Copyright by Ahsjah Janiece Exumé 2020

Ahsjah Janiece Exumé 2020 The Report Committee for Ahsjah Janiece Exumé Certifies that this is the approved version of the following report:

Black Gold

APPROVED BY SUPERVISING COMMITTEE:

Dwain Ya’Ke Smith, Supervisor

Felicia D. Henderson

Donald Howard

Cynthia McCreery Black Gold

Ahsjah Janiece Exumé

Report

Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of

Master of Fine Arts

The University of Texas at Austin August 2020 Acknowledgements

This work would not have been conceivable without the support of the following:

Ya’Ke Smith Felicia D. Henderson Don Howard

Cindy McCreery

Heather Halstead, Alessandra Lichtenfeld, Katherine Propper, Maggie Bailey, Isaac

Burns, Cristoforo Magliozzi, Atli Sigurjónsson, Taniel Kilajian, John David Devirgiliis

Susanne Kraft, Keefe Boerner, Jeremy Gruy, Lauren Castro, Larry Horvat, Mark Capraro

Sarah Hennigan

Deb Lewis

Our Amazing Cast

Our Fantastic Crew

My Patient & Understanding Family

iv Abstract

Black Gold

Ahsjah Janiece Exumé, MFA The University of Texas at Austin, 2020

Supervisor: Dwain Ya’Ke Smith

This report summarizes the creation of Black Gold, a series pilot. It covers the writing process, pre-production, and post-production. Black Gold was produced as a graduate thesis project in partial fulfillment of a Master of Fine Arts degree in Film and Media Production in the Department of Radio-Television-Film.

v Table of Contents

List of Figures ...... viii

Chapter 1: Development ...... 1

Introduction ...... 1

The Idea ...... 1

The Committee ...... 2

The Story...... 3

Chapter 2: Pre-Production...... 27

Crew ...... 27

Actors ...... 27

Finding Black Gold ...... 29

Visual Strategies ...... 30

Chapter 3: Production ...... 35

Overview ...... 35

The Racism in Georgetown ...... 36

Chapter 4: Fundraising ...... 39

Introduction ...... 39

Fundraising Coordinator ...... 39

Seed & Spark Campaign ...... 40

Social Media Presence ...... 42

Chapter 5: Post Production ...... 44

Pre-Pandemic ...... 44

During Pandemic ...... 44

vi Distribution ...... 46

Chapter 6: Reflections...... 47

Appendix A: Scheduled Shotlist ...... 49

Appendix B: Show Bilble ...... 53

References ...... 66

vii List of Figures

Figure 1: Film still reference from Netflix’s She’s Gotta Have It ...... 31

Figure 2: Renee van Nifterik as Janice in Black Gold film still ...... 31

Figure 3: Ingibjörg Ingvarsdótrtir, Black Gold interior set design ...... 32

Figure 4: Black Gold exterior design drawing by Ingibjörg Ingvarsdótrtir...... 33

Figure 5: Black Gold exterior film still ...... 33

Figure 6: Wardrobe reference photo...... 34

Figure 7: Behind the scenes photo from Black Gold, deleted scene ...... 34

viii Chapter 1: Development

INTRODUCTION

When I first started the MFA production program at the University of Texas at

Austin, I had no experience making films. Consequently, my first two projects in my first year, while great efforts, were not at the level of some of my peers. During that stage, I had a hard time believing that I was meant to be chosen for the MFA production cohort. Thankfully, a professor named Deb Lewis encouraged me to keep going, to believe that I had what it took to make content that I could be proud of. That pep talk inspired me to change my perspective. I had an advantage that no one else had: I was an empty vessel ready to be filled with the best parts of my professors, mentors and peers. So, upon entering my second year I decided that I would spend the rest of my graduate career making projects that utilized my natural talents, along with the knowledge and skills I’d learned up to that point. I decided to take the pressure off of myself and combat my imposter syndrome by creating films that were challenging but fun, thus sparking the idea for Black Gold.

