OZ MAGAZINE ATLANTA
September / October 2020
film. tv. entertainment SINCE 1990
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CONTRIBUTORS Jordan Moore
OZ MAGAZINE
STAFF Publisher
Tia Powell (Group Publisher)
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Feature Story: "Pivotal Cinema: The Career of Bryan Barber", p.40 Jordan Moore is a filmmaker with a strong drive for telling compassionate, meaningful stories. Originally from Huntsville, Alabama, Jordan moved to Atlanta to join the film and entertainment industry where he began writing and directing films. Moore is the President and Founder of IAF Media, a company that creates unique, visual content for artists in the Southeast.
Kevon Pryce Feature Story: "Pivotal Cinema: The Career of Bryan Barber", p.40 Kevon Pryce is a writer and filmmaker based in Atlanta, Georgia. He writes film news, short stories, poems, and screenplays. His films have screened at festivals across the Southeast, such as Atlanta Film Festival, Rome International Film Festival, and Sidewalk Film Festival to name a few.
lane matravers Feature Story: "A Seat in the Cinematic Classroom", p.44 Lane Matravers is a screen and TV writer, playwright, and aspiring novelist based in Atlanta. Matravers has a Bachelor’s degree in creative writing and journalism from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a Master’s in creative writing from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Her one-act play, Witch in the Woods, has been produced in Vancouver’s Brave New Play Rites festival and Atlanta’s RoleCall Theater.
Miranda Perez Feature Story: "An Outsider Knows An Outsider", p.52 Miranda Perez is a senior at Clark Atlanta Univeristy, pursuing a degree in mass media arts with a concentration in print journalism. She writes about social justice issues, politics, and fashion. Perez has written for established publications such as The Nation, Prism, and Her Campus. For Advertising Information:
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For Press Release Submission: brooke@ozonline.tv
ozmagazine.com /ozmagazine /ozpublishing /ozmagazine Oz Magazine is published bi-monthly by Oz Publishing, Inc. 2566 Shallowford Road Suite 104, #302 Atlanta, GA 30345 Copyright © 2020 Oz Publishing Incorporated, all rights reserved. Reproductions in whole or in part without express written permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited. This magazine is printed on recyclable paper.
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Kayla Grant Feature Story: "Filmmaker on the Rise", p.56 Kayla Grant is a senior mass media arts major with a concentration in journalism attending Clark Atlanta University. She is a cross-topic journalist with a passion for entertainment news. Before working with Oz, Grant’s words were published in Rolling Out and The Atlanta Business Journal.
TRACY BOSWORTH PAGE Cover Photo & Story Photography: "Atlanta Studios Navigate The Safe Way Forward", p.34 Tracy Bosworth Page has focused on creating memorable images of actors and entertainers for over 13 years. She is an award winning photographer specializing in editorial and commercial portraits and is an Ambassador for Zeiss Camera Lenses, based in Atlanta. She is a graduate of the University of Georgia with her degree in advertising and fine art.
SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020
CONTENTS
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FEATURE STORY
A compilation of recent news and hot projects from and about the Georgia entertainment industry
A Seat in the Cinematic Classroom Exploring the degrees fusing film studies and film production at Oglethorpe, Georgia State University, and Emory
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FEATURE STORY
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An Outsider Knows An Outsider A Q&A with Diany Rodriguez about her work on HBO's Georgialensed series, "The Outsider," and her activism on and off camera
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COVER STORY Atlanta Studios Navigate The Safe Way Forward Atlanta film studios open for business during COVID-19
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FILMMAKER ON THE RISE Celebrating the strides of Atlanta's up-and-coming filmmaker, Mahalia Latortue
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FEATURE STORY Pivotal Cinema: The Career of Bryan Barber Atlanta-based filmmaker, Bryan Barber, impacts the way we view music videos today
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Let Me Give You My Card
September / October 2020
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WILSON DEBUTS ON CW’S “STARGIRL”
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he DC Universe series “Stargirl” made its television debut on The CW network this summer. The American superhero teen drama was originally a web television series that premiered on DC Universe but has since aired on The CW. Soon after its debut, the series was renewed for a second season by The CW, resulting in “Stargirl” moving to the network as a CW original series. The Georgia-lensed series was filmed in March of 2019 and starred Georgiabased talent like Lesa Wilson. Wilson is no stranger to the superhero universes, recognized on “Stargirl” as Bobbie Burman and in “Doom Patrol” as superhero Rhea Jones, aka Loadstone. Wilson began her acting career in Atlanta in 2006 after she booked a part in an independent film which ultimately led her to sign with her agent at Atlanta Models and Talent. “I was absolutely thrilled to hear that ‘Stargirl’ was being picked up and would be a CW original series! Being a part of a show that is an instant fan favorite is a career dream,” Wilson told Oz. “Working in Atlanta is great. My family is close and
Lesa Wilson
most of my friends are here so it feels good to be able to work from my home base. I love traveling to other cities when work takes me there but staying close to home is always the best.”
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GEORGIA FILM ACADEMY OFFERS FREE COVID COMPLIANCE COURSE
Georgia Film Academy offers free COVID compliance course
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he Georgia Film Academy (GFA) is now offering its first-ever COVID co m p l i a n c e c o u r s e ( C C C ) . T h e academy is offering the course free to film and television production workers, casts, and crew. The CCC provides an unprecedented virtual training program of safety and sanitation best practices and procedures for anyone who works on a film set in Georgia. “The GFA is committed to putting Georgians back to work in the film and enter tainment industr y through this industry-standard course,” GFA Executive Director, Jeffrey Stepakoff, said. “We intend to add value to productions with safety protocols based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Georgia Department of Public Health.” GFA’s veteran film instructors have i n co r p o r a te d t h e m o s t u p - t o - d a te protocols from the CDC and GDPH to create individualized, trade-specific crafts on film sets. The program will address industr y concerns with policies and
procedures that ensure Georgia leads the nation in how to safely reopen and operate the film industry. The CCC holds true to the GFA’s founding goal of building a workforce pipeline for Georgians into the state’s growing f ilm industr y. The t wo -par t course may be presented entirely online for employees and on-site for producers, showrunners, and key personnel. The first
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component addresses basic safety and sanitation procedures for working on-set and the second is a series of shorter, craftspecific instructional videos. Graduates receive certificates of completion from GFA and a handbook of recommended protocols and procedures. “This is another way we can ensure a bright future for our students,” Stepakoff said.
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GEORGIA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS AWARDS 148 GRANTS
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he Georgia Council for the Arts (GCA), a division of the Georgia Department of Economic Development, awarded the recipients of its Partner, Project, and Arts Education grants for the 2021 fiscal year. Across the state, 148 organizations were collectively awarded more than $1 million in funding for operating support (Partner Grant), arts projects (Project Grant), and Arts Education (Program Grant.) Funds awarded by GCA include appropriations from the Georgia General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts. Grant recipients included theatres, dance companies, museums, cities, colleges, and multi-discipline arts entities. “This initial round of funding awarded by Georgia Council for the Arts services to support the critical work arts organizations and artists are doing in communities to foster connectivity, rekindle joy, and support lifelong learning during these dynamic times,” said GCA Executive Director, Karen Paty. GCA Executive Director, Karen Paty, said.
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ATLANTA’S BLACKWELL SHINES IN AWARD WINNING TV SERIES “DAVID MAKES MAN”
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tlanta-based actor, Lindsey Blackwell, stars as Marissa on the Oprah Winfrey N e t w o r k ( OW N ) s e r i e s , “ D av i d Makes Man.” Blackwell plays friend and classmate to the main character, David, who is struggling between focusing on his academic future and navigating the dangers of his South Florida neighborhood. “Being in the cast of ‘David Makes Man’ was a dream made real,” Blackwell told Oz. She continued to describe Atlanta as a village that allowed and encouraged her to film throughout the Southeast. “I’ve been able to work locally and grow my résumé, which helped me prepare for [the show].” “David Makes Man” is created by Tarell Alvin McCraney, who is known for his Academy Award winning film, Moonlight. “David Makes Man” has received three award nominations from The Gotham Awards and Critics Choice Awards, and won a Peabody Award.
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Lindsey Blackwell, stars as Marissa on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) series, “David Makes Man”
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September / October 2020
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GEORGIA-LENSED BLACK GIRL MAGIC ON THE HORIZON
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lack Girl Magic is a coming of age film created by Georgiaraised and Atlanta-based director, Sherri Johnson. The film, which was shot in Atlanta by local crew, is suspenseful entertainment for the whole family. Johnson is proud to have casted locally as well. The film stars Heaven Hightower, who is known for her role in The Hate U Give, as plays Heaven. It takes viewers deep into the South where a mystical world exists that secretly teaches young girls the art of black magic. Johnson is primarily known for her work in television, as the Founder of Strong Voices TV Network. The network provides subscription-based television that represents LGBTQ+ communities, its allies, and advocates. Johnson was inspired to tell the story of her Black ancestors and their worship practices before being introduced to Christianity. Black Girl Magic is inspired by films and literature like Harry Potter, Star Wars, and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
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September / October 2020
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OzCetera June Kids Sketch Camp gets active
SKETCHWORKS COMEDY’S VIRTUAL SUMMER CAMPS GO OFF WITHOUT A HITCH
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ver the summer, Atlanta’s awardwinning live sketch comedy company, Sketchworks Comedy, offered their unique summer camps virtually. Under normal circumstances, the camps are held at Village Theatre in the Old 4th Ward. However, with theatres and performance venues shut down due to the global pandemic, Sketchworks Comedy was forced to do what they do best in order to
host camp this year: get creative. In addition to sketch comedy writing and sketch comedy acting, Sketchworks Comedy also offered video production, a new element to their programs in the past. “Our summer camps are a lot of fun and very active for the campers. The challenge was maintaining that virtually,” Maria Liatis, Sketchworks Comedy’s Executive Director, explained.
