What the Negro does not understand is that
filmmaking is a business. And it’s a high-risk business. And filmmaker, movie
studios, distributors and movie theaters want to minimize their risk.
This is why we don’t see many original films,
especially Black films being produced anymore. Most films produced today are in
the following categories:
Adaptations of best-selling novels (Books that
have sold over a million to two million copies)
Adaptations of successful commercial properties
(comic books, television shows, soap operas, etc,)
And remakes (a new version of a previously made
movie that was successful at the box-office.)
Out of all the films in the entertainment
business Black films are considered the highest risk. The main reason why Black
films are considered a high risk is because they do not perform well in foreign
markets. Some can’t be sold anywhere but in the U.S. Alone. A few are so
esoteric when it comes to content or are of such poor quality they can only be
sold direct-to-video in only the U.S. market.
And that risk factor is exacerbated because
most of the Negro masses do not go to the movies that are produced and
distributed by both large movie studios and even independent film producers. People
like Mario Van Peebles, Denzel Washington, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Chris
Rock, Michael Jai White and countless other brothers and sisters produce movies
for Black audiences, but the Negro does not show up at the theater when they
are released. Some don’t even show up when the DVD is released to home video.
If these small independent Black movies can’t
get a large enough audience of Black people to go the theatre during their
limited runs, how can the Negro expect a billion dollar movie studio to
risk $50- $100 million dollars on
producing a big budget movie for them?
In addition to not showing up at the movies,
the Negro does not create material in the previous categories I mentioned that most
movie studios can turn into viable properties that can be invest in or adapted
into screenplays. There has not been a million selling African-American fiction
novel since Waiting To Exhale and How Stella Got Her Groove Back.
Movie studios today mostly make adaptations of
best-selling books. Unfortunately, Most of Black fiction being published today
is of the poorest quality. The African-American fiction market is flooded with
Street lit, Erotica and Pseudo Christian fiction with no plots and minimal
character development.
And most of it just doesn’t sell well enough to
prove to a studio it’s a viable property to invest millions of dollars needed
to make a movie today. Most of the Street lit, erotica and Christian fiction
books published today barely sell between 20,000 and 100,000 copies, far below
the million needed to get the attention of movie studio executives.
Even worse, the material is so badly written
most of these books just can’t be adapted into screenplays. And With all the
profanity, sex and violence in these stories, many of these books would get an
X or an R Rating, the kiss of death for a movie in a marketplace filled with
kids and moms looking for PG and PG-13 content to take the family to.
In the Black book marketplace there are no
African-American best-selling children’s fiction, Young adult or fantasy
novels. And Young Adult and fantasy novels are the kinds of books movie studios
can to capitalize on and build a franchise around. Books like Harry Potter, Twilight, Divergent, and
The 100, are all money in the Bank for Movie studios in both the United States
and the foreign box office. But even when authors like myself publish these
kinds of books Black people, The Negro won’t buy these books in the millions of
copies needed to show film producers there’s an audience large enough to take a
RISK on them as a commercial property.
Movie studios like best-selling books. Again,
these books have an established audience that’s guaranteed to come to the
theater for the studio. A sure $25 to $40 million opening weekend at the
box-office. But Because Black people do not come out in numbers and show
studios the numbers and the money, there is no way to show the studio how the
Black community will minimize the risk for them.
Most Negroes believe films are just made from
scripts. But what the Negro does not understand is that the original screenplay
(Spec Script) is not something movie studios are going to greenlight (approve)
for production. Original screenplays are a huge risk, even for a person who
self-finances them. It’s untested unproven material. There’s no guarantee it’ll
have that large audience turnout. And in most cases people wind up taking a
loss.
The only thing most businesspeople can
guarantee with investing in the Negro is a loss when it comes to making Black
films. And with studios making fewer films in a calendar year now, executives
and indie filmmakers just can’t afford risk a slot in their limited release
schedules to lose $5 to $100 million dollars it takes to produce, promote, and
distribute a Black feature film. Too many people have been burnt trying to
reach the Negro and establish a connection with the Negro audience.
Which is why we don’t see Black films anymore.
The big problem with the Negro is that they
will ask for product from businesses like film studios. But when it’s time for
the Negro to follow through and put his or her money on the table to buy said
product, the Negro just won’t show up at the theater.
Making people believe that the Negro is fickle.
Making people believe that the Negro is noncommittal. Making people believe
that the Negro is a LIAR. For all the Negro’s talk, their actions speak louder
than their words. And executives don’t have time for talk. There are other
groups of people such as comic fans who will follow through with their promises
to spend money. It’s more profitable for that executive to deal with those
groups of paying customers with money in their hands ready to spend than to
deal with the Negro who only has lint in his pocket and his hat in hand.
The Negro believes that the movie business is
just like the Welfare department, the government programs, or the foreign owned
grocery store they’re used to dealing with where the co-dependent shuck N’
jive, blame n’ shame games can get them something for nothing.
Unfortunately, what the Negro does not
understand is that indie filmmakers and movie studios deal with real money.
Money that is hard to raise. Money that is harder to get back once its spent. It’s
a challenge to get $5,000 together for a small budget short. Even harder to
raise $100,000 for a documentary. And it’s an uphill battle to raise the
million or so dollars needed to put together a TV pilot or small budget feature
with halfway decent production values.
Most times when it comes to Black productions, this
money comes from friends, family, and sometimes out of the filmmakers’ own
pocket. Lots of Black people work for that money. And if they can’t make it
back at the box-office a lot of Black people LOSE.
With every Black film box-office failure the
Negro finances his own unemployment and poverty. Every film that fails keeps
six others from getting their greenlight. And it keeps two or three more
scripts from getting read by executives and investors.
The Negro doesn’t understand that filmmaking is
a business. Nor do they understand that business operates on a reciprocal
exchange. In order to GET Black films, you have to GIVE your money to theaters
that feature Black films.
Black folks If you do not put your money on the
table to pay for Black movies, you do not get ANYTHING. Nor do you have a right
to SAY anything about what’s being featured on the marquee of any movie theater.
The film business both large and small only deals with paying customers with
money in their hands for tickets and it only listens to those customers.
Businesspeople don’t have time for dusty Negroes who sit on the sidelines
complaining about the content they’re not paying for. And as long as Black
folks act like beggars, they can’t complain about the choices offered to them at the theater.
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