a shooting draft, just finished my film offering and prospectus and now I'm looking for financing which seems bleak but then something else incredible happened.

I contacted my mentor and asked him a few production questions and he asked simply, how much do you need? I could have passed out.Nothing is official yet but let's hope my mentor knows someone who's interested.

Keep You posted.

MAKING OF KING PART 5

December 2009 I got into independent producing. I and my professor Tim were having a conversation on how hard it is to get indie stuff made. Tim told me that the problem was people standing around and waiting for someone to come along and make their projects. “The key to become a great director is going out there and shooting your own stuff. Don’t wait, go shoot it yourself. Everything you need is right here” .I took Tim’s advice and started preproduction on an indie doc on Mike. Since I didn’t have movie to make the J5ive then I’ll make something I can do. I used CELTX and storyboard the entire film then went looking for stock. I told Tim, Getty would cost me almost 1300.00 dollars for stock on MJ that was 15 secs. long. Tim said he could help, he showed me Vixy.net and from there I was able to take post footage from offline and use for the documentary. The finished product cost me 50.00 in gas money. The film was called “MAGIK: MICHAEL JACKSON” it was an homage to John Lennon’s doc “IMAGINE” using the same type of template but lower quality. I’ll post segments over the weekend.

MAKING OF THE KING PART 1

On June 25th, MJ lefted us and the world became a little less magical.With his death, a tremendous revitalization into his career was born and thus Michael Jackson became just what he was pop culture.When he died I cried for like weeks, it was crazy.But after weeks passed I became determined to make Michael's life into a film that was fitting to who he was as an individual.Sure,their been a few before me(Jacksons: An American Dream and that awful Man in the Mirror movie) but no one has sat down and written the real MJ except for a man named J.Randy.I read his book 4 times the summer Mike died and couldn't stop laughing and crying at the same time. I immediately started development on a Jackson 5 and Michael Jackson biopics.

It was around Spring that I began to query the J5 script and get buzz on it.I I packaged my film with a prospectus and query everyone from the black staples(IE RAINFOREST FILMS, EDMUNDS ENTERTAINMENT AND MTV FILMS).They all passed due to the fact I had no representation, they didn't want to messy things with a legal battle at all the potential profit they know they would make.Finally was MJ's estate who wrote me back on nice letterhead, I still have that letter.They told me they loved the idea but the legal implications was too great.

See, I had written a letter to his estate a while back(LOOK FOR THE NEXT POST) and I believe that's why they didn't throw this away.But I never give up and I will make this film with me helming it if needed. I looked at Kasi Lemmons.She's the director of Eve's Bayou, she wrote that so she would have work.When she shopped it around, no one wanted it but she was like "Damn! wait a minute I went to film school" and I was like "Hell yeah Kasi ".But this blog will document the journey to making these films and the process I went through a year after the death of Mike.