← Blacks Behind the Camera

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By Sonja Mack | Published June 4, 2010 | Full size is 500 × 420 pixels

Most independent filmmakers produce a motion picture and then seek out a studio for the production’s release. DuVernay hit the film festival circuit with This is the Life, her documentary about West Coast underground hip-hop, and was offered distribution deals from studios. She declined them and recouped three times the budget of the documentary without a studio partner by executing her own do-it-yourself model. First, This is the Life had a limited theatrical release in a Los Angeles theater. Next, it was aired on cable television through Showtime Networks, rented at Netflix, and sold on iTunes and on DVD via the film’s Website and retail vendors. DuVernay is currently using profits from the documentary to make her next movie, I Will Follow, a drama starring Blair Underwood and Tracie Thoms.

Most independent filmmakers produce a motion picture and then seek out a studio for the…