I was in my early forties. Had been in theater all of my life, starting off as an actor some 25 years prior to entering film school. During those lean years as an actor, I paid my proverbial dues and was blessed in the sense that although I had not made much money, I had been taught and molded by some of the best men of color in the industry in the world. Yes, it was a long journey, a circuitous route that I had taken to arrive in film school. Edmund Cambridge, my chief mentor, was one of the founders of the famed Negro Ensemble Company (NEC) in New York, where such noted and famed actors such as Sidney Poitier, Rosalind Cash, Esther Rolle, and a who’s who list of black actors had all come from the tutelage of their programs. C. Bernard Jackson, famed director, writer and entrepreneur, was also a guiding light for me and I spent several of my formative years at his famous Inner City Cultural Center in Los Angeles not only as an actor, but cutting my teeth as a stage manager and ultimately a director.
I loved acting, but the moment I directed my first play something told me that I had found my true calling. There was nothing like the pure exhilaration I felt when I worked with actors and technicians to bring a play to life for a hungry audience. It was this love of directing that was responsible for me going to film school, and being in film school was directly responsible for me writing, producing, directing and starring in “The Frequency”.
My film school, Columbia College-Hollywood did not want me there when I first applied to go to school there. I had to actually be interviewed by the school’s president in order to be admitted. The problem was my transcripts from my previous school. You see, although the grades I was transferring reflected a 4.0 GPA, the transcripts were more than twenty years old. The screener, a Dean, turned down my application and suggested that I go to a Junior College for a semester and demonstrate a 2.0 GPA then transfer back into Columbia College-Hollywood which was a 4-year, Bachelor degree granting program. However, I would not accept no for an answer. I rallied some of my celebrity friends to write me letters of recommendation and made an appointment to meet with the president of the college as soon as he returned from vacation. We met and it was decided that I would be allowed to begin school on academic probation and that if my grades ever slipped below a 2.0 GPA that would be grounds to dismiss me from the school. He and I shook on this agreement and I started school the very next day. I was on my way to becoming an independent filmmaker.
Now it was two years later, and I was a junior about to become a senior because I had cut an entire year off of my quest to graduate by attending summer school. I had been on the Dean’s and the President’s list every semester since I started attendance and my GPA was in the solid 3.9’s. The great equalizer in film school is although GPA is a consideration; it did not guarantee anyone a Final Project. I had to come up with an idea that would allow me to shoot a Final Project because I wanted to become a film director and a film director had to have film in order to showcase their talents and abilities. There was heavy competition because you could shoot a Final Project as a student much cheaper than in the real world. First of all, the school supplied all of the equipment you needed to shoot your film. Well, perhaps not all of it, but certainly all of the basics: camera, lights and sound equipment. Secondly, the students themselves became your crew, performing all the tasks they had learned to do and specialized in while a student at the college. All you had to do was supply transportation for your crew and cast, meals, costumes, locations and any special equipment like portable generators for night shooting schedules, etc. Because of what was at stake, I knew that the project I submitted would have to be better than good, it would have to be great, because there would be at least 25 scripts submitted to the selection committee for them to choose from and of that 25, only four scripts would be selected for production.
As I think back on it today, there were several things combined that gave me the idea to shoot “The Frequency”. I had recently returned from the “Million Man March” in Washington, DC. An experience I will never forget, it was also a life-altering experience in that I was able to be a part of something that day that was so emotionally and culturally rich. Having been there with more than one million other men of color collected together as one to ask for atonement was humbling to say the least. Yet, it was the most empowerment I had ever felt as a black man in my entire life. I felt this tremendous sense of belonging and this need to give back something, anything positive to the benefit of the others gathered there in support of one another and to the world in general. I stood on a podium near the front of the staging area and remember looking back to witness as far as the eye could see, my fellow brothers holding up the horizon. What an experience. I began weeping after a while, and it was all I could do to maintain focus on the $75,000.00 BETA camera I had brought with me from Los Angeles to film the march with. That experience made me go deep within myself and really evaluate many things that I had not before even given thought to.