THE IDEA

When I was tasked with pitching an idea for my thesis in April 2018, I immediately knew that I wanted to create something that played with merging different eras. I grew up watching Nick at Nite in the 90’s. So essentially, I was raised on the sitcoms of five different decades all at once! For me, I Love Lucy, Gilligan’s Island, The Jeffersons, The

Golden Girls, A Different World and Living Single all happened in the same universe at the same time. I decided to focus my energy on merging the 70’s, 90’s and present-day aesthetics in order to form the imagined reality of Black Gold.

With this project, it was important for me to highlight an all-Black cast featuring a woman at the helm. I am a Black woman and it has become my mission to amplify Black and female voices as much as possible in my projects. Also, during this time, I was drawn to the idea of “good girls doing bad things,” probably because I was watching a lot of Black

70’s films as a requirement for an independent study. With these ideas in mind I initially pitched the following series:

A young attorney discovers that the mother she never knew existed, left her an inheritance in the form of a pawn shop. There’s just one problem: the shop is really a front for a murder for hire business. Black Gold follows our lead’s journey to connect with the spirit of her mother, while somehow maintaining the business she left behind.

THE COMMITTEE

With my idea pitched, I was ready for the next step: choosing my thesis committee members. I wanted a well-rounded team with Black and non-Black voices as well as members with varying areas of expertise. I was blessed with Ya’Ke Smith as my committee chair. He is an educator and an award-winning director. Ya’Ke then introduced me to Felicia D. Henderson, a trailblazing producer and screenwriter whose portfolio includes such series as Family Matters, Moesha, Soul Food, The Quad, Empire, and The Punisher. Felicia looked at my pitch materials and graciously agreed to join my committee. Next, Cindy McCreery, an educator and talented screenwriter, and Don Howard, an educator and an accomplished editor, said “yes” to my thesis committee requests.

It should be noted that my cohort was an integral part of the development of my thesis as well. I often think of them as unofficial members of my thesis committee, and I’d like to express my sincere adoration and appreciation for all members, official and

2 otherwise. They met with me on countless occasions and in varying capacities to help me hone in on the best parts of my original idea that eventually became the final concept for Black Gold.

THE STORY

In August 2018, I began the process of putting my idea into script form. I started with an outline of the script in three acts before transferring the story to Final Draft. The entire fall semester was spent in Andrew Shea’s thesis course, workshopping different aspects of the script, including format, story structure and dialogue. I also fine-tuned the script with committee members outside of class. The overall consensus was that the murder for hire angle convoluted the story a bit. While that aspect was removed, the characters and pawn shop remained. I decided to focus more on the relationship of the characters to each other as well as their individual connections to the shop and neighborhood. I found that refocusing my energy on those associations made the world more dynamic and interesting.

I must admit that I’m still intrigued by my previous theme of “good girls doing bad things.” So, I look forward to exploring that motif in future projects. In the spring of 2019, I had the pleasure of producing a few other projects for some amazing filmmakers, including Isaac Burns and Maggie Bailey. As a result, it took some time to complete my script to a level that was worthy of production. By May 2019 I was proud to offer version three, draft five as a shooting script for what would become my thesis production, Black Gold. I’ve included that script here.

Chapter 2: Pre-Production

CREW

I was adamant about having an extremely diverse set crew with women in leadership positions. This was done in part to practice inclusivity, but also to ensure a well-run set. It has been my experience that when women are the heads of their respective departments, the set tends to operate smoothly. I’m probably biased because I am a woman, but I stand by my logic.

I had the pleasure of working alongside some pretty dynamic people on this project. I did most of the crewing myself, but in true independent film fashion, people were dropping out right up to, and through, production. While it’s annoying, it’s totally expected, and we were able to rely on the versatility of our ever-changing crew to fill in where needed. Co-producers Lizette Barrera and Dana Reilly were also instrumental in making sure that all crew positions were filled as best they could during production.

