Black Filmmakers Need to Diversify! Please! I’m Begging you DIVERSIFY!

Now I know the previous post was talking about bp not complaining about media images if we aren’t doing anything or going to do anything about it. Well me I am. Even if it’s not at the moment as I am studying filmmaking. But best believe I have a plan. BET Study: Black Moviegoers Don’t Watch Just Black Films No shit Sherlock! Really No shit! Wait black people like to watch genres such as romances as much as white or other non-black people do? No shit! Excuse the language, but seriously everybody and they mama knows that. Hell, just go to the movie theater and look at who’s in line. This is one of the reasons that the blaxploitation movement ended. Studio execs. realized that just like black people were going to see movies like Abby (blaxploitation version of The Exorcist) or Black Ceasar they were equally going to see The Exorcist or The Godfather and many of other movies. The thing that annoys me with many black filmmakers is this ignoring of this. Why not make the types of movies that many bp enjoy. If black people like Runaway Bride, Two Weeks Notice etc. then why not make movies similar that many black audiences would enjoy? I have nothing against drama slice of life etc., but even white people have a hard time with the. Yes comedies as well as dramas are a hard sell when you start to look overseas especially the fact that every culture has it’s own since of humor. Hell even cultures within the same country have different since of humor.

Another thing is we have to learn to stop trying so hard to make movies about or focusing on black love. Why can’t the two love interest just happen to be black? It’s like black people have to make some hit over your head statement to show you that these two black people represent black love. Filmmakers try way to hard to show black love as something different than the way other groups love. Seriously! We are people. We are not some other and need to stop othering ourselves. Case in point the movie Deliver Us From Eva was deliberately written like it was a Julia Robert’s movie. I think that’s what makes it enjoyable. Not saying making it a race thing btw! Just that the writer wanted black audiences to see the type of movie they tend to enjoy from Julia or any other actress. Like I said before too many black filmmakers (U. S. American) work hard to make a movie black or feel black. Whatever that is. So in a since it’s us making it into a race thing without even realizing it.

Another thing I’ve seen and that annoys me is that we have too many movies like The Best Man don’t get me wrong while I love this movie there are just to many movies with bp and countless baby mama drama going on. I was recently watching a movie called Kiss the Bride where a groom drops an F(literaly)*bomb on his soon to be bride. Even black folks on Amazon were like WTH is up with our love stories. Now I know that white people and other groups have drama and conflict like this in their movies all the time. But see they have something that we African American’s don’t have. It’s called VARIETY! White Hollywood, Indies can get away with an Undercover Brother, because there is also A Beautiful Mind just around the corner. But we have Kiss the Bride, Outrighteous about two women competing over a dude. Seriously!

A friend said this in a discussion on a post from Clutch about Nollywood “I first began looking at Indian programming while visiting the Hookah bar…Everyone is filmed surrounded by grand homes and other beautiful scenery ….The women are glamorized and not sexified…… You actually want to be there…Of course we know reality for all is not that grandiose, but their best foot is put forward ….”

Yes Nollywood, Gollywood and other woods in the big A have crazy high drama. Seriously. I mean check out movies like Beyonce Presidents Daughter which reminds you more of soaps. Plastic surgery, really! LOL or Princess Tyra , Op! Let’s not forget Beyonce and Rihaana but again unlike AA’s they can do this, because while there is Osuofia in London , there are movies like Sitanda , My Idol , White Waters , The Picture Perfect , A sting in A Tale etc. Did anyone know there is a Nollywood version of Cinderella called Cinderella . There are others of course, but this one I am speaking of stars Desmond Elliot who directed a movie I’ll Take My Chances which is beautifully shot Jeta Amata made a beautiful movie Amazing Grace , Stephanie Okereke a big star in Nollywood went to the New York Film Academy and then went to make her first feature film Through the Glass where she cast herself as lead because well she can do that, being that she’s the freaking producer and has control of her image. Hmmm. Maybe something we as AA’s need to learn. Stephanie O even got a NYFA Program in Nigeria so ha!

Okay so them’s a lot of pics. LOL but they are there because hint hint, I want folks to look for them and check them out. Not saying they are perfect, but they have something to improve upon while we are still looking for others to do for us and then either complaining when they don’t or when they don’t show us in the light we want to be seen. Well that’s not others job. It’s ours. We need to control our image. Stop giving others the power to control something that they shouldn’t be in charge of anyway.