Once I returned to Los Angeles one thing was obvious and clear. I was not the same guy returning from the march who had left to go there. Holding hands with more than a million of my own that fateful day and taking that pledge together had altered something fundamental in my soul. That is what would eventually shape my choice for the subject matter of the Final Project that I would soon write and produce.
It started slowly, this new awareness and consciousness that I was experiencing. I recall riding the bus from school after I returned. There was nothing unusual about it. I had ridden the same bus back and forth to school for nearly two years and was not bothered by anything culturally. This day, however, was different. The bus stopped and picked up some young high school children who had just been let out of school. Children being children, they were loud and a little rowdy. Now the kids that got on the bus were primarily black, and the crowd that was already on the bus was culturally mixed. These kids started calling themselves the “N” word. I had heard it many times before on the same bus and it hadn’t bothered me at all; it was a norm. This day, however, I was shocked that they would even consider themselves all that the “N” word implied. I wanted to stand up and say, “Don’t call yourselves that! You are not the “N” word! Didn’t you see the Million Man March on television? We are more than that, better than that word!” But I could say nothing. I simply sat there wondering why I was experiencing these feelings, when I never had before.
That semester, I wrote produced and directed my first film project. It was a very controversial film, a 3-minute Public Service Announcement entitled: “Respect The Sacrifices of Your Ancestor’s – Don’t Use The “N” Word”. This project was submitted to the world famous Pan African Film Festival, sponsored yearly by Magic Johnson, at the Magic Johnson theaters in Los Angeles, CA. It was accepted and became the shortest film at that time to ever play that particular venue. The Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, in Oakland, California also honored that PSA with an award and played it several times during the course of their film festival. The creation of this project, too, I attribute to my newfound awareness and desire to both entertain and inform at the same time.
A few years prior, I had read an article in NEWSWEEK magazine that claimed it had traced DNA evidence back to discover that all people on the planet had derived from a single black woman in Africa, irregardless of their present race, creed or color. This information was particularly interesting to me because it partially confirmed a story that some Muslim friends had related to me several years prior to this report. They told me the story of Yacub, and explained that the different races of man were grafted from the DNA of the original man who was black. In brief, they explained that because of this other races of men would challenge the original man, and take over the planet for a prescribed period of time until the original man’s descendents would manifest powers, save the world and resume their rightful places as guardians of this world and the universe. The story they shared was never far from my mind. I considered it more of a cultural mythological tale that some cultural anthropologist would someday offer a study on. Then came the article with scientific proof that substantiated the most important aspect of that story. That black people were the first and original men and women on the planet.
My mind soared. I wondered why no one had done anything theatrically with that information and decided that it was about time someone did, and that someone was I.
I knew that I wanted to write a script that would be entertaining and not a manual or even a biblical retelling of a story. I knew that my story would have to have something extra to make it feel different and ethereal. I think it was an unconscious decision on my part not to seek a lot of specific information from people as it regards the story. I knew as a writer that sometimes too much information is not a good thing and besides I had come up with the genre that I thought would make this film unique and different and I took as my paradigm the series “The Twilight Zone.” I had always admired the stylistic undertones of mystery and sometimes occultism that often accompanied the stories shot for that series so I decided to model my script loosely on that style of writing and presentation.
I am an automatic writer. What I mean by that is that I developed a penchant for automatic writing while taking a class on Descriptive writing in college. Usually when I utilize that technique I need little but an idea to start from and such was the case with “The Frequency.” It came to me that the main characters name was Ray Mercy. I deliberately took that name for the meaning inherent in it in descriptive terms. Ray, means light or even the name of God as in the Egyptian RA, which also was the name of the sun GOD. Mercy is just what it means, to give mercy is a condition brought on by first having the power to do so. In other words, you cannot give mercy if you do not have the power to do so. Therefore, Ray Mercy stands for “Gods Mercy” or “Mercy of the light.” It is ironic that the first person in need of mercy in the film is Ray. In order not to spoil the film for you as a potential viewer I will not go into much of the specifics as it regards the plot and story of “The Frequency”. I have already possibly revealed too much to peak your interest. Hopefully, its only enough to peak your interest in purchasing a copy of the film for you and your family and friends enjoyment.