ACTORS

In A Practical Handbook for The Actor, I once read that “seeing an individual doing his best against impossible odds and without regard to his fears allows the audience to identify that very capacity within themselves” (7). In the case of Black Gold, seeing the cast’s progress from casting to rehearsals to production inspired me to keep striving in order to come out with a project I am proud to share.

As I mentioned previously, an all-Black cast was necessary for this story. I knew that the process of finding talented Black actors in the Austin, Texas area, willing to work for little to no pay, would be a very real challenge. I was prepared to expand the search to nearby major cities and extend the casting dates up until the first production day, which

27 ended up being the case. Also, during this process it was important for me to observe how each actor responded to my direction and adjustments. I wanted to see the potential rapport with actors to establish a good working relationship, similar to the relationship a show runner might have with an ensemble cast.

Our casting process was typical for a modest student production. We constructed casting calls and posted them to our personal social media pages and to Backstage, a casting website. We also relied heavily on word of mouth, which is how we were blessed with over half of our cast. Overall, we had a lot of interest in the roles of Jamaica and Malcolm, moderate interest in the roles of Pimp Pocket, Janice and the Beckets, and very little interest in the roles of Uncle Frank and Miss Penny. It’s my feeling that those roles didn’t garner much attention because the casting call description wasn’t as appealing as I’d hoped. It also could have been due to the fact that these were older Black characters, and since Austin is lacking in the Black actor pool, potential Black actors from Houston and Dallas did not want to travel. In any case, I think we did an excellent job of getting the word out. In fact, we had an entire family drive down from Oklahoma just so that their young daughter could audition for the role of Little Jamaica. I was so stunned that I almost casted their daughter for the role out of shear guilt that they had made the trip. I ended up casting another talented little girl, Sydney Elise Russell, but I never forgot that family. It made me feel good that somehow my work inspired someone to travel almost six hours to be a part of it. During auditions, one of the co-producers, Lizette, was the most helpful. She sent all of the emails, scheduled all of the auditions and even scouted a few people on social media to see if they’d be interested in auditioning. She wasn’t always available to physically be in auditions, but when she was present, she offered a different perspective

28 and really useful insights about the actors’ performances. Before I made the final selections on who our cast would be, I consulted her to make sure I was making the right decision. We started rehearsals about three weeks before our first shoot day. Out of the entire cast Jamaica, played by Miya Goodwin, Malcolm, played by Ervin Brown, and

Pimp Pocket, played by Gary Hackett III, were rehearsed the most. I really wanted to make sure that their chemistry was effortless and perceivable on camera. During our scheduled meetings we spent a lot of time doing acting exercises, improv and just getting to know each other personally. This really helped me learn what their individual strengths and weaknesses were. It also helped me to understand how far they could be led and how they responded to direction. I didn’t want to focus too much on rehearsing lines during this time because I didn’t want their performances to be stale by the time we got to set.

FINDING BLACK GOLD

Our search for a pawn shop was definitely a challenge. Securing an operational shop was out of the question, as we did not have the necessary funds to shut down an entire business for two weeks. At first, I looked for abandoned and foreclosed properties to rent, but that was a bust. In general, realtors were not very open to the idea of having a student film crew in properties they were showing to potential buyers. Consequently, our line producer, Semone Brown, searched for locations outside of the Austin area. She had some luck in Georgetown, TX, a city just twenty-nine miles away. So, we visited those businesses soon after her initial contact with them.

The last business we visited on our scout was Dragonfly Sage Treasures & Tales owned by Heather Francell. It was a sprawling vintage and collectables shop with creaky floors and baubles in every nook. In other words, it was perfect! My only concern was

29 that it was too large for what I was envisioning. Thankfully, Heather offered their back office as a possible pawn shop. It was filled to the brim with boxes, broken mirrors and stray wooden planks at the time but it was the perfect size for our faux shop. Heather graciously negotiated an amazing rate for us, and we signed the paperwork. However, our joy was short lived when the owner of the actual building caught wind that a film crew would be on his property. He was reluctant at first, but after a few calls from Heather and our co-producers, and after we purchased some additional insurance, we were able to persuade him to let us proceed.

