Urban Thought Collective

Hello UTC Family!

It’s been a long time and I can’t believe I’ve been away so long…but I’m back and I have a lot to say! First, I hit a bottom after my last trip from LA. I couldn’t move for two weeks after taking a studio meeting regarding my first feature film.

We met for 2 hours, with the producer of our project, who has a slew of classic films under his belt. Also on board, a DP of one of our favorite classics, a top costume designer and actors on deck whom we all love…however, a few days after the meeting I was told that although they love the project and wish the studio would make more like this, they’d have to pass because it felt like “The Best Man,” and because a “Best Man” type of film hadn’t been made in over 10 years, the studio will be reluctant to put money in that type of movie.

I was also told it was like a Tyler Perry genre…this is when I had my Charlie Brown moment…you know, when they hear the teacher talk and the sound is just “wahnk, wahnk, wahnk…” Tyler Perry!!!???

Now, I have nothing against Tyler Perry, but I also don’t have “Madea” in my film. There may be an ensemble cast like “Why did I get Married?” but it’s not “Why did I get Married (also)”…it’s different. Yet, it made me wonder: why does it seem as if there can only be one black filmmaker at a time? In our generation, there was Spike Lee, then John Singleton, then F. Gary Gray, even Hype tried…prior to Hype Williams, there was Darnell Martin, then there was Gina…Prince Bythewood and the list continues. However, we all know that where there is a Michael Mann, there’s a Steve Soderbergh, where there’s a Spielberg, there’s a Bruckheimer and the list goes on and so does the bullsh!t, but we gotta keep “hustling and flowing ‘cause it’s hard out here for a pimp.”

Before my call with the studio developer ended, I was told that the second time around is easier and when we make the film, come back to discuss acquisition. Ok. A long time ago, Spike Lee was able to get friends and family to invest in his first film “She’s Gotta Have it” and it blew open the box office. That was then…now, it takes a couple million to do a film properly and to get it sold. If I had the millions in my pocket, I wouldn’t need a studio…a lot of us wouldn’t need the studio to cut us a check, but hey, that’s the game we’re in.

Gotta “show and prove” that we’re a hot commodity, gotta show and prove that there is an audience for “The Best Man.” Gotta show and prove that I will say “Love Jones” in a studio meeting because I LOVE THAT FILM! Gotta show and prove that proper marketing can make a movie like “Love Jones” a successful film, and worth mentioning in a meeting…worth saying that yes, there are young successful, urbane audiences out there who want to see movies that reflect our lives. We’re tired of seeing our peers shucking and jiving. We’re tired of seeing black men in dresses. We’re tired of saying our Romantic Dramas are Romantic Comedies because only Black comedies sell…who says?!

I learned a lot in my recent trip to my first full production day. I learned what sells, what doesn’t, what I can’t say and what I have to do to make it. I’ve also learned that the studio exec did not need to speak to me at all, to explain how it really is, and I’m so very grateful that the executive lit a fire under my butt to get the financing to make this Romantic “Dramedy” because I also realized that I have a Love Jones for films like The Best Man and I can’t wait for the day they’re resurrected. What about you?

Dominga Martin is a filmmaker and journalist based in Brooklyn. She is Co-Founder|Editor-In-Chief of www.creme-magazine.com, an on-line magazine which highlights celebrity and tastemaker lifestyles. In 2004 she launched a t-shirt line, tamBöi (www.tamboi.com), combining her love of fashion, rebels and film. Her blog “Hollywood Gumbo” is an exclusive found only on UTC.