So while we have and need movies that show the bad Precious etc. we need movies that show the good Deliver Us From Eva. We need our own The Prince and Me, Pride and Prejudice, Runaway Bride, Casablanca, Palm Beach Story, Diwale Dulhania Le Jeyenge, Kabhi Kabhi Khushi Gham, Dil to Pagal Hai, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Krrish (Sequel to koi mil Gaya. Plus I gotta throw in the superheroes LOL) etc.

Black filmmakers everywhere why not do like Nollywood, Gollywood etc. and distribute straight to video or even online? Why not look to black owned stores to see if they will sell products. I know it won’t be easy, but who knows. That’s how Tyler Perry grew that following. Black store owners sold those video plays, and I believe some promoted his plays, but it’s a been a while. Don’t know if many did this, but it did help to grow his following. Why not try that. Even if the movies are low-bud and look a hot mess it’s better than not trying anything and never getting anything done to improve upon!

Complaining Isn’t as Effective As Doing

Sorry for not posting in a long while. I will try when I can.

I was reading a post at What About Our Daughters (Fantastic blog btw!) and came upon a post from Clutch magazine.
Mad at the Media: Cheap Complainers Get No Sympathy

TV Makes It To the Web Through Independent Filmmakers

There are some pretty sweet web series that I definitely want to mention.

7 Cities

They even have it on TV

Facebook

Dirty South

The Same people who made Dirty South have Kissing Frogs

They also have a website/channel called Milestone Television

Pilot for (not sure if they are still going to have it be a web series or not)

The Endz

Here is another pilot of the Endz

The New York Television Film Festival is a festival for Pilots.

Here are a few

Red Hook High

Cast and Crew

Teachers

Another pilot made for the festival. Don’t know if it got in or not, but it was pretty good.

Which Way

Not a pilot for a festival, but for a class project. Either way it’s pretty cool cute kids show.

Mosquito

Pilot for proposed series
Dirty Rich

you can also view the pilot here Same ep just info on how much production cost, tech specs etc.

Last, but not least is a web series and a damn good one.

Pioneer One Everyone should most definitely check this web series out.

Also Pioneer One’s YT Channel Facebook of course their website

We Don’t Want to Be Left Behind!

I know this was an earlier video than the others, but I wanted to focus on the first two more than the other two.

I just found this dudes vids at YT. Love him. His name is Adam Daniel Mezei He does reviews at Film Courage an Check out PMD-For-Hire

I ended up watching his vids until like 4 in the morning. LOL

Also a discussion even though the thread starter actually isn’t against prosumer cameras just it’s misuse The Prosumer Myth is bad

Indie Distribution Network

Want to learn about film production etc.
DVXUser
Student Films
Student Filmmakers
Indie Talk
Cinematography
Filmmaking.net
DV Info
Indie Club
Indy Mogul
Production Forums

Where ever you go just remember not to get caught up in camera hype and other crap!

Scriptwriting

Wordplayer
Scriptwriting Goldmine
Zoetrope
Done Deal
Matt Hawkins

We should definitely use this open window before it closes. Get started in low in comsumer/prosumer and then move on to high end professional video cams as well as film like super 8 16mm etc. then up to 35mm. If we don’t hurry our time will be up! We will have missed our chance. I won’t be surprised in a few years if YT starts charging to put videos on (which would make sense, have you gone through the search lately. Whew!) Vimeo. There is actually a video sharing start up working on just that. There are some that won’t to go back to Ifilm style where it’s like a festival and the videos have to be approved etc. That means they filter out the crap. I also won’t be surprised when YT starts charging period! Same with other sites. I mean YT now has a form of rental like Netflix. Even if they stay free do people really think that the internet or internet video etc. will always stay wild like the wild west? Even the wild west eventually got tamed. People really think these businesses won’t catch up and on and be a head in the game again. Okay so TIVO, YT etc. through them for a loop, but whose to say it will always be that way?

We Have No Excuse!

The creators of Emperor explain how they came up with the idea about making the movie. For a while you could check the movie out at Vodo by downloading the movie through BitTorrents or UTorrents etc. The movie is free to watch such as Pioneer One that premiered there as well.

My New Youtube Page

Why I hate the Indie vs. Independent And other Film Wars

http://my.spill.com/forum/topics/independent-films-dying-breed
http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail203.html This is too funny. I do remember a film professional mentioning something like this. He stated that many so called no-bud/micro-bud movies or uknown filmmakers (who end up with hit no bud movies in theaters or film fests) have a producer family member/friend, friend of family backing them. Don’t know if this is true or not, but it does make you think when you hear these hyped up stories.