VISUAL STRATEGIES

The original visual approach that I pitched was to be reminiscent of Spike Lee’s

She’s Gotta Have It and Justin Simien’s Dear White People. However, the final version of the story demanded a slightly softer approach, less striking. The costume and set design were so compelling that lighting, framing and angles needed to be adjusted to become complementary and not overbearing. Sarah Hennigan was our Director of Photography, and Jason Head assisted her. Not only are these two good friends of mine, they are incredible artists and were instrumental in bringing the story of Black Gold to light. Sarah made sure to shotlist traditional coverage of all the scenes, when it was possible. She also wanted to include some of the more interesting shots including extreme low angles and shots utilizing center framing. Additionally, we had the pleasure of hiring David Parrella, a terrific

Steadicam operator. This allowed for more movement in our potential coverage. This also meant that our lighting design, influenced by the work of Jeffrey Waldron which

30 celebrates the diversity of skin tones on screen, had to be executed well. Likewise, all details of the production design needed to be hammered out and fully realized.

Figure 1: Film still reference from Netflix’s She’s Gotta Have It

Figure 2: Renee van Nifterik as Janice in Black Gold film still

Ingibjörg Ingvarsdótrtir was in charge of production design and Hsiao-Wei Chen assisted her as a set dresser. They did a terrific job of creating a fun space that appeared to be stuck in the 90’s. It was small, cozy and familial, but colorful and somewhat magical. It still amazes me that they turned that drab, dirty office space into a pawn shop filled with memories and character. After wrap, I helped Ingibjörg take down everything and paint all the walls back to their original color. It was that day that I fully realized all of the intricacies of what she’d done. That was a truly humbling experience, and I could not stop thanking her. The production design team was also in charge of props. We purchased a number of items but much of what appeared in the film was borrowed from crew members and from Dragonfly Sage Treasures & Tales.

Figure 3: Ingibjörg Ingvarsdótrtir, Black Gold interior set design

Figure 4: Black Gold exterior design drawing by Ingibjörg Ingvarsdótrtir

Figure 5: Black Gold exterior film still

For wardrobe I knew that I wanted to stick to the 70’s aesthetic that I previously envisioned, but the clothes needed to make sense for present-day as well. Laura Gonzalez Abidar, our lead stylist provided a lot of options to make my vision a reality. She and her assistant, Mattison Gotcher, worked very diligently in coordinating our final choices with

Ingibjörg’s production design. They conducted fittings during our scheduled cast rehearsals.

Figure 6: Wardrobe reference photo

Figure 7: Behind the scenes photo from Black Gold, deleted scene

Chapter 3: Production

OVERVIEW

Production on Black Gold commenced on August 9, 2019 and concluded on August 16, 2019. We shot for seven days within that timeframe at an average of three pages and twelve hours per day. We spent one day in Austin and the remainder of the time in Georgetown. Since we filmed during the summer it was extraordinarily hot and by day five, we were all pretty much exhausted and annoyed. The bonds we’d built during rehearsals were helpful here because we were able to remember a time when we were in air-conditioned studios, laughing and joking with one another. I think we did a pretty good job of tempering our attitudes for the good of the project and the testy moments never lasted long. Overall, the cast and crew had a lot of fun working on set together. Most of us still talk to each other and hang out consistently even now, a year after production. For five of seven days our set was catered by two Black chefs based in Austin. As

I’ve stated, amplifying Black voices was a huge part of our production. So, it was my honor to hire Chef Gil Hunt and Redd’s Table Catering. They were very professional and provided exceptional cuisine that the cast and crew raved about for days after. For the other two days our set was unfortunately catered by a burger joint in Georgetown. The overpriced and mediocre food was a sticking point for me because it cost about $600 per day to eat there. I was particularly upset with our co-producers, Lizette and Dana, because I’d expressed to them verbally and through email and Google Docs that we were not to go over $250 a day in lunches. I was able to negotiate that price with the chefs and could not understand why they weren’t able to find burgers and fries for less than $600.