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SOUTHEAST EMMY® AWARDS AND SILVER AND GOLD CIRCLE HONORS CHANGE IT UP
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he 2020 Southeast EMMY® Awards are traditionally held at the Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead; however, with the spread of COVID-19, the event will now take place as a virtual gala, streaming live on September 12th at 8 PM. The pandemic also required a change to this year’s Gold and Silver Circle induction ceremonies. The Southeast Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences postponed the event to 2021. The event will feature the induction of both the 2020 and 2021 honorees into this distinguished society.
"NAVIGATING THE NEW NORM IN A POST-PANDEMIC WORLD" LOOKS AT HOW COVID-19 WILL SHAPE THE WORLD
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avigating the New Norm in a Post-Pandemic World" is a three-part series, created by Atlanta attorney Lee Morin, in response to the changing world shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic. Morin devised an educational program where experts in the legal community discuss how old and new laws will function in a world after the virus. The series is also presented by the southern US chapter of Association Internationale du Film d'Animation (ASIFA-South) and Georgia Game Developers Association (GGDA). The panels are moderated by Morin and hosted by Ginger Tontaveetong, ASIFASouth’s Executive Director, and Andrew Greenberg, GGDA’s Executive Director. The three sessions were filmed throughout the summer and cover everything from laws related to labor and employment, to laws related to small businesses and estate planning. Each legal subject is linked back to the pandemic and how the laws might function in the "new norm." Each of the three sessions will be available on ASIFA-South's YouTube channel for public viewing.
September / October 2020
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UNAFest®, the fundraising film festival dedicated to championing female filmmakers and bringing women together in their communities, went virtual this summer. The festival was hosted by LUNA® and Atlanta GLOW. Atlanta GLOW is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to encourage, educate and equip young, low-income women to be thriving, self-sustaining leaders and effective agents of economic growth within their communities. By providing mentoring, leadership development, and life skills training, Atlanta GLOW aims to ignite each young woman’s potential and prepare her with the tools to take action and thrive at home, school, in the workplace, and in the greater community. This unique film festival highlights women as leaders in society, illustrated through seven short films by female filmmakers. The films range from animation to fictional drama, and cover topics such as women’s health, body image, relationships, cultural diversity, and breaking barriers. “This year’s LUNAFest® brought women from a diversity of backgrounds from all across the South for an empowering ladies night in and virtual screening of films made by and for women,” Ashlie James, Founder and Executive Director of Atlanta GLOW, told Oz. “We had a fantastic turnout and great engagement among the women in attendance … to support mentoring, leadership development, and life skills training for young women and girls in the metro Atlanta area.” “We jumped at the opportunity to collaborate,” James stated about the connection between Atlanta GLOW and Clif Bar and Company. “It was an amazing partnership, and we look forward to collaborating again in the future.”
OzCetera Movie poster & still from Tulsa
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FAITH-BASED FILM TULSA OPENED FOR NATIONAL RELEASE IN REGAL THEATRES
nspired by true events, the Georgialensed film Tulsa brought a home story to the masses when theatres reopened nationwide in August. Directed by Scott Pryor and Gloria Stella, the movie inspires men to become better fathers and to love unconditionally. Tulsa is a story about holding onto faith and demonstrating love
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even when circumstances seem lost and hopeless. The film, which was shot over the summer in and around Augusta, stars John Schneider who played Bo Duke in the TV series “Dukes of Hazzard.” Cameron Arnett, from the film Overcomer (2019), also appears in the feature.
“Our stor yline touches on broken families, foster care, PTSD, the lack of support for veterans, and what faith can do to come alongside and heal what’s broken,” Pryor, who also plays Tulsa’s father in the film, said. “We need stories of hope to shine a light on what’s bigger than ourselves.”
Melissa Simpson and Molly Coffee, Cofounders of Film Impact Georgia
FILM IMPACT GEORGIA ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP WITH EVENTIVE
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ilm Impact Georgia (FIG), the nonprofit organization which offers aid, educ at ion, and funding for independent filmmakers in the state has partnered with Eventive, a technology platform designed specif ically to enhance all aspects of the film screening experience. FIG plans to use the platform to further their mission to help bring attention to creatives previously ignored in the conversation surrounding the Georgia film industry. This will include the Ask a Pro Anything catalog, an upcoming “Night School” series, and many short films from talented Georgia-based filmmakers like Jenna Kanell, Kate Hinshaw, and Raymond Carr. "It is important to us in this new world that we all live in, to look forward,” Molly Coffee, FIG Creative Director, said. “In the future, thanks to our partnership with Eventive, we will now be able to help
filmmakers host live streaming events of their projects as well as DRM (Digital Rights Management) protections that allow them to control their own distribution.” Eventive was created by father and son team, Iddo and Theo Patt, as a simpler way for film festival goers to access their tickets. The company has experienced unprecedented growth during the COVID19 pandemic with so many film festivals turning fully or at least partially virtual. “In keeping with our mission to bring more and more people a better and better film experience, Theo and I decided to build out Eventive Virtual as an integral part of the Eventive platform, with studiograde DRM for true content protection, the full suite of Eventive ticketing, pass and
member benefit management features, multiple sponsorship integrations, and built-in live streaming +VOD options to create a complete film festival experience online,” Iddo Patt, Eventive co-founder, explained. “FIG has always been about taking the power and giving it back to the filmmakers," Coffee added. The platform has grown to encompass ever y thing from pass management , audience data, digital promotions, film guides, and more. “This is truly a game changer for FIG and the support that we are able to offer to our community and local filmmakers,” Melissa Simpson, FIG Executive Director, said.
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OzCetera Photograph courtesy of Gage Skidmore
FANS AND INDUSTRY IN MOURNING FOLLOWING DEATH OF CHADWICK BOSEMAN
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n Augus t 28 t h, ac tor Chad w ick Boseman passed after a private four year battle with cancer. Boseman was known for transforming into legendary roles like T’Challa/Black Panther in the Georgia-lensed superhero film, Black Panther (2018), James Brown in Get on Up (2014), and Jackie Robinson in 42 (2013). Following the announcement of his death, Boseman’s life was mourned and
his accomplishments were praised, with memoriams circulating from the social media profiles of directors, screenwriters, Georgia-based talent and crew, and many other fond admirers. Former President Barack Obama shared his memory of Boseman through social media. “Chadwick came to the White House to work with kids when he was playing Jackie Robinson. You could tell
right away that he was blessed,” President Obama wrote. “To be young, gifted, and Black; to use that power to give them heroes to look up to; to do it all while in pain – what a use of his years.” Boseman’s legacy lives on through the stories he told.
MACON FILM FESTIVAL CELEBRATES 15TH ANNIVERSARY
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he Macon Film Festival hosted a hybrid festival with both online and in-person events. The online portion of the 2020 Macon Film Festival was hosted by Film Festival Flix, a streaming platform that partners with film festivals for a curated virtual experience. “The Film Festival board was in the middle of planning our 15th Anniversary year when COVID-19 hit. We knew that we needed to come up with an alternative plan so that our audience could still get the festival atmosphere with in person events while being able to stream the creative content online,” Macon Film
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Festival Board President, Steven Fulbright, said. “We’ve always prided ourselves on embracing technological innovation and with this format we are able to showcase great independent films and filmmakers while considering the needs and safety of our audiences.”
The Macon Film Festival staff worked to build the festival experience with online screenings, t wo in-person theatrical screenings, two outdoor screenings, and a continued partnership with the Museum of Arts and Sciences Fulldome Festival.
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OzCetera FuseFX expands in Atlanta
FUSEFX OPENING NEW STUDIO IN ATLANTA
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useF X , an award -winning visual ef fec ts studio that specializes in p rov iding ser v ices for epi so dic television, feature films, commercials and VR productions, is expanding to the Southeast with the opening of a new studio in Atlanta. The Atlanta office will serve as FuseFX’s third US location and fourth location globally. “Atlanta has been a hotbed for new
produc tions, and the visual ef fec t s demand has grown exponentially. We plan to be fully staffed and have full capabilities in Atlanta and worldwide, to service clients and their needs,” Brad Kalinoski, FuseFX’s Head of Produc tion and Senior VFX Supervisor, told Oz. “We expect to be fully staffed up by the end of 2020.” Kalinoski has worked as a VFX artist or supervisor on over 100 feature films
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ut on Film by WarnerMedia presented the lineup of films and events for the 33rd edition of the Atlanta-based LGBTQIA+ film festival on Aug.27, its first as an Oscar® qualifying film festival. One of the few film festivals on the regional circuit that has grown in recent years (expanding from an 8-day event to an 11-day event), this year’s film festival will be a virtual edition taking place September 24 - October 4. Out on Film will once again offer a rich selection of LGBTQIA+ films curated from around the world. 39 features (24 narrative films, 15 documentaries), 15 shorts programs with 82 films and a webseries representing 20 countries will be screened this year. “2020 has been a challenging journey thus far for all of us, so along with the films that we have found from world cinema titles to award-winners, and films that have been popular thus far at other film festivals, the theme of the journey struck us for our special events with Margaret Cho and Kevin Williamson,” Jim Farmer, Director of Out on Film Festival, said. “She is a certified LGBTQIA+ icon (thus the award we will present to her) and he shaped pop culture in a major way during a heady period writing for film and television. Both have had a fascinating journey leading up to the peak of their cultural influence and beyond.” One highlight will be Out on Film’s presentation of a special “Conversation on Film” with Kevin Williamson, the writer and major creative force behind “Dawson’s Creek,” “The Vampire Diaries,” and the Scream films. Williamson will talk about growing up gay in the South, his career, the relationship the LGBTQIA+ community has with horror, and why he believes they have responded so favorably to his work through the years. “As one of the longest running LGBTQIA+ film festivals, we embrace … celebrating and presenting the best of the new films and filmmakers today,” Farmer said.