Once the script was completed came the task of submitting it for approval to the committee at my school that selected the projects. I knew that there would probably be some friction in the class because of some of my classmate’s feelings regarding the subject matter of my filmed projects. In my film school, as is the case in many, there were not that many African Americans in attendance and of the few that were there only a small number envisioned themselves as directors. I had already had a run in with the teacher who ran the production workshop after I had taken exception to an unacceptable grade that he’d tried to give me. After taking this matter before the Dean, he had to consequently change it in my favor. I believe it left a bad taste in his mouth to have to do that. It was just that this teacher, who happened to be Jewish, seemed to have a preconceived idea that no other people in the class could be as good or deserving of a good grade as other students who happened to be Jewish. In my memory as a Black student you were constantly reminded of that fact. The other reason was that my trip to the Million Man March was well publicized because I sought to use the trip as a “Special Project” of which I would shoot a documentary while at the march. Because I don’t consider myself a racist and have friends from many diverse races, including Jews, several of these people were offended that I was going to the march because they hated Minister Farrakhan for voicing anti-Semitic views. I refused to let that affect what I wanted to do. I felt that Black people of every belief supported the march and for that reason the march should be supported by me. Still, as you may be able to imagine, I wondered if my involvement would spell disaster to my chances of having my project selected by a panel that was predominantly Jewish.
The day finally came when the announcements would be made. I felt pretty confident because I had read the other 23 scripts submitted and truly felt I had separated myself from the pack as a writer. I sat in the class numb as the four projects were revealed and “The Frequency” was not among them. That was one of my lowest moments as a fledgling filmmaker. I thought that all was lost. I wanted to be a filmmaker so badly and it seemed as though the opportunity had slipped through my fingers. I couldn’t sleep that night and I sat up late contemplating what to do. The next day I went to the school and asked to have a meeting with the college president, Dr. Brianne Murphy, an Academy Award winner. I told her that I felt my script “The Frequency” was one of the better scripts submitted for production and that it was unfair that it was not selected for production. She seemed concerned and told me that she would look into the matter. I left her a copy of the script and thanked her for her time. Two days later, I was walking through the halls of my school on my way to class when Dr. Murphy approached me stating how much she had enjoyed reading the script for “The Frequency.” “Don’t worry,” she stated, “you are going to get the opportunity to shoot this project”. One week later, the script was green lighted for production. The committee had now approved 5 scripts for production. All I had to do was prove that I had the budget to shoot my movie and I could get started next semester.
One hurdle was cleared and now another loomed ominously waiting to be conquered. It was my old nemesis, the one always waiting to dispel my dreams and desires. Money. I had managed to save about $2,400.00 but it was going to cost a lot more than that to complete my project. The cost of film processing was high, even with a student discount and the film had to be processed in several stages. First, you had to have a negative and from the negative a Work Print and after the Work Print was another process depending on whether you were going to edit the old traditional way, hands on, or nonlinearly (computer).
I had to be able to show the production office I had at minimum $5,000.00. Where could I get the rest of the money I lamented? I was fresh out of favors with almost everyone that I know and because of a glitch in some paperwork, I did not receive a grant that I was fully qualified for because of my grades. The date was quickly approaching and I only had about $3,400.00 in the bank. What I did have was creativity and determination on my side. I convinced a friend to deposit $2000.00 into my account for a few days and I got a bank statement showing I had more than enough money and “The Frequency” hurtled the final obstacle standing in the way of production.
The semester was new and I began the process of putting together a crew. I chose as my Director of Photography, Horacio Chacon. Horacio was from Chile and we had spent many days talking about the Chilean revolution and other things of importance to his culture. I liked Horacio. He had an easygoing style that meshed well with my own. There were many directors with diverse styles. Some were very heavy-handed and temperamental. I did not enjoy working with this type of director but more often than not, when I was forced to work with a production; I wound up working for this type of director. My style was laid back but paced to get the job done. I selected my key personnel and we were set to begin the process of casting.