In general, I was not pleased with the co-producers and line producer while we were on set. It seemed as though the work they had done during pre-production was much more astute, but now I realize that my production expectations of them may have been ill- informed. I’d done most of the pre-production producing on my own before they joined the crew. Therefore, there was not a ton of work for them to do at that time. Once we were on set, I was able to see them in action and under pressure, and it was not appealing. They went grossly over budget and I and a few other crew members often stepped in to take care of things that should have been handled by the set producers. We had an issue with one of our locations that I will discuss later, but because of that incident Lizette decided to leave for the day, citing that she was stressed. It’s unfortunate, but we were all stressed and, given the details of that situation, we were anticipating what inevitably occurred.

THE RACISM IN GEORGETOWN

In general, we did have some issues with the people of Georgetown. It was very clear that a lot of citizens and local business owners did not want us there, and I can’t help but believe that it had a lot to do with the color of our skin. Because our main location, Dragonfly Sage Treasures & Tales, was still operational while we were shooting in the back office, we had to find other local businesses to act as production hubs. One such location was the courthouse, which was just across the street from the shop. During one of our shoot days, we paid to rent a space there to have lunch. One of the employees allowed the non-Black crew members to enter and exit through the main entrance located at the front. When we, the Black cast and crew, attempted to do the same thing a while later, the courthouse employee instructed us to use the back door. There was no reason

36 other than our race that she would have suggested that. It was unfair and bigoted of her to treat us that way and we were very vocal of that fact upon leaving that establishment. While Heather Francell, the owner of Dragonfly, was hospitable and supportive of our production, one of her vendors was not. In addition to selling merchandise she’d acquired, Heather featured local artists and collectors by allowing them to show and sell their work in her shop. While on set one day, one of those collectors stood close to the double doors that separated the main floor from the office we were shooting in. She proceeded to move several pieces of her collection around very loudly. We realized that she was attempting to disrupt our production, but we decided to ignore her and say nothing. Our lack of attention must have upset her more, as she randomly vented to a few of our actors who had just left the scene we were still shooting. According to those actors, she expressed her sincere disgust in Heather’s accommodation of our production. She flat out said that she did not want us there and proclaimed that she would encourage other resident artists to complain to the shop owner in an effort to get us kicked out. Heather never kicked us out. In fact, she was so pleased with how we’d handled ourselves that she emailed my thesis committee chair to thank him for the job he’d done in mentoring me. She also took $500 off of our agreed upon price because she wanted to make sure that we had enough funds to finish the project. Unfortunately, Dragonfly Sage Treasures & Tales has since closed its doors, but they hope to reopen soon in a new location. The last experience I’ll discuss here refers to the reason that Lizette left set early.

For two of our shoot days we were stationed at a library that was walking distance from the shop. As a part of our rental agreement, we had to use the library’s resident caterer for our meals. The producers unofficially worked it out with the staff that we’d order food at least once from their caterer but for the other meals we’d use our outside caterers. The

37 library staff said it was fine as long as we didn’t make it obvious and didn’t get caught by the caterer. So, we ordered breakfast from them on the first day, but because it was overpriced and not very appetizing, we chose not to order from them again. Later that day we had a delicious lunch from one of our caterers. The next day we brought our own breakfast and once again had our caterer bring lunch. Apparently, we were a bit more conspicuous that day and the library’s caterer found out. She then called Lizette and fussed at her for having broken the rules. The caterer also said that she was very cordial with nearby businesses and would tell everyone how unprofessional and how rowdy we allegedly were. As I stated before, we knew that the caterer could potentially find out and become disgruntled, but I think we were all a little shocked at the threats to bad mouth our production around town.