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ccording to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, on August 31st Atlanta and Fulton County’s long flirtation with the Grammy Museum Foundation to build and operate a Grammy Museum in Atlanta finally paid off. The state and Fulton County governments spent a combined $500,000 on a feasibility study for the museum. Whenever it is built, the museum will usher Georgia back into the music curation business. Brad Olecki, CEO of the Georgia Music Accord, noted that getting to this point has been a lot of hard work and they’re excited about the future challenges on the horizon. One of Atlanta’s musical heavyweights, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, told the Rotary Club of Atlanta on August 31st that he “wished upon a star,” to see the museum in Atlanta. “The future looks very bright,” Bridges said. “To see it firsthand, how it is going to help [kids] be even more inspired. And we gonna create more jobs. This is long overdue in my opinion. I cannot wait.” Missing from the AJC article was how much it was going to cost, who would pay for it, where it was going to be built and when construction would begin. This commitment was “to have a benchmark to move forward, and we’re starting to move now,” Tammy Hurt, President of the Georgia Music Accord, said.
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Photographs courtesy of Tomorrow Pictures
TAYLOR AND TOMORROW PICTURES DOCUMENT THE FUNERAL OF CONGRESSMAN JOHN LEWIS
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eroic and beloved Congressman John Lewis died on July 17, 2020. Following a historic funeral service at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Rep. Lewis was buried at Atlanta’s historic South-View Cemetery. Three former US Presidents attended the service, including Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, who gave the eulogy. While local and national news stations with media clearance took their places, Frederick Taylor, Creative Director of Tomorrow Pic tures, gathered a crew of local filmmakers to capture footage for Pre-Existing Freedom, a Tomorrow Pictures film currently in production. 30
Oz Magazine - film. tv. entertainment. SINCE 1990
Pre-Existing Freedom is an aesthetic acknowledgement to the civil rights films of the past, the New York cultural art explosion of the 60s and 70s, and black and white cinema,” Taylor told Oz. T h e To m o r r o w P i c t u r e s c r e w documented different aspects of the funeral. They took still and moving images of the crowds outside of Ebenezer, and collected audio from President Obama’s eulogy. “We filmed people and their emotional moments in real time,” Taylor said. Before his death, Rep. Lewis agreed to participate in an exclusive interview with Taylor for AIDS Legacy, a different
Tomorrow Pictures project focused on the HIV AIDS crisis in Atlanta during the 70s and 80s. “Congressman Lewis generously gave us two hours of his time to discuss social justice as it relates to the LGBTQ community.” “Anything worth doing in life is worth doing well over a long period of time,” Taylor explained what he’s learned from Rep. Lewis’s legacy. “Life is not about the attention you get or the money you make; it truly is your service to others.”
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COVER STORY
“THE MASK ISSUE IS ONE THAT WE NEED TO TAKE SERIOUSLY WEARING A MASK IS BETTER THAN NOT WEARING ONE. PERIOD.” -DAN ROSENFELT, PRESIDENT OF THIRD RAIL STUDIOS 34
Oz Magazine - film. tv. entertainment. SINCE 1990
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EFORE THE QUIET CAME, a Sony production was moving into Third Rail Studios. Their move-in process began in January, and they were building sets by February with the intention of shooting a film slated to be released in 2021. However, with coronavirus cases on the rise in the United States, Sony’s chairman ended up pulling the plug on working at Third Rail in order to move the entire production to Canada. “[It was] obviously a direct result of the spike in cases when things started to open up again,” Dan Rosenfelt, President of Third Rail, told Oz. Despite providing Sony with a discount on their hiatus from the offices and purpose built studios, the production still had to move forward. “It was a pretty concrete example of a movie that had to leave the US because it couldn’t afford to push because of their actors' schedules; it couldn’t push anymore than it already had.” In the meantime, Third Rail has had several potential productions floating around. “They’re getting their ducks in a row and working on their COVID-19 safety protocols and their plans and we’re
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close to getting a show that’ll move in very soon,” Rosenfelt added. When the pandemic first hit, Rosenfelt was prepared for a scenario in which people would not cope well with quarantining. “I had a sense it was going to be prolonged,” he said. “I had a sense that people would have difficulty accepting isolation.” Third Rail employees have been able to work from home, which means the studios have been near empty. “Obviously having productions in our studio campus is our bread and butter and that’s all we do, so to see a production leave and having no one around, it’s a scary thing,” Rosenfelt said. While it's inevitable that some productions will pick up and go elsewhere, Rosenfelt remains hopeful and doesn’t believe this pandemic will do enough damage to change the course of the Georgia film industry. “I don’t think there’s going to be a wave of projects that fly the coop or decide not to come.” “There are a lot of factors involved that are not just safety but also: How do actors feel about it? How does the director feel? Can they safely get it done?” Rosenfelt said.
TESTING, A LOT OF TESTING Beth Talbert, Vice President of Studio Operations at Eagle Rock Studios, sat at her desk at Eagle Rock’s facilities, about seven miles away from Third Rail. She picked up a video call from Oz, her mask Beth Talbert, Vice President of Studio Operations at Eagle Rock Studios
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COVER STORY
Newly installed sinks and hand sanatizing stations can be spotted at Eagle Rock Studios
placed below her chin, and assured that there was no one else in the office. Eagle Rock is five years old; the facility covers over 10 acres of land. Talbert told Oz that the studios were built to be a very safe and protective environment. However, she was very clear when explaining that - no matter how old or new the studio - none of these facilities are liable if a production is exposed to or has an outbreak of the virus. “Every facility’s going to state that very clearly: ‘You’re entering this building at your own risk,” Talbert said. “It’s like if you live in an apartment building, right? Your landlord’s not going to tell you that he’s going to keep you safe from COVID.” Gov. Brian Kemp signed the legislation S.B. 359, which limits liability claims brought by customers, employees, or members of the public who contract or allege exposure to the coronavirus. The 36
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law took effect in August and is set to expire in July 2021. According to a report in Bloomberg Law, the new liability shield law has made Georgia the most recent and most populous state to protect businesses and other organizations from potential lawsuits in the case of COVID-19 exposure. Under this new law, liability claims are only allowed to succeed in cases where the business or other organization showed gross negligence or similar disregard for health and safety standards. “We’re following all of this,” Talbert said, she lifted up a stack of papers towards her computer’s webcam. “We’re following AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) White Paper … [and] the joint report of the DGA, SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, and Teamsters committee for COVID-19 safety.” The AMPTP White Paper is a 22-page document with the words, “Industry-Wide Labor-Management Safety Committee Task Force'' in large white letters on its title slide. The DGA, SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, and Teamsters document is titled, “The Safe Way Forward,'' and is a lengthier document at 37 pages. Both documents provide necessary guidelines and protocols that address the many elements of production and the circumstances under which production can safely and effectively resume.
The White Paper is broken down into several sections: • Guiding principles • Reopening process • Infection control • Protecting & supporting cast & crew health and safety • Physical Distancing • Training and education
“Several elements of the protocols, including testing and PPE, are subject to further discussion and agreement between the Employers and the Unions and Guilds representing the cast and crew,” the introduction of the White Paper reads. The Industry White Paper, which was released to the Governors of New York and California, was followed by “The Safe Way Forward,” which was initially drafted by a DGA (Directors Guild of America) committee of working members, based on close consultation with infectious disease epidemiologists and other experts.
Ryan Millsap, CEO of Blackhall Studios
In the “The Safe Way Forward,” experts agree that the coronavirus isn’t just an easily transmitted virus, but that “a working film set provides an exceptional opportunity for virus spread.” So how does one mitigate the risk of people getting sick? “Testing. A lot of testing,” the document reads. Both documents repeatedly point out that consistent testing is the most effective option for preventing infection during production. “The Safe Way Forward” elaborates on a physical distancing concept addressed in the White Paper, labeling it as “The Zone System.” Productions consist of three zones: A, B, and C: • “ZONE A is any perimeter within which activity occurs without physical distancing or the use of PPE.” Zone
A is essentially a bubble that encases the most vulnerable people, like the cast. “In most cases, this will mean performers working on set with no protection alongside crew.” Personnel in Zone A are recommended to be tested three times a week at minimum, with the understanding that certain circumstances may require daily testing, such as filming scenes that require intimate contact. • “ZONE B is everywhere the production has a footprint that is not Zone A,” the packet continues. “Use of PPE and stringent physical distancing practices are observed and enforced within Zone B.” This can include a production office, base camp, a sound stage, and more. “Think of it this way,” the packet reads, “From door to door, people working in Zone A travel along
a cocooned path – sometimes involving multiple Zone As – laid out and controlled by people in Zone B.” • ZONE C is the outside world: homes, hotels, or anywhere employed members of the production go when they aren’t working. “Success in a safe return to work will also depend on cast and crew being willing and able to engage in good safety practices when at home and in areas throughout Zone C,” the packet reads. If members of production aren’t under some type of surveillance or in a contained bubble, it won’t be possible to monitor all of the safety protocols practiced in Zone C. No one can be allowed access to either Zone A or Zone B for the first time unless they have been tested and cleared within the last 24 hours.