CASTING
I had written a script that was unique in the sense that I only had a few main characters that would carry the film and they were: Ray Mercy, Fayabo, Shante’ and Lymeric. Yet, I knew that the other characters would be just as important as the lead characters as it regards keeping the story exciting, fresh and flowing. Fayabo had been cast months before when I met Gail Davis at a cable television station in the Marina. She was a producer who was also an actress and we met because she had heard about the PSA, “Don’t Use The “N” Word” and wanted a copy to run on her show. There was something hauntingly mysterious about her, yet powerful and I did not hesitate to ask her if she would do the role of Fayabo. After she read the script, she agreed and the rest is history. I found out later than in the 70’s Gail was well known in Italy as an actress for the famed director FELLINI, and that she had appeared in several of his films.
I began casting for the lead character Ray Mercy and at the same time I was working as the first assistant director for another project that had begun shooting the semester before. The fact that it was still shooting tells you the amount of problems that the director had run into. One of the most chilling problems he ran into gave me pause to think. The actor that he had cast as his lead had been hired to do a film in Canada and left before completing principle photography on his project. This had a devastating affect on his project and all but insured that he would never complete the work. There was no way he could shoot around the missing character because he was the lead.
I auditioned several characters for Ray Mercy, and although I was able to find a couple of actors who could have pulled the role off, I decided that it would be safer if I did the role myself. At least I knew that I was talented enough to do the role and that I would make myself available to finish shooting no matter what happened. In my opinion, this was a decision that ultimately saved my production and allowed me to complete it and get it in the proverbial can. So now that I had my lead character I began casting for the roles that were left and after two weeks of casting for “The Frequency” the entire cast was completed.
WORKING WITH THE DESIGNERS
I turned my attention to the look of the film and began meeting with my artistic designer and costume department. Art directors are involved with helping you to create a look for the film and are highly valued by film directors. Mine was no exception. We worked tirelessly together and once we had settled upon a look confided in each other on everything including location interiors and exteriors. Next came the costumes. I knew that I needed costumes for this project, especially for Ray Mercy, Shante’, Fayabo and Lymeric. I had decided to go for an African cultural design as it regards their costumes. I realized that I was taking a big chance. If it didn’t work I would lose my audience very quickly. Still, there was a little voice in my artistic mind that kept telling me that underneath it all “The Frequency” was a Costume Drama and that it is impossible to have a costume drama without costumes. My problem was I had no money for costumes and the ones that I found at the costume shops were either too much or too little in essence.
Enter Doris Conners, my costumer and Gail Davis the actress who would soon turn co-producer as well. Our Father works in strange and wondrous ways. One day I was visiting a friend named Lynn Conners and her mother was there. She overheard me talking to Lynn about “The Frequency” and the fact that I needed costumes to make the project fly. Little did I know she was a seamstress. Before I knew it, Doris Conners had not only volunteered to sew, but also enlisted her daughters as well to do all of the costumes for the film. Gail Davis donated fabric that she had brought from Africa and the costumes were sewn, tailored to fit each actor.
SHOOTING THE FILM
I held several production meetings during the next three weeks. There is a lot of planning that goes into a film shoot. Everything is planned, surprises usually wind up costing you some time and time, as they say, is money. So we tried to be as meticulous as possible. My camera crew practiced certain techniques such as pulling focus as well as camera maintenance procedures. My Director of Photography constantly tested filters and film until we settled on the stock and filter configuration we would use to give the film its desired look. We settled on a filter that was very flattering to the skin tones in people of color. It basically operated on the principle of limiting the blue color spectrum from the film which seemed to not only make the black characters photograph gorgeously, but gave a good overall look to the film. Yes, it seemed the film would at least be “Eye Candy.” That’s filmmaker jargon meaning it would have an awesome look. Each of my departments was chugging away as we approached that first shooting day. The producer that I was assigned in class had an attitude and he was not doing anything but providing lip service. So I found myself making deals for the extra equipment, which included renting a generator that I needed for my exterior night scenes that would be forthcoming.