Nevertheless, we managed to complete our production in the allotted time and gained a lot of positive attention along the way. While it was some people’s intention to bad mouth our production and show us in a negative light, it was our prerogative to conduct ourselves with maturity and style. We could have easily been discouraged by their unfounded dislike of us but we didn’t let it overshadow our primary goal. Though these experiences were triggering and disheartening, we are better for having showed them that Black progress will not be halted by racists.

Chapter 4: Fundraising

INTRODUCTION

Our fundraising campaign started before production and lasted until a few days after we wrapped. One thing that I’d done before we were even thinking of raising money was create a logo and color scheme that was present on all of our marketing materials. I wanted to make sure that anytime anyone came across anything from our production, it was clear that this was about Black Gold. I also created an email account for the production so that cast, crew and vendors had one place to send and receive information. That email also featured the logo and color scheme so that cast and crew would become inundated with that aesthetic.

FUNDRAISING COORDINATOR

For the task of raising funds for Black Gold, we hired a recent undergrad by the name of Lucky Nguyen. He was absolutely essential in the success of our campaign. He was responsible for setting up and managing our Facebook page up through the end of production. He also researched different fundraising platforms and found that Seed & Spark would be the best site for our needs. I expressed to Lucky that it was necessary for cast, crew, and supporters to feel connected to this production. I wanted everyone to feel like Black Gold was their project as well. One way he realized this request was by giving a questionnaire to the crew. From that data he constructed short, fun bios and posted them, along with headshots, to our Facebook page. Whereas crew members are often underappreciated, we were able to feature them on our page as a way to show that they are important and well regarded.

SEED & SPARK CAMPAIGN

Our campaign launched on Seed & Spark with a promo video and our pitch deck on July 11, 2019. Our goal was $7,000 and we had to raise at least 80% of that amount to receive any funds. Our pitch deck included a summary of the story, a director’s statement, cast bios, a description of our visual approach, a distribution strategy, and the production timeline. We partnered with local Black owned businesses to offer perks like a percentage off of catering from Redd’s Table and free official Black Gold t-shirts from RiRi’s Rhinestones. We also offered social media shoutouts, digital downloads, and producer credits to some supporters depending on their donation amount. At the request of the Seed & Spark team, we created a short promotional video that embodied the spirit of our production. I came up with the idea for the video after watching the teaser for the final season of Orange Is the New Black, in which the main cast all sang the same song in different areas on set. For example, one woman was in hair and makeup, while another was doing a readthrough with the crew setting up for their next shot. The idea was that no matter where they were individually, they were experiencing the same thing at the same time. Our promo was similar in that everyone had the same lines to deliver, but in their respective departments. The director of photography delivered the lines in an equipment warehouse, while the wardrobe stylist delivered the lines in a fun and quirky costume shop. It was edited and added to our Seed & Spark campaign. We received a lot of compliments and interest in the project after that.

Originally, we’d set our campaign to be thirty days, but as we approached that mark, we realized that we would not meet our goal. So, we contacted Seed & Spark who allowed a one-time extension which lengthened our campaign by seven days. It was during this time that we casted Skeeta Jenkins for the role of Uncle Frank. Skeeta is a well-known