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COVER STORY
West End Production Park's LeShawn Woods (Studio Director), Crystal Carroll (Director of Operations), Ibraheem Katoot (Partner), Ali Katoot (Owner & President), Leila Jordan (Executive Assistance), and Patrick Kelly (CEO)
“IT’S REALLY IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT THE DISCUSSION HAS SOLVING LOGISTICAL PROBLEMS CREATIVELY Each studio executive told similar stories about empty facilities and exciting productions moving out in the beginning of the pandemic. In mid-March, Ryan Millsap, Chairman and CEO of Blackhall Studios, was in the midst of working with a Disney production. “We were finalizing their lease, and then the stay-at-home orders came down,” Millsap told Oz. “We were left without a lease.” In mid-August, some Atlanta studios welcomed productions onto their lots. And, while studio executives are not liable for any virus exposures or outbreaks, they are all striving to make both small and large scale contributions towards the effort to keep their facilities safe. “This is an industry with a long history of solving logistical problems creatively,” “The Safe Way Forward” reads, and studio executives are doing what they can to uphold that industry tradition through small efforts, like hand sanitizer stations and hands-free options in bathrooms, and bigger efforts, including innovative cleaning technology and new air systems. “We’ve done some upgrading of infrastructure,” Millsap said. “We have a protocol for Blackhall employees that has to do with getting tested, and we put in some bipolar ionization air handling systems to make the air clean and more anti-viral in all of our buildings.” Rosenfelt also installed a bipolar ionization system at Third Rail, and 38
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he expressed his affinity for this type of detail oriented work. “We put those door foot holds where it makes sense,” Rosenfelt described his facility’s smaller implementations before he explained their new cleaning technology. “Every night our cleaning crew is doing an electrostatic spray ... that’s a piece of technology that they put the cleaning fluid, the disinfectant, inside … [giving] the cleaning fluid an electrical charge.” The charge allows the fluid to grab onto and envelop the surfaces being cleaned. “You shoot it at a door [and] it’ll actually grab the whole doorknob,” Rosenfelt said. In turn, the electrostatic sprayer allows for a more encompassing coverage. Even though the shelter-in-place order halted production, the slow down allowed for planning and innovation. West End Production Park, a 270,000 square foot facility located in the historic West End that has provided sets for shows and films, like “Stranger Things” and Spiderman, is putting protocols together for being able to offer the testing on site, as well as being able to house production as well. “The movie industry ended up finding us,” Patrick Kelly, the park’s CEO, told Oz. The administration at West End Production Park originally broke into the entertainment industry through Georgia real estate. “[Location scouts] just started calling us out of the blue saying that they wanted to do a location shoot here in the building.” Kelly is well versed in the history of
TO BE WITH THE PRODUCTIONS THAT ARE PLANNING ON COMING IN. IT’S COLLABORATIVE IN THIS MANNER.” -PATRICK KELLY, CEO OF WEST END PRODUCTION PARK the building and its transition into the industry, but him and Carroll are equally interested in explaining the facility’s future. “We’ll have an internal protocol,” Kelly explained. “We currently own a pharmacy,” Crystal Carroll, Director of Operations, added. She went on to describe a protocol based on the park’s connections with laboratories. The park will have hotel blocks reserved for incoming members of production and they will then come to West End Production campus to get their first set of tests. “That testing will be the nasal testing, and we are partnering with some laboratories that should be able to give us our results back within 24 to 48 hours.”
West End Production Park's dormitory-style rooms
Once the negative test results come back, crew members can be housed in the building. “We’re working on finishing the conversion of two of our dormitory-like offices,” Carroll said. “It’ll be similar to a dorm or a hotel room.” “That protocol may not fit that production, so I think it’s really important to note that the discussion has to be with the productions that are planning on coming in,” Kelly stated. “It’s collaborative in this manner.” When it comes to incoming productions, Kelly believes they are the boss. “The productions are the ones who are in control, and we’re going to support them in any we can. If they have their own
policies that they want to implement, we’ll work with them to get to that policy so that we can cement it here. If they don’t have a policy, we’ll help them develop a policy so that it works for who they are, whether it be a music video, whether it be a large production or a small production.” Nevertheless, if Georgia productions are not willing to follow educational documents like the White Paper and “The Safe Way Forward,” these studio contributions won’t accomplish much; which is not lost on Atlanta’s studio executives. “It’ll be almost impossible for people to do anything in normal economic life and not have some outbreaks,” Millsap
said. “It’s not ‘if there will be outbreaks,’ it’s ‘when there will be outbreaks’ and how will we respond.” “I feel confident that we’ll be able to do it,” Rosenfelt said in regards to the Georgia film and television industry getting back on set. “[But] if someone sneezes next to you, none of that works,” Rosenfelt said about the additions and changes put in place at Third Rail. “The mask issue is one that we need to take seriously - wearing a mask is better than not wearing one. Period.”
FOOTNOTE:
Oz contacted Local IATSE 479 to ask what part they would play in encouraging their members to engage in “good safety practices” while in Zone C; they were unable to comment. “At this time, the protocols are still in negotiation between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, SAG-AFTRA, the Directors Guild, IATSE, and the Teamsters,” IATSE Local 479 replied. Local 479 won’t be able to publicly comment until the document is ratified by all parties, and will probably need time working under the protocol to be able to speak authoritatively.
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THE CAREER OF BRYAN BARBER BY: JORDAN MOORE & KEVON PRYCE
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Atlanta rapper 2 Chainz recently released the hit, vertically shot, music video “Devil Just Trying To Be Seen” on Instagram. Bryan Barber, director of the video, had been sitting on this concept for some time. The past few months during the pandemic slowed down time, allowing Barber moments to reflect. He primarily began observing how he was consuming media: everything was through his phone. He noticed he was just scrolling his time away. This observation was followed by his idea to create a music video where the audience watches through a screen recording of his smartphone. “Devil Just Trying To Be Seen” opens with Barber video calling 2 Chainz over his phone. After conversing about getting a task done by a deadline, Barber’s screen opens up the Pivot app where the 2 Chainz song creeps in over a video from a Black Lives Matter protest. The video is a montage of viral videos from the protests as 2 Chainz and featured rapper, Skooly, perform while fireworks round off in the background. Barber was taught filmmaking the classic analog way, having numerous rolls, splicing film; shooting on his phone wasn’t his strong suit, but he believed it was necessary for recording a revolution. Barber shifted quickly from the influence of the video to the power of the smartphone. “I don’t think we would have known who George Floyd was if that phone didn’t have a full charge,” Barber said. George Floyd was wrongfully killed on camera during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 25, 2020. As Barber’s music video for 2 Chainz circulates amongst smartphone users, he does not want us to forget the power we carry with us daily. We have the ability to share moments with the world in a matter of seconds; therefore, change is inevitable.
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“ T H E R E I S A SWAG T H AT I I N J E C T I N TO M Y WO R K F RO M W H AT I T H I N K AT L A N TA H A S TAU G H T ME ABOUT THE A B I L I T Y TO P U S H YO U R S E L F. "
While Barber was born and raised in Silicon Valley, his roots run deep in the Southern music scene. Much like Atlanta in the hip-hop game, Barber doesn’t always get the credit he deserves for pioneering some of the most memorable music videos of the past two decades. From working with acts such as Outkast, Destiny’s Child, Bow Wow, and most recently 2 Chainz, his portfolio surpasses that of many directors in the field. He’s directed over two hundred music videos to date. “Atlanta HBCUs don’t get enough credit,” Barber stated, referring to his alma mater, Clark Atlanta University (CAU). Atlanta is home to the Atlanta University Center which comprises Spelman College, Morehouse College, and Clark Atlanta University. Barber came to Atlanta for higher education, but he also felt the city was a vessel of opportunity for Black people. “HBCUs are responsible for the spread of hip-hop music throughout the country.” He explained that college students would attend these HBCUs, get introduced to new artists and share this music back in their hometowns. While here in Atlanta, Barber happened to befriend André Benjamin (André 3000) of Outkast. Barber’s
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memory of his earlier career days remain crystal clear. It all began in 1998 with “Skew It on the Bar-B,” the set where a young Barber got his footing. Barber and Outkast’s André 3000 and Antwan André Patton (Big Boi) were able to put up a few thousand dollars for the music video shoot, only to be told by LaFace Records that they had been awarded a budget of roughly $250,000. The music video was a success, landing Barber the opportunity to shoot the iconic “Hey Ya” video for the rap duo. As a student at CAU, Barber’s filmmaking landed him in the Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival where he gained the confidence and validation needed to take on bigger projects such as Outkast’s “Roses.” “I wanted to show hip hop culture in a different way,” he stated. “When listening to the song with Dre (André 3000), I had an idea that really reminded me of the Beatles in a way where Dre using these different adlibs and different shoutouts on the song sounded like different characters in a band.” Prior to “Hey Ya,” André 3000 wasn’t known for his singing. The question for Barber became, “How do you get the audience to digest that he’s singing?” So Barber decided to use a motion controlled
camera on multiple layers as André 3000 performed. Filming the dichotomy of Outkast’s André 3000 and Big Boi was not an easy task. On one side, Outkast has the eclectic and upbeat André 3000, whose personality shines through in “Roses,” and on the other, there’s the smooth and easy-going Big Boi who is best represented in Barber’s video for “The Way You Move,” where Big Boi is surrounded by dancers in some of the most exotic and ornate backgrounds, as he seamlessly delivers his bars. With Barber’s eye, the duo was represented in a visually perfect balance. “I was always interested in pushing technology, playing with technology, and using different tools.” Who could forget eight André 3000s on stage simultaneously performing in “Hey Ya” or the infamous lightsaber scene from “The Way You Move”? Barber pushed his own limits as well, being able to execute his ideas in collaboration with the multiplatinum selling recording artists such as Destiny’s Child’s “Girl,” will.i.am’s “I Got It From My Mama,” and Bow Wow’s “Like You.” While trying to separate himself from other music video directors, Barber also makes sure that his identity as a narrative filmmaker would shine through
in his music videos. From the epic “Holy Matrimony” that was Oukast and UGK’s Int’l Players Anthem to the somber relationship roulet of John Legend’s “Save Me,” Barber knows his way around crafting compelling narratives that are authentic to the performer’s artistic voice. The relationship with Outkast grew to nearly a dozen music videos and the feature film, Idlewild. Barber’s music video influence is embroidered into the fabric of Idlewild with a number of musical scenes. The feature length format enabled Barber to show his true narrative chops. The film is about a reserved piano player (played by André 3000) and his ostentatious manager and lead performer (played by Big Boi). They fight the uphill battle, keeping their speakeasy in the Prohibition-era South. When reflecting on his earlier filmmaking days as a PA, Oz asked Barber what advice he would give himself years ago when he was coming up as a PA in the industry. Barber was quick to respond, “[I would] learn how to write earlier.” He went on to explain that writing stories for a specific audience is what got him through the industry. “Write material that has an audience that not only supports your work,” Barber advised. “[An audience] you can continue to supply material to.”