Anyways during your entry into filmmaking you may come across a war going on (that personally gets on my nerves) which is the indie vs. independent war or debate . Also indie vs. independent vs. Genre vs. whatever. To me it’s the most silly debate I have ever seen.

All “indie” is, is a shorter version of independent which means independent of the studio. It was financed (some say a small portion of finance might come from a studio, but the majority from funding outside of the studio system.) That means an independent film is no less independent, because it was distributed by a major studio. Like what was stated in the above video many indie or independent films are more like b-films. B-films aren’t bad. That’s not what the b in bfilm stands for. It stand for budget. Having a low-budget, b actors as in not a list. Also what most say as indie (as in no budget or low budget) could also be categorized as micro-budget filmmaking.

Having no, low-budget, no stars, quircky stories etc. is just a by product, because many indies filmmakers have limited funds not because they are independent. An independent filmmaker could have access to a lot of funds as well as other resources.

You can have a high budget, high concept film and be indie (Star Wars anyone), you can have stars. You can also have a low-budget high concept film as well. I remember someone asking why would Hollywood actors want to do an indie film when they make a lot of money in HWood. I was like duh could it be because they are actors? So they want to-well- act.

DVXUSER “Honestly most of my friends wouldn’t even watch indie movies. I can’t say I blame them. I don’t watch indie movies either. Not true indie movies, anyway. Sure, I watch indie movies that were made for $7, $8 million, but how indie is that honestly? The rest of us making real indie movies are never given budgets like that.” (P.6) What is a true indie film? How is some one with 7 or 8mill less indie? How is someone with stars or known people in their films less indie? (wasn’t mentioned, but I think this needs to be asked)

High Concept according to Blake Snyder “The term was made famous by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Michael Eisner in their heyday as young gurus running Disney. To them it meant just what we’ve been discussing here– making the movie easier to see– and they came up with a long run of successful high concept movies. All you had to do was look at the one-sheet (another name for the poster) and you know “What is it?? for Ruthless People, Outrageous Fortune, and Down and Out in Beverly Hills.” (P. 15)

Just yahoo, google etc. the Katzenberg 28-page memo.

It seems like people have to try to make categories or labels that weren’t there in order to film better about themselves, because another filmmaker or whatever did something they didn’t think of and succeeded. It never occurs to many who do this that independent/indie is going to be different to different people. Just focus on the main definition of an indie/independent film and the rest is personal. Instead just worry about making films. I also think that many get so focused on themselves they forget about the audience. The audience don’t care about all the labels. They just want to see a damn film.

I remember reading where a filmmaker blasted Robert Rodriguez for El Mariachi saying that it wasn’t a true indie film (LOL) because it was an action film like Hollywood etc. LOL I mean seriously how is it not indie/independent. He made it on no-budget (remember that’s true indie), he even sold his body to science (we have a lot of these trials mostly targeted at students in Austin. Especially UT students) His stars were unknowns, he wrote the script based on what he had, he wore all hats etc. So how was it not indie/independent?

What I don’t get is how many of these filmmakers (ones who like to start this type of drama) love to bring up how with indie films you can have your creative vision (as if a big budget indie couldn’t) or tell stories Hollywood wouldn’t tell etc., but are just as likely or scared to have movies featuring black characters as with mumblecore. Like I said these filmmakers don’t owe us anything, but they can’t diss out other indies for budgets or Hollywood studio features for not being daring or having different characters, races, stories etc. when most of them don’t do so as well.

Please! Filmmakers don’t get into this indie vs. independent vs. genre vs. studio vs. anything debate. Just make your films. Yeah there are stinkers in Hollywood as there are in independent or Bollywood, Nollywood or any other industry. Even old Hollywood had the stinkers along with the most loved classics (which sometimes during their own times weren’t loved at all)

Works Cited

“Anyone Made A $250,000 Film?.” DVXUSER. 08-02-2008 03:14 AM, 2008. Web.
20 Oct. 2008. .

Snyder, Blake. Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need. 1st.
Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions, 2005. Print.

Cockney Trek

Funny Trek Parody

The Beauty of the Process of the Development Story

Who would have thought this would become the start of Doctor Who
1963 BBC Report on SF
1963 BBC Follow-up Report on SF
1963 BBC Concept Notes for New SF Drama
1963 BBC Background Notes on Dr Who
1963 BBC Audience Report on Dr Who

Another story that people associate with Doctor Who is Doctor Omega.