40 actor in the area and was working on another production at the time. It just so happened that our wardrobe stylist, Laura, was also working on that set, and one day Skeeta and Laura were discussing their excitement about working on Black Gold. One of their executive producers, Mike Goyette, heard their conversation and resolved to donate to our production that day, becoming our first executive producer. He then contacted another gentleman, Michael Taylor, who in turn donated as well, becoming our second executive producer. By the end of our campaign on August 17, 2019 we met our goal, thanks to all of our generous donors and benefactors. I do want to note that while our executive producers were very generous, even donating additional funds, food and hotel rooms during production, I was a bit distracted by having them on set. Mike Goyette just wanted to see the set and be helpful in any way that he could, but I’m not one for schmoozing while I’m directing. In that headspace I need to be selfish and left alone for the most part. Likewise, Michael Taylor’s presence was very distracting for me, the cast and crew. Michael has a show called Theatre Corner that now plays on KPBS, and he brought his team in to interview me and a few other cast and crew members. This was to boost our online presence with his audience and the overall film community. It was an incredible gesture but proved to take up more time and space than was anticipated. On one particular occasion I was helping the lead actress finish her makeup and told the Theatre Corner staff that there was not enough time for them to take another actor to be interviewed. We were just moments away from heading down to set.

Seconds later we were ready to leave and could not find that actor. Apparently, Michael assumed we’d be longer and took the actor against my expressed wishes. I was very upset but I didn’t want to interrupt their filmed interview. So, I waited until I heard “cut” and I

41 called for the actor. We were late getting to our next scene because of that, and it still sometimes frustrates me that I was not listened to.

SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE

Our Facebook page launched on June 5, 2019. On that day we sent an email to all of our cast and crew asking them to follow our page and to share it to their own personal pages. Once they followed and shared, it pushed our page to those people’s friends lists. I then texted and emailed all of my contacts and asked them to follow and share as well. As we continued casting, we featured the names and tagged headshots of those actors. That prompted them to like and share their featured posts, which in turn pushed Black Gold to their friends lists. By the end of production, we’d acquired a following of over one thousand people on Facebook. What made our social media page unique is the amount of engagement we had with followers. Lucky, our coordinator, consistently uploaded cast and crew features, inspirations for our visual approach, and our Seed & Spark campaign link. The page also shared behind-the-scenes photos and videos of our promotional video, cast rehearsals, shoot days and catered lunches. Lucky thought it would be good for followers to hear and see more of me. So, I made other stylized videos talking about the project and explaining the ways in which the public could be a part of our story. Additionally, I purchased a few of our official Black Gold tees for main cast and crew. They went home, styled themselves in their shirts and took their own promotional photos for our page to then like and share.

That got a lot of likes and follows. Our team made sure to use very specific language and hashtags when posting. We really wanted to convey to everyone that this is a show about a family, and that essentially

42 our followers and supporters are our family. So, a lot of our posts included hashtags like

#BlackGoldTeam, #BlackGoldFamily or #BlackGoldFam. We also wanted to be clear that this is a show for and about Black people. So, we made sure to push that notion to the forefront and use language like, “movement” and “culture,” so that people understood that they were investing their money and energy into something bigger than just a school project. The Facebook page continues to thrive even a year after production has wrapped. I have since converted it to a broadcasting page for my humble production company, Don’t Touch Productions.

Chapter 5: Post Production

PRE-PANDEMIC

After production wrapped in August, I found that I needed a break from Black Gold.

I had been working on this project for over a year with barely any time off. So, a hiatus was much needed. The assistant editor, Case Conner, did an amazing job of organizing all of the media in the editing software. I used Avid Media Composer to edit. I didn’t look at the footage until around October 2019, and that was just so that I could create a quick trailer. The trailer seemed to do well on social media, but what I found from looking at the raw footage was that I would have my work cut out for me. I spent the next couple of months bashing myself in secret for not having done “a better job of directing.” I noticed every little mistake and really started believing that I would never get to a point where I was happy with what we’d created. In an effort to keep moving forward, I chose to at least pull select clips from each scene that were my favorites, and attempt to stich them together to form a rough assembly of Black Gold.