“Every step you take in your career will inform your path if you continue. No matter if the outcome is negative or positive, you still can learn from it,” Barber added, speaking specifically on the ins and outs of breaking into the industry while simultaneously trying to combat stereotypes tethered to Black music video directors. “Rejection forced me to learn how to develop, write, do acquisitions for IPs, learn distribution, and learn streaming.” When Barber started his journey to become a filmmaker in the early 1990s, there were not a lot of productions being filmed in Atlanta. “It was very hard to get on,” Barber said. “As a PA back then, you basically worked for free. I once worked 23 hours and got paid $75. I did not care about the money though, I was just happy to be around film.” Barber noted that in the 1990s there were only three major productions, if that, that were being filmed in Atlanta. He worked as a PA on one of them, as well as several small commercials. In 2019, Georgia was home to over 300 productions. “I watched Atlanta grow into the number one spot. I think you really can’t deny the doors being opened up by the tax incentives and Tyler Perry for bringing work here,” Barber pointed out. “There is a
swag that I inject into my work from what I think Atlanta has taught me about the ability to push yourself.” With more jobs coming to Atlanta, Barber hopes that the city’s film industry will offer equal opportunities to all Black creatives. “Atlanta is this melting pot of people that have turned it into their homes. It’s a population of people from all over that bring about a different flavor.” Even with accolades like directing 2 Chainz, Jeezy, Wiz Khalifa, Killer Mike videos, and more, Barber learned that he enjoyed freedom in creative ownership most of all. “I’m all about extreme ownership,” he stated. Working with studios is typically a work-for-hire position that pays within the budget of the production; however, when someone has ownership over the studio or the rights to production, they are paid for the entirety of the production's life (and then some). “If I were working in the system, I would be a contractor. I would get paid to do the job, but I would not get paid from owning it.” Presently, Barber is gearing up for the launch of his new streaming platform, Pivot, which is being debuted in September. Barber hopes to inspire independent filmmakers by giving them access to a streaming platform to independently distribute their content across the globe.
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A SEAT IN THE CINEMATIC CLASSROOM
BY LANE MATRAVERS
W
ith so many people moving to Georgia for the film industry, it’s no wonder that many of Atlanta’s universities have either grown or completely transformed their film programs to accommodate the cinematic boom happening in the state. Oglethorpe University, Georgia State University (GSU), and Emory University have all been at the forefront in fostering film communities within the academic world. The professors, program coordinators, and department heads of these film programs have meticulously planned and fought to create the impressive and impactful film programs that have now become crowning jewels for some of these
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educational institutions. Both Oglethorpe and Emory have brand new film programs that launched this very year. Meanwhile, GSU’s film department has been climbing the ladder of academic prowess for years to rightfully establish itself as one of the nation’s top film programs. Each of these three universities offer students something different, but they all have similar goals: to lift up new voices, to train students to be world-class film industry professionals and to give their students the tools they need to go out in the world to both view and make movies with undeniable skill and intention.
Oglethorpe students Wade Cook and Dejoisnet Spence assist Digital Media Lab Coordinator, Nick Zakos, with an equipment demonstration
Oz recently spoke to a few key players within the film programs of Oglethorpe, GSU, and Emory to hear what each one had to say about their experience on the academic side of film studies and film production.
The Oglethorpe Objective Before 2020, if you wanted to study filmmaking at Oglethorpe, you had to be a studio arts major with a concentration in filmmaking, video, and photography. This changed largely thanks to Dr. Katharine Zakos, Oglethorpe’s Program Coordinator for the brand new Film and Media Studies Department, which launched this past January. The program offers both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, and
requires students take courses in history, theory, and practice. Planning and fleshing out a new film and media studies program at Oglethorpe was an arduous process, however, and one that Dr. Zakos has been working towards her entire academic career. One institution she is happy to credit with helping her along the way? Georgia State University. “All my degrees are from Georgia State,” Dr. Zakos proudly credited her alma mater. “I originally did a political science degree. I completed that in 2007 and then after that, I went on to work on my Master’s in mass communications, because my focus was on political news media and that was the direction I was kind of moving in … the more I did, the more I became interested in … film and media, [and the] entertainment industry,
more broadly. After I finished the Master’s I started the Ph.D. of moving image studies.” While completing her Master’s in mass communications, Dr. Zakos served as an advisor for GSU’s Communications Department. During this time, she met and spoke with many undergraduate students who were majoring in film and video. Her conversations with them and the positive feedback she received about the film program was part of what made her decide to pursue a Ph.D. in moving image studies. And although Dr. Zakos has family in the industry and is therefore quite familiar with it herself, GSU’s program still opened her up to a whole new world. “When I started in the Ph.D. program,” Dr. Zakos recounted, “I recognized that there was so much I didn’t know about the history, the theory, and the studies side of it, which actually kind of informed my understanding of how the industry works today and where we’re at now, why we do the things we do. And even as far as techniques and things like that, it’s really fascinating to understand where things have originated, why they originated, why they may or may not have changed over the years.” It was the hands-on teaching experience that Dr. Zakos enjoyed most during her graduate studies at GSU. While many teacher’s assistants (TA) spend the majority of their time grading papers or taking attendance, GSU’s TAs do far more interactive work with their students. In the classroom, Dr. Zakos saw her own potential for working in academia and made the decision to pursue an academic career in film instead of going into production. Dr. Katharine Zakos
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Animation students working in Oglethorpe’s Digital Media Labs
“I felt like I could make more of a difference in the classroom by helping people [and] preparing them to enter the industry,” Dr. Zakos said. “One thing in particular that I found especially helpful — like when I was at Georgia State — I would bring in all my friends and other people who worked in the industry. They were very generous with their time. They would come speak to my classes for free
Oglethorpe alum and Trustee Jason Lewis, an owner of Lightnin’ Production Rentals, assists Professor Christina Price Washington and her students with an experimental video project.
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and tell them the actual, you know, ‘This is what we actually do day to day.’ I think people have all these ideas of, ‘I’m going to be a director! I’m going to be this! I’m going to be that!’ And I think we don’t quite know what really goes into these roles or how they’re the same or separate in different places.” For Dr. Zakos, pursuing a career in academia was never going to be a choice between film production and film studies. Dr. Zakos understands the importance of having both practical and theoretical skills in your toolbox when engaging with the film industry. And with skill often comes intention: a vital part of successful filmmaking. “For me,” Dr. Zakos began, “it’s about knowing and making informed, deliberate decisions. So even if you think from a creative perspective, if I want to shoot a short film or write a screenplay or something like that, it’s helpful to me to understand what choices to make. It’s one thing to be able to say, ‘I know how to light a scene,’ but it’s another to then think about, ‘Well why would I light it this way and what’s the impact?’ And also to think and understand the legacy. So many filmmakers and media makers, in general, were all inspired by different people and so we’re all kind of … legacies of people who come before.” Legacy and history is something you’ll hear more than once in this piece,
because film professors, filmmakers, and film lovers alike understand how past creators still have an impact on what’s being made today. “You look at someone like Tarantino and you see why he does the things he does and you look at all the different callbacks he’s doing to different genres and people. I think that that’s helpful in developing our own voice as creatives, and thinking about the most effective way of telling the story you want to tell,” Zakos said. Learning how to tell a story through film and, furthermore, finding your cinematic voice is not unique to Oglethorpe’s film program. GSU was also instrumental in teaching Dr. Zakos the importance of these lessons. Both programs aim to equip students with the tools they need to make great films and cultivate their own unique creative voices, but their approaches to such tasks — as well as their means — differ in a few ways. For one, the sizes of both universities could not be more contrasting. “Oglethorpe does not have the resources that Georgia State has. Georgia State is huge,” Dr. Zakos said. “There are a lot of really cool things they’re able to do, especially with the Creative Media Industries Institute. That was developed while I was there, and it’s really gone crazy in the time since I left. For us at Oglethorpe, we focus on what we can do
Oglethorpe sophomore Kaitlyn Terrell creates a time-lapse drawing for Introduction to Multimedia Production
and we try to do that really well.” Dr. Zakos cites Oglethorpe’s smaller size as a benefit to their film students. With a smaller university comes smaller class sizes, which means students have more one-on-one time with their professors. In addition, Oglethorpe has students jump into the production side of filmmaking right from the get-go. For those interested in the practical side of filmmaking, there are no barriers to entry, no waiting lines, and no applications necessary to take those classes. “At Oglethorpe, because they’re taking that intro to production class early on, there are no prerequisites to the class,” Dr. Zakos added. “They can get in there and get their hands on equipment that first semester, right away. We can offer that. It’s not something that they have to wait for and hope they get in.” Because Oglethorpe’s film and media studies program just launched this year, Dr. Zakos cannot speak on the success of her alumni; however, Oglethorpe alumni from the studio arts major with a concentration in filmmaking, video, and photography have gone on to work various jobs within Georgia’s film and media industries. “We have students who have interned at Third Rail [Studios] and then gone on to do stuff with them,” Dr. Zakos explained. “One of our grads is actually working at a talent agency right now at People Store
in Atlanta. We have quite a few students who are independent filmmakers … they’re working on documentaries and submitting them to film festivals. And then we have grads who have gone in kind of different directions. Like we have people who have gone on to work for CNN for instance. A lot of it’s very interestbased.” Regardless of where your interests lie within the realm of filmmaking, Oglethorpe’s new Film and Media Studies Department has something for everyone. Georgia State University’s Rise to the Top 30 years ago, Georgia State University was hardly a big name in film and media studies, but a lot has changed over the past two decades. Atlanta’s growth as one of the largest media capitals in the country is part of what caused GSU to step up their game within the Film and Media Department. However, it would be remiss not to recognize that Atlanta’s industry success is also partly thanks to GSU. Professors, program coordinators, department heads, and college deans worked tirelessly to make GSU what it is today. Dr. Philip Lewis, a Senior Professor in the School of Film, Media, and Theatre, and Dr. Jennifer Barker, Director of Graduate Studies for the moving image program and Associate Professor of
communications, are pillars of the film community at GSU who have watched the program ascend the ranks to establish itself as one of the best in the country. When asked about the program’s humble beginnings, Dr. Lewis described it as, “One professor [and] some camcorders in the Journalism Department.” Dr. Lewis received his Master’s from Indiana University and his Ph.D. from Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia in 2006. He has worked as a filmmaker for almost 40 years in many different cities and was living in New Mexico when he received a job offer from GSU. “I was recruited from New Mexico State University to be one of the faculty and I said, ‘Atlanta?’” Dr. Lewis recalled. “This particular program attracted me Dr. Jennifer Barker
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Dr. Philip Lewis
YOU'RE LEARNING HOW TO RACK FOCUS AND ABOUT NEUTRAL DENSITY FILTERS — STUFF THAT YOU JUST DON’T LEARN AT OTHER SCHOOLS UNTIL YOUR JUNIOR YEAR OR SENIOR YEAR, IF EVER. THAT APPROACH MADE ME COME HERE AND BE PROUD OF IT.”
because your freshman year you take two introductory history classes and then you’re in Production 1 and you’re holding onto a $5000 ENG couple-year old camera and you’re learning how to use it. You're learning how to rack focus and about neutral density filters — stuff that you just don’t learn at other schools until your junior year or senior year, if ever. That approach made me come here and be proud of it.” Dr. Barker had a similar experience. In 2004 she earned her Ph.D. from University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). From 2004 to 2008 Dr. Barker taught courses in the Radio, TV, and Film Department at Northwestern University in Chicago. She also spent time as a Visiting Assistant Professor of film at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.