Original Star Wars treatments

You can also find the different versions in Star Wars Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas, biography by Dale
Pollock

Wiki for the Adventures of the Star Killer: The Star Wars

Adventures of the Star Killer: The Star Wars Script

These seem to have some of the scripts. Some are fan like Adventures of the Starkiller II
http://www.omg-facts.com/view/Facts/12136 (and they didn’t mention that Obi-Wan didn’t die until later. In most drafts he lives. That is until Lucas collaborated with Joseph Campbell who helped him write the story using the Hero’s Journey. In some versions Luke is the younger brother of Deak. He is called to fight Vader or Valuoron after Deak is killed with the sign Angle Blue. In some some versions Luke is Annikin Starkiller, then Luke Starkiller then of course Luke Skywalker. In different versions Luke and Leia are cousins, brother sister, girl friend boyfriend (as was supposed to happen after the first one until Lucas changed the direction of that relationship) There was even a book written where Luke and Leia are a couple. Man when you read those different treatments and scripts it’s a trip. I love to see the evolution of a story idea.

I mean just look at Doctor Who. Originally the BBC didn’t want to cast a kid. Susan, Ian, and Barbaras names are different. The doctor is more of a nut then he is in the existing series (he even hates scientists, inventors etc. and tries to stop the development of history (tech) in his travels, because he loves the past. Remember originally Doctor Who was a mystery. This is a time before the Time Lords etc.

Lets Make Waves in Television!!!

I’ve been watching the tv show Here Come the Brides  . It was a tv series that came out in 68 about three brothers who go East to bring women to Seattle, Washington. Seriously David Soul Pre Hutch. ummm. Recently learned that it was based on two women who had this idea. This is a cute fun and delightful show. Here Come the Brides DVD description I have the complete first series from the library. Trying to find stuff for my grandfather to watch since we didn’t have cable. Now we do. But anyway I remember watching this show as a kid and was like look at all these people from Trek.lol Plus were those Bolt men hot!!! when I see this series or others they are usually on cable channels. What I started to wonder is why don’t these channels create their own even if it’s low-budget if they want this type of programming. I actually wonder why networks aren’t making shows like this now or like Lost in Space not that new hot mess WB pilot. Now I know it’s probably harder than all of that. I totally wouldn’t mind a low-budget tv series even if it looked low-budget as long as it’s good and entertaining. Why must America always think that tv shows have to be uber high-budged so called higher production quality (half the time over programming quality)? Just because a show has a high prod value doesn’t make it a good show or even entertaining. Just look at what’s on tv now. The show can be shot on film, video or whatever. I loved the series Christy that came out in 95. The series was short lived, but there was a tv movie series for the fans that came out on Pax. The movies were shot in Canada vs. Tennessee (which is def more preferable), because of budget. Now a series didn’t go through because (family etc.), but seriously it got me thinking. Why can’t a series like Christy, Here Come the Brides, hell the Rifleman (when you think about it they are mostly on that farm or in that damn town). Frankly I have nothing against shows being shot on sets/soundstages as was done in the past (if that keeps it cheaper than I’m all the way for it, well except for cgi sets (unless they are good)

Can you say low-budget? Can you say not the best production values? Can you say not the best acting? Can you say a short season? Can you say so what?
Some of them
Walk on Water (Christian TV Drama Series)

The pilot was made on a very very very low-budget (not telling on the site, out of respect for the creator(s). People don’t like telling budgets for business reasons. Might not mind, but I don’t want to chance it. I asked them at youtube user site and I got a response about the production cost.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLlYM-3uQik

Atlanta Homicide, but I so don’t want to see a new slew of cop and law shows in the vein of L&) (Love L&O, CSI etc, but damn) now a series like Adam 12 maybe. Or something like Rosemary and Thyme. Loved that series. Then again I love cozy mysteries. I just love mysteries.

Shubian’s Rift has there eps up

We of course can’t forget the BBC Productions such as Blake’7, Doctor Who and a slew of mini series, sitcoms and dramas

Yeah you have people bitching about the low-budget quality of some of these series, but they are still watching in order to be complaining about it.

And from the low-budget black films I’ve seen come from Maverick, Yorke and countless others it’s a trip BET can’t do a tv drama series or even a sitcom. Nora’s Hair Salon was mostly on set, but the first film could have been the basis for a weekly dramatic series and the sequel could have been the basis for a sitcom as most of it was on a film set.

Here! A network geared to the gay and lesbian community has two series called Dante’s Cove and Lair which are influenced by shows such as the occult soap opera Dark Shadows.