I had planned to open my shooting days with the first three days being on the Sound Stage of my school. We had a very large Sound Stage and it could accommodate a large crew and set. So finally, the day before my shoot, I came down and watched the Art Director supervise the building of the set. The first space to be created was Fayabo’s “Room of Cures” and he did a Masterful job of putting it together. The Director of Photography and I walked through the night before and I made final adjustments based on my vision as a director and his need for accessibility for shooting.
I was so excited that night I could hardly sleep. The dream was coming true. I would start directing my first film the next morning and I had an early morning call, 6:30 am. I was there at 5:30 a.m. waiting on the maintenance man to open the door. You see, we as filmmakers believe that the first shooting day is very important to a production. We believe that it sets the pace that the production will be shot at. If the pace is too slow you are losing money, if it’s too fast you may leave something critical to the story out of the picture. I was very pleased. I had a great crew; a large crew of students dedicated to making my project a good one and for those first three days the production was flawless. It ran so smoothly that I was easily able to direct and act in a scene at the same time. I attribute much of that to the preplanning work that had been done during all of those production meetings. The following days went by mostly without a hitch. There were a few problems but the crew banded together and solved them. I was very happy with the way things were going and after we had completed shooting on the Sound Stages we wrapped the set and looked at the Dailey’s. Dailey’s are a process of looking at your film on a Work print the next day after it has been shot in order to ensure that you got a good exposure and a good image on film. The Dailey’s floored us. They were, quite simply, spectacular.
With that element of our shooting out of the way all that was left, so we thought, were the location scenes. My next series of scenes would all come from the same general location and would be shot during the day and the night. There is a culturally rich Afrocentric area in Los Angeles known as the Leimert Park District. And this is where I had scheduled several climactic scenes to be shot. I rented the generator for 5 days, which was a pretty hefty part of my budget because you also had to rent a truck to haul the generator to and from the location. Four days were for scheduled shooting and the third was a pick-up day. On a pick-up day we could get any shots that we’d missed during the first four days.
The first night of shooting with the generator was the first sign that I was going to experience many problems trying to get The Frequency in the can and completed. We arrived at the location at about 5 p.m. and the crew started laying out lines to the generator after I showed them where the scenes would be shot. Everyone was doing his or her job with precision and professionalism. The Director of Photography came to me and asked me where the film camera was. I told him that it was on the truck. He left and came back after a time and said that it wasn’t on the truck. By this time it was about 6:30 p.m. and the sun was starting to set. I called the school to find out what happened. Truly there must have been a mistake. I had my requisition form clearly showing that I had reserved the camera for that night. We spoke to the production office and after much beating around the bush determined that the camera, that was supposed to be ours, was taken home by a person who worked in the equipment center and he lived in Santa Monica. To top that off, he refused to go and get the camera.
I was not amused as you may imagine. I had a full crew on the streets of Los Angeles. We had set up the generator and the lights, food service, costumes, and we had no camera. I called and got the school’s administrative office involved and they called some people on the carpet. It was now about 8:30 p.m. and we had not taken a single shot. We still did not have a camera. I sent my Director of Photography back to the school. Once there, the school administrators made the student who had the camera take the DP to his home so that he could get it. You should know that Santa Monica was about twenty miles from the school and about fifteen miles from my shooting location. At about 11 p.m. the Director of Photography showed up with the camera. My crew had been in a holding pattern waiting for nearly 6 hours without taking a single shot. Plus, we had an early call the day after this shoot for a long day in the same location.
I had to do something to save the day so I rewrote the scene that we were to shoot and made it much smaller, right there on the spot. One woe is past yet another looms. In the meantime, my Producer, who was assigned to me by the teacher at my school was supposed to secure location-shooting permits from the city. Without these permits a policeman could shut your production down on the spot. Well, my producer did not show up with the permits. I called him at home and on his cell phone and he did not respond to any of my phone calls. So I elected to shoot without the permits. The very moment we powered up the lights and began shooting a police car rolled up and asked for the permits. To top that off, one of the members of my crew got a little salty with the officer and all I could do was try to smooth over the situation by the time I got there. “Yes, officer, may I help you?” I asked. “Let me see your permit to shoot here.” he demanded. I explained to him that I did not have the permit, but that my producer did and for some reason he was not here. “I cannot let you shoot then.” he said. My heart dropped out of my mouth and onto the pavement so it seemed. After all that we had endured to just simply get the camera and now this. If I lost this night I knew that my production might never recover.