While there, she discovered GSU’s burgeoning film program. “I got a call from [Georgia State] because they were developing their Ph.D. program. That’s what they primarily brought me here to do,” Dr. Barker recounted. “One of the things I learned as soon as I got here is that every single class we have — every model, every module we teach — is meant to go cross-platform. So for instance, if I’m teaching a course on style or genre or author, [students] can write on television, they can write on film, they can write on music video or advertising or whatever it is they want.” GSU offers a Bachelor’s degree in film and media, which largely concerns itself with the histories and theories of cinematic, electronic, and digital media. This program also provides students with practical experience in film production. For those who aspire to obtain a higher degree, the Master’s program in communications has a concentration in film, video, and digital imaging. Within
GSU students get hands-on training in the university_s green screen studio
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this Master’s program are two tracks. “One is Film and Media Production and you can make music videos, you can do stop-motion animation, you can do whatever you want. The other one we call Critical Studies, or Studies, and that is the one that covers theory, history, [and] genres,” Dr. Barker explained. The moving image production and moving image studies programs contain a multitude of classes, but requiring degree candidates of either concentration to take classes in the opposite program is what makes professors like Dr. Barker and Dr. Lewis proud to teach at GSU. “We are starting to do some co-talk classes, which is something we’ve always wanted to do but never had the flexibility at the administrative level to do that,” Dr. Barker said. “A lot of us are like-minded when it comes to wanting to include production assignments for our studies students and studies type work for our production students. It’s rarely just one or the other.”
Emphasizing collaborative work, GSU's MA student Christina Galasso frames the shot
“There is definitely a crossover that’s not typical in a film school,” Dr. Lewis added. “Most film schools focus on one thing or another, so I think that we’re able to walk the walk and talk the talk when it comes to production.” GSU’s wide variety of production classes is part of what makes their film program so special. Dr. Lewis considers these classes a vital part of any film major’s curriculum. “Obviously there are certain things in production that you have to have — cinematography classes, editing classes, special FX classes, producing classes — and then elements like documentary, fiction production, experimental, and expression,” Dr. Lewis said. “I think every school should have all of those in it! But we also teach 16 and 35mm film classes. We just started an animation class as well, and we’re now doing sound design and combining working with composers in the film school. So we’re putting directors and composers together and that’s a can of worms that most schools can’t have.” Like Dr. Zakos at Oglethorpe, Dr. Barker understands the importance of teaching film students the theory and history side of cinema as well. She also understands how important it is to compare and contrast older films with contemporary ones, as well as to include an array of diverse voices that far too often are pushed to the last two weeks of class. “I teach early cinema while I’m
teaching the Avengers,” Dr. Barker said. “My colleagues try to mix up the old and the new. They try not to put all of the female filmmakers into a two-week period for example. They use African American filmmakers to demonstrate editing, and not just in the last two weeks of the class or whatnot, as one of my colleagues would say.” When asked what they liked most about working at GSU, Dr. Barker and Dr. Lewis both cited the diverse student body and the palpable ambition those students have when it comes to filmmaking. “We have students who are parents, we have students who go on to do production, who go on to be lawyers … It’s just a diverse classroom in a lot of different ways,” Dr. Barker said. “[Our alumni] end up in film crews of course, in television crews — “Ozark” and Black Panther — that’s pretty obvious. But we also have people who are editors over at Warner Media,” Dr. Barker said. “We’re speckled all over. We’re working corporate communications, we work at churches running the board on doing dynamic church services. We work for the Falcons running their media! So there isn’t one thing — we give them a lot of skills.”
Emory’s New Clothes Emory recently gave their film program a major facelift. This fall, Emory’s Media
Studies Department and the Film Studies Department will merge to become the Film and Media Studies Department. The merge didn’t happen overnight, however, and the history of studying film at Emory has been a process in the making since the 1980s. In fact originally, if you wanted to study film at Emory, you would declare yourself a theatre studies major with a concentration in film. Dr. Matthew Bernstein, the Department Chair for the Film and Media Studies Department, saw the need for a bigger and better film program as early as 2006. Dehanza Rogers, Assistant Professor of cinematography and narrative filmmaking, also saw the potential Emory had for creating an impactful and unique program. “We began in 1986 with one faculty member,” Dr. Bernstein recalled. “When I arrived in 1989, I was the third hire and we were strictly a studies program. When I became Chair in the fall of 2006, I persuaded the Dean at that time to invest a couple of thousand dollars so we could buy some rudimentary filmmaking equipment. We’ve just tried to grow that from there.” Before, the film department wasn’t a film department at all but simply an appendage to the theatre school. Now, the Film and Media Studies Department can offer students a wide range of classes that equip them with an assortment of skills and knowledge. Course topics cover everything from film genres to
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Emory's Senior Lecturer, Rob Barracano, with a group of production students preparing to record an interview with President Jimmy Carter.
cinematography, the history of American television, French cinema, and even a philosophy course called “Time and Space Media.” Meanwhile, Rogers saw the industry boom that was happening in Atlanta when living in California. Rogers attended UCLA for a dual Master’s of Fine Arts in cinematography and production/ directing. Having lived in California for years, Rogers had come to realize that LA filmmaking was expensive and, at times, exploitive. She jumped at the opportunity to work at Emory. “I was drawn to Atlanta being a space where a lot of filmmaking is happening, … I lived in LA for quite some time and I understand what filmmaking looks like there, and the cost of filmmaking, as opposed to what it looks like here in Atlanta. It’s a little more costEmory's introductory production classes at work, photograph courtesy of Joel Silverman
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Dehanza Rogers, MFA
effective as an independent filmmaker than it is in LA, because if you’re on a set and you live in a neighborhood, you can kind of extort a production out of their money, while here it’s a lot cheaper to find labor as well as locations. That really appealed to me,” Rogers explained. “The cost of living is lower as well, as there’s a lot of filmmaking happening, and it’s a budding independent scene.” On the production side of things, Emory offers courses that focus on screenwriting, cinematography, producing, documentary filmmaking, and more. Students are also required to take a “practice class” that gives them hands-on experience with filmmaking. Additionally, Emory has partnered its Film Department with the university’s Gouizueta Business School for a concentration on the business side of the
entertainment industry. “We’re the first department in the college to create a partnership with the business school, and it’s really about training students to be able to work in the industry,” Dr. Bernstein said. “Just understanding how the industry works, understanding the various roles people can play. It’s distinct from production in a certain way, but there’s also a certain amount of overlap. Some production students are in the concentration. That’s been a real boon for our students and something that sets us apart from, I think, any other program in Atlanta.” “When you learn to produce, you understand the intricacies of production itself,” Rogers said when asked about the importance of including production courses in the curriculum. “When we’re talking about interpretation, we’re talking about getting students to appreciate the thousands and thousands of decisions
Emory's concentration for film and media management students and faculty at the headquarters of Fandango / Rotten Tomatoes headquarters in LA
that are made … how do those decisions create meaning?” Dr. Bernstein added. “How might they have done this scene differently, in terms of the camera work or the editing or the blocking? Students learning what goes into filmmaking is so crucially important.” “It’s not something that just happens on the fly and, when I first started teaching, students were in awe of the fact that you shoot a scene multiple times from multiple angles. So I think that’s where production really comes in and helps them understand, ‘Oh this theory means this,’ but it’s more complex and more layered once you have the production side, the understanding of the filmmaking,” Rogers explained. The reverse is also true: those who work primarily in production can
also greatly benefit from studying the theoretical side of film. “I think going backwards,” Rogers began, “you’ve already done the thing — you’ve already created something — but going back and looking at the history and the interpretation and the analysis helps you realize, ‘Oh there’s a better way I could have done that.’ It’s after the fact, right?” “History is a treasure house of ideas about technique and creating meaning in certain ways,” Dr. Bernstein said. “One of our alums, who is an agent, was telling me that because he studied film history, when he starts talking to film directors, if they’re referencing Nicholas Ray and they love Nicholas Ray, having that knowledge and being able to connect on that level helps create a rapport that can turn into a creative partnership.”
Though Atlanta’s university film programs have done a staggering amount of heavy lifting to help turn the local industry into what it is today, there is still work to be done. “A major next step is to center content creation here — have content originate here,” Dr. Bernstein said. “We want to contribute to a creative community that is actually committed to working in Georgia. We have a lot to contribute and I think it’s only going to get richer and better.” “Atlanta right now is labor and extras, because your department heads are still coming from LA and New York … so I think [Georgia] film schools are starting to develop and cultivate department heads — people who are gonna be a little higher up on the food chain,” Rogers said. “We’re really trying to create a culture of filmmakers.”