DURING PANDEMIC

I’d really thrown myself into editing in February 2020, thinking that I had plenty of time, but by March the world was in a state of emergency and everything was shut down. I do not own Avid on any of my own devices, but UT was nice enough to lend a few of us graduate students an iMac while we attempted to finish our films. I am so grateful to Keefe

Boerner, Susanne Kraft and Jeremy Gruy for getting the iMac to me and for troubleshooting any issues along the way. The thought of trying to do anything during a pandemic was, and is, agonizing to say the least. I’d already had the typical stress of editing

44 but now it was heightened by COVID-19. I was scared about my health, finances, and the safety of my loved ones. Cut to April 2020: My committee chair, Ya’Ke, explained that he wanted me to have more time editing before he and the rest of the committee signed off on my work.

This meant that I would need to apply to graduate in absentia, in August. At this point, I was used to things not going the way I planned. So, I accepted that I would not graduate when I wanted and kept pushing. By the next month I presented a new version of my project to my committee. They were so kind, but they had to be honest and admit that the film just wasn’t working well. It was too long and wasn’t hitting the intended emotional beats. I tried my best to keep it together during that Zoom meeting but I broke down in tears toward the end. My committee members did their best to reassure me, but it was going to take some self-encouragement to get me back to where I needed to be. I took yet another break in June, but by July I was full speed ahead. I deleted the scenes that weren’t doing the story any justice and switched the order of other scenes. I played around with more sound effects and music, and even introduced a few graphics. This went over well with my committee as they explained that my project had improved by “leaps and bounds.” I appreciated that reassurance and even began to enjoy editing again. The comedic moments were landing a little better, particularly with the character of Miss Penny, played by Cynthia Banks. Don Howard met with me a few times via Zoom and I shared my screen with him. He was able to view my project in Avid and offer help and suggestions as we went along. That was truly a turning point, and in August I went confidently, and virtually, into sound mixing. Color correction is just a few weeks away, but I am so proud of what I was able to put together given the circumstances. The success of my project is, in no small part, due to the aid of my thesis committee members.

DISTRIBUTION

I originally planned to submit Black Gold to film festivals immediately following color correction, and I may still do that. However, due to a lack of finances that may not be a reality this year. Since we did not have the typical UT thesis screening, I and a few other MFA candidates are considering banding together to offer our own screening at a nearby drive-in movie theatre. We are currently researching grants that could fund such an endeavor. In the meantime, I am considering releasing the project without submitting to festivals. People have been waiting for so long to view the finished product, and I just don’t want to keep them waiting for too much longer.

Chapter 6: Reflections

I am so very proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish, especially given that exactly four years ago, I had no idea how to be a filmmaker. I’ve learned so much about the process of making films, but also about who I am and what I want to do for the rest of my life. This program has been incredibly challenging, but I am a better person for having gone through it. There are some lessons that I’ll be utilizing from now on, and they’re listed here.

• I will trust myself more. I had some interesting ideas that I wish I’d stuck to. I could have let go of a few other elements and kept the hitwoman angle. It would have taken the same amount of energy to do a murder for hire business as it did a pawn shop.

• I will consider people’s strengths and lean on them for those things. If I’m doing everyone’s job for them, what’s left for them to do? Micromanaging everyone causes unnecessary stress on top of the stress of doing the job actually assigned to

me. If I feel that a person isn’t doing their job well, I should express that to them in a constructive way or kindly hire someone new. • I will be specific about expectations from cast and crew, and get it in writing if

possible. • I won’t sweat the small stuff. No matter how prepared and organized I am, if things can fall apart, they most likely will. • I will be creative with how I get things accomplished. There are many roads leading

to the same destination, and my initial way of thinking is not always the best way. • I will remember that every project has a purpose beyond the scripted story. Black Gold wasn’t just my thesis film to graduate. It really was a movement and a calling 47

card for my future endeavors. So, the way I viewed this project is how I want to

view future projects. I want to have the expectation that whatever I’m working on will have a long life after production. And lastly… • I will slow down and experience each process. Getting the job done is important,

but so is having fun! If I don’t take the time enjoy what I’m doing, then I’ll run the risk of telling stories solely for profit, and that’s not who I want to be.

Appendix A: Scheduled Shot List

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Appendix B: Show Bible

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