I didn’t have the money to get the generator again. I looked that policeman in his eyes and said, “Please, officer, I am a student director and this is the most important thing I have ever done in my life.” I permitted him to see into my soul by humbling myself and looking directly into his eyes. He was quiet momentarily then he said, “Well, get those lights out of the street over there, place them closer to the curb, I’ll be back here in three hours. When I come back, I want that truck packed and you gone.” I thanked him and he left. We shot the scene and left the location at about 3 a.m. I was dog-tired but happy that we were able to shoot the scene and get it in the can.
I was deeply asleep, having gotten in at about 4:30 am, when the phone rang at about 9:30. It was one of the guys at the equipment center raising hell because the truck was left packed with all of the gear from the night before. He insisted that I come and unload the truck, which was packed with all manor of equipment. I got up and went to the school. This was truly one of my lowest moments. There was no one there to help me unload the truck and the guys in the equipment center all had an attitude because their buddy had been admonished by the administration for taking the camera. So I ended up unloading the truck by myself until a few other students volunteered to help when I was nearly through. I knew that I had done nothing wrong to anyone, yet I could sense a growing animosity from several of the guys in the equipment center. I was going over the list to insure that all the equipment had been returned, still pretty burned out, when an altercation broke out that could have resulted in a fight. However I was not the aggressor and I was not afraid or intimidated at all. I believe because of that I was able to maintain my composure and leave the school without the situation escalating into a fight. To this day I am not certain if it was racism or jealousy that prompted these attacks from the guys in the equipment center, but I am glad I had the where withal, vision and composure to move on, I am happy that I went home to get some sleep.
That evening, I went to talk to the dean of the college and the president and explained to them all that had transpired. They were aware of the fiasco with the camera, but were surprised to hear about the near altercation with a member of the equipment room staff. They apologized for the troubles that I had gone through that night and day. They told me that they would take care of the problems in the equipment center and for me not to worry about their misdeeds anymore.
The next big shooting day was upon us. It was big because I had scheduled sixteen hours of shooting. That is a long time for a cast and crew to be together and I learned much from the experience. I scheduled it that way because I had both day and night scenes to shoot at the same general location, which was Leimert Park again. If I had it to do all over again I don’t think I would do it. However, with all of the problems I had experienced, I was not inclined to change that schedule at that time because of the cost of the generator rental.
The day came and the call was 7 a.m. in the morning. To shoot in Leimert Park was somewhat prestigious. There are not many films that have been shot there because the shop owners have a Business Association that is very picky as it regards filming in the area. I’ve known others who had to go through several meetings to authorize a shooting. So you can see why I didn’t want to reschedule and go through all of that again. The same little nemesis was on my back once again, location permits. It seemed that my producer, whether deliberately or not, had not secured Location Shooting permits and once again my production would be subject to being shut down immediately if a policeman requested the permits.
We began shooting the day scenes of the story and everything went smoothly and in orderly fashion. The crew worked effortlessly and we only broke for lunch. Once again, there were no problems and we broke for dinner. The next part of our shoot could not begin until after nightfall. After dinner, the crew set up for the night shoot. It was about this time that I noticed 3 police cars parked across the street at the gas station. I said a prayer that they would not ask for the permits and went right back to work. This particular scene was very difficult to direct because I was in it and it involved about forty extras. We got through it though and when we took that last shot, everyone was exhausted. I was thankful because we shot 16 hours in a very public place without the proper permits and made it.
