Local film company makes it to the top
Alan King, Contributing Writer
Issue date: 1/19/06 Section: COVER
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"We were just writing scripts and kicking it," said Fox, 28, a resident of the Northeast neighborhood of Brookland.
In October 2004, Fox and her friend of two years, Drew Anderson, took a $25 scriptwriting class from Michelle Sewell, who rented a space in Eastern Market for her workshop that day. They eventually became good friends, and together they decided to enter the 48 Hour Film Project, where filmmaking teams have to make a four- to seven-minute movie from scratch in one weekend. The movies are shown in more than 27 U.S. cities, and in each city the teams compete to be named the "Best Film" for that city. Of those, only one will win "Best 48 Hour Film of the Year."
During that time, Justin Follin was interning at Americans for the Arts, a nonprofit organization where Fox worked fulltime as a membership services coordinator. When they learned of their common interests in film, Follin joined Fox, Anderson, and Sewell - and Straight, No Chaser Productions was born.
And while they didn't win any awards at the 48 Hour Film Project, the group used it as a platform to keep making movies. The company's most recent project "Multitude of Mercies," won best script in the second Annual Rap-It-Up/Black AIDS Short Subject Film Competition in May 2005, and was broadcast on BET on Dec. 1 and 4. The group has other projects to its credit, including "Paper Trail" and "Crumb Snatcher."
Straight, No Chaser is a product of Black filmmaking, a part of Hollywood that is slowly wielding more power in the film-making market. There are 77 Black films representing $1.75 billion of the domestic box office gross, according to Black Film Report: 2000-2004, published by Tanya Kersey, a veteran entertainment reporter. That is 23 percent of the domestic box office total revenue for the five-year period.
Anderson said one of the challenges for filmmakers of color is that Hollywood is looking for sure-fire "blockbusters." In the process, big studios are reluctant to support independent films.
"It's the fact that Hollywood only wants to see you do a certain kind of film as a minority. Especially as African Americans, it's gotta be real coonish and silly," he said.
Like many other independent filmmakers, Straight, No Chaser, refuses to do that. "It's one of those odd paradoxes, [that] not doing what's sure-fire [ensures] our success," Anderson said
Northwest D.C. resident Fiona Riviere, who has four years in the industry, is the founder of Defination Films. Riviere is working on her project "Tall as Her Body: Waitikubuli," a film about the people
of Dominica fighting for their independence in the 1970s. She elaborated on Anderson's observations of stereotypes in the film
industry.
"For independent filmmakers, a lot of times we tend to do stories that are not stereotypical at all," Riviere said. "It's tough to break into an industry that's focused on what they think their audience wants to see."
Riviere said another issue was financing. Anthony Tyler, the owner of P Chops Productions, knows how difficult it can be to secure the funding needed to finance a movie. Tyler found no backers for his company's first film, "Eyes Reversed," so he and his partners took matters in to their own hands.
"The sure way to get your film financed is to do it yourself," Tyler said. "You can get ads in the paper or take out a small loan."
However, Tyler recognizes that it can be difficult for Black filmmakers to get their products out into the public.
"Everybody is so focused on the mainstream that anything that's not familiar to folks is a risk," he said. "You have to push yourself, so put your stuff out there for free. It's a hustle, but it's worth it because people hear about it, and it'll catch a buzz. "
Collectively, all the members of Straight, No Chaser admit that winning the Rap-It-Up competition is one of the biggest breaks they've had in their careers. Anderson said he expected it to be a while before they got to the point they are now.
"It's like sitting in the hospital, waiting to see your first child born-just sitting there, smoking your cigarette, and biting your nails."
However, Sewell said that while they all believe they have accomplished a lot, there is more work to be done.
"All four of us are really invested in this being our career, so winning was great," Sewell said. "But I think this is really where the grind starts."