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AN OUTSIDER KNOWS AN OUTSIDER DIANY RODRIGUEZ BREAKS DOWN INEQUALITIES FROM INSIDE THE INDUSTRY B Y : M I R A N D A
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P E R E Z
ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THINGS ABOUT GROWING UP IN THEATRE IS SEEING PETER PAN. BUT PETER PAN HAS NEVER BEEN A PERSON OF COLOR, AND IF YOU DON’T SEE SOMEBODY WHO LOOKS LIKE YOU THAT CAN FLY, WHAT DO YOU THINK? THAT YOU DON’T DESERVE TO FLY.”
I
n a daring transition from Atlanta theatre based acting to an HBO on-screen role as Maria Canales in “The Outsider,” Puerto Rican actor and activist, Diany Rodriguez, has worked her way into the film and television industry from the ground up while sticking to her commitment to equity in all workforces. “The Outsider” was originally a novel created by horror writer, Stephen King. The show follows an investigation which at first seems like it will be simple and straightforward; however, things change when an insidious supernatural force edges its way into the case, leading the investigators to question everything they once believed in. This path to on-screen work was no easy feat. It was a transition that evoked the same horror a viewer might feel when watching “The Outsider.” “When I started in theatre, I didn’t know anything about it,” Rodriguez admitted to Oz. “[And] when I started on TV, I didn't know anything about film and TV.” “I was lucky enough to be in the bubble when it started,” Rodriguez referred to the Atlanta TV and film boom. “But a lot of us weren’t ready for this transition in Atlanta. I didn’t go to school seeking to do this and jumped into it in college.” However, Rodriguez signed with an agency who saw her at an Atlanta theatre performance which eventually caused her to make the unexpected transition from stage to screen. She even booked the first two television roles she ever auditioned for, which she credits to beginners luck. These initial roles were in “The Vampire Diaries” and a movie for the Hallmark channel, which are huge accomplishments to any budding actor. Nevertheless, with two steps forward came three steps back. Rodriguez reflected on
her role in “The Vampire Diaries” being a topic in online publications. “My name popped up [and] my picture. Long story short, I filmed my first episode and they did not give me any more,” Rodriguez said. The disappointment, however, served as a learning experience more than anything else. “The side of my face appeared in one episode for like seven seconds. I did my lines in ADR (automated dialogue replacement), and you heard my voice briefly. I had no idea how to hit my marks and act at the same time.” Beyond hitting marks, the emotional work behind acting on screen differs from theatre. “Theatre feels like an art. Film and TV feel like a science,” Rodriguez explained. “In theatre [the audience] can tell if you’re in it, so don’t pretend.” In contrast, TV depends more on the actor’s ability to emote on demand, sometimes without their scene partner, and express themself in a contained frame. It took a little under a decade for Rodriguez to master hitting her marks in TV, ultimately landing her work in other major cities such as New Orleans, LA and New York.
For Rodriguez, one of the upsides to working in Atlanta was being able to juggle both theatre, TV, and film roles in the beginning of her acting career. Oftentimes, Rodriguez would work on a Georgia set from 4 AM to 6 PM and then head to a theatre performance in the city, staying until 11 PM and then doing it all over again the next day. Living in Atlanta enabled her to pursue multiple creative passions, all while keeping a roof over her head. On the other hand, working in a multicultural hotspot like Atlanta does not remove actors of color from the need to demand more equity in their workspaces. While it is difficult to partake in activism on screen, Rodriguez remains true to her work by calling out any behavior on set that may be problematic. She also circumspectly picks the roles she auditions for based on her moral code. “If someone wants to book me to talk about the job I just did, I like to speak on what’s happening in the world,” Rodriguez told Oz.
Diany Rodriguez in "The Outsider" photograph courtesy of HBO & Bob Mahoney
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I REALLY TRY TO BE VERY INTENTIONAL WITH EVERYTHING I AUDITION FOR. THE MORE THAT I LEARN, THE MORE MY CONSCIOUSNESS IS RAISED, AND THAT FACTORS INTO WHAT I AUDITION FOR AND GET MONEY FOR. The breakdown for the role of Maria was critical in Rodriguez’s decision to choose to audition for the role. Within her scope of activism, she works to avoid auditioning for roles that enforce Latinx stereotypes such as playing dishonest maids, drug lords, and illegal immigrants. “[Maria] wasn’t in the book. She was specifically written to be LatinX … She was in prison, but she was not a career criminal or stereotypical Latina drug lord. She was a family woman and victim of this supernatural force.” Rodriguez specifically described HBO’s breakdown as particularly enjoyable to take on. “I really try to be very intentional with everything I audition for. The more that I learn, the more my consciousness is raised, and that factors into what I audition for and get money for.” Doing this work further enforces the ethics she values in striving toward unbiased, unprejudiced casting. Initially, landing a role on HBO is not what Rodriguez expected out of life. She originally planned to pursue a career in the military or in law. Guided by the luck of the draw and the enjoyment brought on by acting itself, her compass shifted. Obtaining the role of Maria was a major accomplishment not only in terms of ethic compatibility but also as an avid reader of King. “It felt empowering to play someone who isn’t in the book,” Rodriguez said. “It was 9-13 pages of sides (script length); it was huge, all a monologue. The sides made me think I would not get it. It was known by the media, it was Stephen King, it was HBO. But I said, ‘[expletive] it, let’s do it.’” “I messed up my hair and did the audition with no makeup,” Rodriguez reminisced on her audition process. “[I] did the audition as though it was in a prison.” Once she landed the role, there was no big transition from the audition to filming. She got on set and nailed the prison scene in three takes. The introduction of Maria did reveal Latinx cultural superstitions and the 54
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idea of monsters and supernatural forces to viewers, which allowed Rodriguez to reconnect with different aspects of her upbringing to further bring cultural authenticity to her role. She also took some creative license in how Maria spoke, which added even more dimension to the character. “The scriptwriter for that episode didn’t have the same life experiences as me and there were a couple of things that I changed and did every take … I would go from, ‘Did you hear what happened to my father and my brother?’ [to] ‘Did you hear what happened to my brother and my pops?’” Eventually, the scriptwriter came up to Rodriguez and pointed out that she was speaking in plural when referring to her father. “It was so funny and sweet, but I told her it’s a cultural thing and I did it in my audition so I assumed [they] wanted my experience,” she said with confidence. “The Outsider” provided Rodriguez the opportunity to work alongside leading actor, Cynthia Erivo, who played Holly Gibney. “[Her role] was beautiful and important to see,” Rodriguez praised. One of the most important highlights of the series was its multi-dimensional
representation of Gibney, who is a Black female investigator. “We needed to see beautiful Black leads who are smart, solving a mystery, with no racial trauma.” However, having a Black lead does not simply solve the problem of unequal casting in Georgia’s film and television industry; for Diany, the push towards non-discriminatory representation in her industry is an ongoing battle. Rodriguez recently served as a panelist on an eye-opening, virtual program called, “The Breakdown,” which was presented by Film Impact Georgia and Problem Attic Productions. The panel included other actors, a talent agent, and a casting director who all gathered on a Zoom call in their respective Georgia homes for a discussion on the functions of a breakdown (i.e. a brief description of a scripted character used to help casting directors, actors, and agents determine if a particular person should audition for a role). The discussion focused on how to write breakdowns that work against the default of casting white actors. Panelists discussed what information should and shouldn't be included in a breakdown, and ultimately how to talk about characters like real people, as opposed to deducing characters to stereotypes. “One of the most beautiful things about growing up in theatre is seeing Peter Pan,” Rodriguez told the panel and its viewers. “But Peter Pan has never been a person of color, and if you don’t see somebody who looks like you that can fly, what do you think? That you don’t deserve to fly.” Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rodriguez was actively working to create and organize a collective of Latinx Atlanta-based actors to address production issues with casting agents in the area, like being perceived as a monolith and assuming all Latinx actors speak the same Spanish; there is an expectation for Latinx actors to translate
Rodriguez receiving the 2018 Suzi award for Best Actress in a Play for Abigail/1702
scripts. “Stop expecting us to translate eight plus pages of sides in Spanish,” Rodriguez stated. “We’re not getting paid to do that. We’re not getting writing credit either.” Rodriguez is vocal about being a white passing member of the Latinx community. Meanwhile, she often receives breakdowns that ask her to perform roles that are intended for Latinx actors with darker skin and/or visible indigenous heritage. “It’s disingenuous and erasing what’s happening to them. But because I’m more palatable, I get the auditions,” Rodriguez commented on her ability to pass as a white actor. “Instead of saying ‘all ethnicities are welcome’ or ‘we seek a diverse cast,’ say with every role ‘BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) person only,’” Diany advised. “I would love to see much more intentional writing and breakdowns. I would like to see scripts being produced and written by POC.” Looking back to her childhood, Rodriguez recalled that she had always been a confident force to be reckoned with. Growing up in a prodimentaly Black and Latinx community encouraged her to speak her mind from a young age. She rarely found herself to be the one voice of color speaking up in white spaces. In adulthood, when she did find herself in white spaces, she was not intimidated. “I was never not speaking up on something,” Rodriguez said. Rodriguez has taken her career in activism beyond on set correction and works overtime to attend, host, and organize conversations to mobilize the movements that aid the BIPOC community online and in person. Even during a pandemic, she continues to push for the industry to be really intentional in their move towards equity, so that one day children watching Peter Pan on the stage or on screen will see that they too deserve to fly.