Again, the Dailey’s were fabulous. I was happy but something happened that I could not prevent. I ran out of money. I still had a third of my film left to shoot and I was broke. I suspended the rest of the shooting schedule and began appealing for help any place that I thought would listen. No one came forward with money. I compiled a mailing list and got a renowned organization to sponsor me: “The AFRICAN MARKETPLACE, INC”. I sent out more than 3,000 cards and letters requesting support. More than a month had passed and I would have to get back to shooting soon or I would lose my opportunity to complete my project as a student film. It was the donations of private citizens, plus my working two jobs that eventually helped me to raise the additional monies to complete the project, which was in the thousands.
As money came in I scheduled and shot at other locations. Whittling away at what was left of the film. It was not only money that had been donated, but also goods and services as well by organizations such as Eastman KODAK, who donated lots of film, and FOTOKEM who donated some much needed services.
Finally, I got to the last night of shooting at the last location and I was lamenting with a friend that I had everything I needed to shoot with, but I had no money to buy food to feed my crew. One of the reasons I had such a good crew was because I had a reputation for feeding them very well. It was a source of pride for me to have good food available for them. My friend, Jean, was from France and he was driving me around doing the last minute things that were necessary for the shoot. We were shooting in my apartment in very cramped, quarters so he and another neighbor opened their apartments to the crew to relax when they were not working. It was very nice of them. I was still worried about the food situation. I had prayed over it. Jean, being the optimist that he was, was telling me not to worry just tell them to bring a lunch and that they would do it. On the way home, we stopped at a corner store and I bought us a soda and one scratch-off lottery ticket. I went back to the car and we headed home. I scratched off the ticket and could not believe my eyes. I said, “Jean, stop the car and pull over.” He said, “What’s wrong?” I told him that I had just won $100.00. He was overjoyed and could not believe it. I was awestruck. We went back and got the money, I laid out a lavish meal for my crew, and we shot our last day on the project in style.
THE POST PRODUCTION PHASE
All I had to do to get a final grade for my class and graduate was to cut three scenes from the project and show them to the class for critique. I did that and received an “A”. It was very gratifying. I did not know that it would take me another six years to do a final cut on The Frequency. I was the first African-American valedictorian in the 52-year history of Columbia College Hollywood. Articles were written about me in the Los Angeles TIMES newspaper and I was featured on the local news programs. I thought, truly after all of this someone will help me to complete my film. It was not to happen. Little did I know that completing my film would become a 7-year journey? I wrote every benevolent society I could think of, celebrities and philanthropic organizations. I even performed a one-man play in my attempt to raise money to complete the project. The play was well received, but it didn’t raise enough money.
The Post Production phase can be the most creative of all the phases, if you have money. I was so worn down that in the 5th year, out of frustration, I had actually considered throwing the project in the trash because it did not look as though I would ever complete it. However, I continued to hold out hope. One day I realized that good fortune had given me enough finances to purchase a nonlinear editing system. My life was changing for the better. I was happily married now and my wife is a very beautiful and gifted artist. It took me one year to complete the editing for The Frequency. It took that long because I had to learn how to use the editing system that I had bought and rebuild a significant amount of sound that had degenerated over the years. I was able to salvage almost the entire project and The Frequency received its premiere and debut at the KODAK executive offices theater in Los Angeles, California on February 28, 2003.
Now that you know something about the making of The Frequency I sincerely hope you will remember all of the challenges that one must endure in order to manifest your dreams. I fought and I thought I was actually beaten at one point. But I rallied and won with the grace and mercy of God. Ironically I even graduated as the first African American valedictorian of my school, for me that was cool.
Thank you for reading this story. I hope it helps you to understand some of the obstacles associated with creating a film of this nature. Please let me know what you think of The Frequency after you have received and viewed your copy. If you like that one, please support me in the making of the next project by telling your friends and relatives to purchase a copy of this film. You can get the word out by word of mouth. It’s a powerful tool. As an independent filmmaker, I cannot rely on the majors like Universal Studios or Warner Brothers to suddenly appear and give me a chance to make my films. Because of people like you, I’ll be back with an even better movie some day soon. This is my prayer and my dream, my desire and my wish, my goal and my purpose and the destiny I wish to manifest in order to be able to do the greater good: to be a filmmaker, a filmmaker for all people.
Thanks again:
Glenn Towery