Strange Paradise A canadian tv soap similar to DS (which was pretty cool actually) was low-budget, but ironically enough had a bigger set than DS. Yes some of the other sets looked low-bud, but so the hell what?

Another thing I wish would happen is for my Network TV to do what UPN didn’t. Be better than CW. Don’t try to cater to teens. Make shows like Trek, Firefly etc. as well as shows like Brisco Country Jr. shows like Here come the Brides, The Rifleman anything non CW Dawson’s Creek, Gossip Girl type shows please. I can’t take it anymore. If they must do a teen show do a teen show like 24-7 or the Tribe or something. Bring back kid shows. Real kid shows and not the crap we see on Nick and Disney. I loved the Enid Blyton Adventure Series from NZ there was another I can’t remember the name or the Famous Five. Bring back shows like the Press Gang, Tomorrow People, Hypernauts (even though short-lived was da bomb), Emily of New Moon type shows etc. And for goodness sakes MNTV please re-try the novela again and don’t let Hollywood get you. Anyway why not have shows that people actually want to see. The fact that you see so many fan films showing adventure and hope which is opposite of these depressing we all suck, humans are the dreggs of the world and universe crap is because most people that want to see that mess or even feel that way. So lets make shows that not only we would want to see, but our kids etc. Not hey my neighbor might not like this or might like that. Okay your damn neighbor. I’m sorry, but I look at what I would want to see on tv or what my kids or yes getting poll of what others are interested in seeing etc. but at the end of the day it being about what you the producer etc. would be interested in. Reason why I love the Grey’s Anatomy creator. She stated that she doesn’t write for fans. She creates her shows based on what she would be interested in watching after watching tv when her child was born. She said she was like who wants to see this. She got in there and did it. We all know that these damn polls and whatnot don’t represent what most of the population actually thinks or wants. With Smallville in it’s last season we are going to be stuck with a bunch of teen dramas. I do like the new Cheer show. Frankly I think CW needs to bring in new types of dramas and sitcoms. The whole purpose of UPN, WB, now My Network TV and CW and cable as well were so that new tv shows could be made or even brought back that couldn’t be on major networks. Problem is that never happened. Now all we have is Dawson’s Creek/Felicity etc. in constant remake mode. This crap has even infiltrated the majors. I mean Freaks and Geeks and My So Called Life were way better teen shows then the hot mess that’s on CW and the teen shows on now. I remember as a teen hating DC because it didn’t reflect anything about teens. Most of the teens I knew couldn’t relate. Most of the time it was adults watching the show. Most kids were watching shows like 24-7 or Degrassi (the original and later the new). When I would show teens the Tribe many impressed and became hooked. Same with 24-7. Then when they tried to watch DC it was like torture. The fact that many of these shows have a hard time on the CW. One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl etc. (which were having a hard time with ratings) is because people are sick of it. I also don’t want to get on shows like Lost (which was just Amazon, remember that show?) and yes I loved Lost, but do we need hyper overarching story lines all the damn time? We take great concepts and go overboard with them. These producers need to look at JMS and Babylon 5. You could not watch that show in a while and still get back into it even with the arch. (like I said don’t want to get into this yet)

Honestly I don’t have a problem with the Andromedas, Starhunters, , Relic Hunters (Veritas (came out later I think), loved that treasure hunting show with Michael Bean, Cleopatra 2525, Jack of All Trades, Lazarus Man’s, (which was great. Canned the show because Robert Ulrich had cancer even though he said he could still do it.) Lonesome Dove which got jacked up but hey, Highlander, Forever Knight. Okay now I’m just getting depressed. They don’t all have to be scifi, fantasy or action adventure.

I’m a big proponent of us doing series on the net, net tv, but my biggest goal is for us to be on broadcast tv. Use the net to get us started.

Another thing and this is vital. We have to learn to be steadfast even when others want us to go with what they are saying. I might not like the New BSG or Caprica, but I have to respect Ron Moore for sticking to his guns with story lines even when fans complained because a storyline wasn’t going the way they wanted. Anders for example he kept in as a love interest for Starbuck even when others questioned what he was doing. I like that. Many cave in and stop a storyline, because the producers get nervous based on what some fans maybe saying. Yau’ll know why I’m brining this up!

Also please do just like you would when studying film by watching old movies, international etc. Watch old tv shows international etc. and stop turning up noses because a show is old or from another country. I think one of the biggest problems is that writers, directors etc. aren’t studying old tv shows. It’s like everyone keeps trying to reinvent the wheel, because they never studied the damn wheel in the first place.