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FILMMAKER ON THE RISE
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A Q&A WITH
Mahalia LATORTUE
Zach Connor (Junior Grand-Pierre) getting into the role of Chocolate Thunder
Latortue watching a rehearsal
Zach Connor
BY: KAYLA GRANT
T
raditionally, Oz Magazine spotlights different industry events through a collection of photographs in a section called “OzScene.” While the threat of the coronavirus continuously rises, many of these group gatherings where there were once photo opportunities have been postponed or canceled in response to social distancing regulations. As a result, Oz is introducing a new OzScene which highlights individual, Georgia-based newcomers who are using the craft of filmmaking in innovative ways. Mahalia Latortue is an up-and-coming filmmaker who is making waves in the industry. When enrolling in Oakwood University for her undergraduate degree, Latortue’s family assumed that she’d embark on one of the following career journeys: that of a doctor, a lawyer or an engineer. However, it was her Production 101 class that changed her entire trajectory. After graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism, Latortue enrolled in the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) as a film and television major. Throughout her time at SCAD, she traveled to Hong Kong, started a podcast, interned with Viola Davis’s JuVee Productions, received the Women in Film and Television Atlanta (WIFTA) scholarship and met her writing partner, Erik Francisco, who joined her in co-founding their production company, Anacaona Pictures. Oz connected with Latortue to discuss her background, her experiences as a new filmmaker, and her upcoming short film, Chocolate Thunder.
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FILMMAKER ON THE RISE Where did your passion for film derive from?
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ML: I’m Haitian-American and part of our Haitian culture is telling these elaborate stories that are ridiculous, filled with sound effects, and completely exaggerated. So, I just naturally came from a family of storytellers. But, I really did not fall in love with film until my undergraduate experience. I was an international studies and English major — pre-law. Then, I took my first film class and I realized that I really loved storytelling in that capacity.
After completing your undergraduate degree, you enrolled in SCAD where you produced the first scripted departmental collaborative project, "What’s After." How did this experience shape you as a filmmaker?
That experience was probably the closest thing I’ve had to a real-life experience of running a TV show, which is what I want to do. I want to be a showrunner. That project itself took at least 100 students from all over, like different cross-departmental majors. That experience helped me realize what it is like to oversee a large project, have investors ... get used to creative problem solving and come up with things on the fly.
You were also selected as an intern for Viola Davis's JuVee Productions. How did this experience impact you?
JuVee Productions opened my eyes to what the industry could and should be. They are a small office with nine or 10 people, but they are all people of color … The stories that they like to tell are stories with a twist and stories that have a different perspective. Being in that environment opened my eyes to what the industry could be and what diversity truly looks like. Everyone in that office was really supportive. It was very strange because I had this preconceived notion of what Hollywood is. I was like, “Everyone is going to want a certain way. It’s going to be very high-stress. I have to act a certain way and talk a certain way.” When I got there, all of that went out the door because they’re really like a small family, so they encouraged me to talk, to sit in the meetings, and to ask questions.
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Latortue, Nick Tabidze (DP), and Kerbi Slusser (1st AD) high-five after wrap
Latortue reviewing lines with Annie Schwartz (who plays Raven)
Latortue directing extras on set of Chocolate Thunder
They gave advice. I have so many mentors and friendships from that office and I am truly grateful for the experience because I could not have imagined a better place to intern.
What were your goals going into the internship and what did you ultimately achieve?
My main goal going into the internship was to learn as much as I could about development and make lifelong connections. I ultimately achieved all of my goals, but I also learned that I have a responsibility to my audience to create diverse stories with a twist on the narrative. I also learned that I would prefer to work with a production company rather than work for one.
How did you get the opportunity to travel to Hong Kong? How did your experience in Hong Kong affect you as a filmmaker?
The Hong Kong Film initiative program was through SCAD. We used to have a Hong Kong campus, but it, unfortunately, closed this year. When we had that campus, students from Savannah and Atlanta were given the opportunity to go to Hong Kong for three weeks during the winter break and film a short film and a proof of concept for a pilot. When I talk about immersing yourself in a culture, I think of Hong Kong. From the fashion to the architecture — there is a story everywhere. It just really opened my eyes to the different folklore different cultures have ... and how they view storytelling and how certain storylines might be viewed in their culture. It really gave me a global perspective on storytelling. As a producer, it was nice to work with the Hong Kong film office and see how permits work in a different country. Having that global perspective on my art, I think, really helps bring it to a different level. Now, when I am making scripts, I am not just thinking how it is going to play nationally or within this subculture. [I am thinking,] “How is it going to look if I play this film in Asia?” or “How is it going to look when I play this film in a different continent?”
While getting your Master’s at SCAD, what was your most challenging experience, and what was your most fulfilling experience?
The pilot "What’s After" was one of my most challenging experiences because I had been so used to being the sole producer, handling everything myself. I see it; I fix it; I moved on. But when we were doing the pilot, it was like, “Oh no, I can’t go fix it, this is somebody's job.” Having to effectively communicate with the team to make sure that we were all on the same page, that everyone had a job to do and I wasn’t taking on too much of the load myself was definitely challenging because I did not know how to navigate that. My most fulfilling [experience] had to be Sundance … only because it was in that moment that I was like, “I am so close that I can taste it.
Latortue holding onto a puppy to reduce stress on set
” That was a really fulfilling experience because I felt like one day — fingers crossed — I will be at Sundance and I will think back on the experience like, “I was just an intern a few years ago and now here I am.”
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FILMMAKER ON THE RISE You were selected as one of the three recipients of the WIFTA scholarship. What effect did winning this scholarship have on your journey through the film industry? Can you tell Oz readers about the scholarship and what you plan to do with the money awarded to you?
I saw a post [for the scholarship] on Instagram and said, “Okay, I am just going to shoot my shot.” Then, I ended up getting an email saying that I got it and I am like, “Oh my God, that is so exciting. I am so ready.” Then, they wanted me to go to the gala for it, but I was booked to be on set, so I was like, “I’ll skip the gala. I would rather be on set anyway.” Then, I decided to go to the gala and I am so glad I went, because I met people that I really look up to … One of them was like, “Don’t worry. You are going to make it.” Having someone of that caliber say that you are going to make it has been such a reassuring thing. Initially, the scholarship was $1,500 and then [the organization] increased it to $5,000 because they were impressed with what I did, which blew my mind completely. When I got the money, I started investing in different equipment for my film company with my writing partner. We invested in podcast equipment. I still have some of that money and it is being set aside for any business ventures that we have like filing for our LLC.
Mahalia Latortue (Director) and Nick Tabidze (DP) discussing framing for a shot
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One of the upcoming projects for your production company is Chocolate Thunder. Can you give Oz readers a description of the film?
Where did the idea for Chocolate Thunder come from?
It is set in the 1990s. It follows the story of Junior Grand-Pierre who is this nerdy Haitian-American kid who has a terrible time talking to girls, but online he is something completely different. He has an online persona where he gives free love advice to people online. When it comes to the upcoming school dance, he basically has to get over his fear of talking to girls and ask out a girl in real life. It is like your typical teen romantic comedy. First of all, I love teen romantic comedies and my biggest thing with them is that they are all white people. All of them. I have yet to see — outside of Love & Basketball and that one scene from The Wood — teenage African-Americans be portrayed in an innocent way. Then I got to thinking, “What if Steve Urkel possessed all the charm of Will Smith from the “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” but only online? What would that story look like and how crazy would that story get?” With all those different ideas, I just melded everything together and that’s how Chocolate Thunder came about.
Who are some of the creative influences that you look up to?
How did the idea for your production company, Anacaona Pictures, come to fruition? Where did the name originate from?
Issa Rae, number one, because she is the embodiment of what I set out to do. There was a time where I was contemplating if I should work for [JuVee Productions] when I get out of school or should I find and work for a different company. Then, I realized that I wanted to give myself the chance to prove myself and work with a company and not for a company. That is what Rae was able to do … She has complete creative control over the things that she does. Another person whom I love dearly is Steven Speilberg … in almost all of his films, there is this motif of hope at the end. I think that is something that is really important for you to leave your audience with so that they leave the theatre feeling light-hearted. Also, the fact that he is able to translate that hope throughout whatever genre. Also, Ava DuVernay because she was in her thirties when she first picked up the camera. I went to school with people who knew they wanted to be a filmmaker since they were out of the womb. That is not what happened to me. I am Haitian, so our choices were doctor, lawyer, or engineer. Anything else was just blasphemy, so I came into my career later in life, which is exactly what happened with her and now she is sitting at the board for the Academy.
My writing partner and I met during class once and we partnered up and realized that we worked really well together and the way that we write is seamless ... We were both always saying that we want to highlight women and people of color, so we were like, “We should just make a business. Let’s just do a production company where we tell the stories that we want to tell.” The name came about because Anacaona is the Queen of the Taínos, which is the indigenous tribe of the Caribbean. She is credited with saving her people because when the Spanish came to the island of Hispaniola, which is Haiti today, they were getting ready to wipe out all of the indigenous people. She created
a working relationship with the Spaniards to try and appease them and keep the longevity of her people. She is like the unsung hero of the Caribbean. She was born in Haiti, but if you talk to Puerto Ricans, 80 percent of them have Taíno blood in them and identify as Taíno. When [Erik and I] realized that she was a huge historical figure in both of our cultures, we decided that we had to go with her name. Have you faced any challenges with building Anacaona Pictures?
Anacaona Pictures focuses on highlighting the stories of people of color and placing them in important positions. Why do you think that that is important in today’s film industry?
The biggest challenge is getting through the door. We are still fairly new and we have the tag of fresh graduate students attached to us, so people are like, “Oh, they are still inexperienced.” Trying to establish a community with people, like the Areu Brothers and Tyler Perry Studios, and local filmmakers to try to get the projects off the ground [and] finding funding is always a challenge no matter who you are. We are still facing those challenges and the coronavirus has literally put a pause on everything that we worked for to get into these meetings and to go into these networking events … We are just having to find ourselves navigating through these uncertain waters and trying to spend this time developing scripts and developing products. Representation matters. Being able to see people who look like you in different positions of power is really eye-opening. It really helps to stir a conversation and helps people understand that they can be more than whatever is in front of them. When we say people of color, we mean all shades … There are people who have barely been represented on screen, so when we create an ensemble cast we are trying to have … different cultures from all over the globe represented in all of these stories. At the end of the day, that is what America is supposed to be: this great melting pot.
September / October 2020
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