Robert Townsend broke into acting more than 30 years ago, but branched
into writing, directing, and producing. His latest film, In the Hive premiered at the American Black Film Festival and was screened at this year’s Black Enterprise/Pepsi Golf & Tennis Challenge. In 2009, he ventured into the digital world with Diary of a Single Mom, a Web series (http://pic.tv/singlemom) that made the leap to television in a one-hour special on TV One in October. Townsend made room in his schedule to talk to black enterprise about education, blacks in film, and his meeting with “Mona Lisa.â€
In the Hive is based on a true story about the Hive, an alternative school for troubled teenage boys founded by One Economy Corp., a technology nonprofit. What do you think we can do to steer children with violent and criminal backgrounds from trouble?
The real question is once kids are exposed to the different elements of the world, do we throw them away, or is there a way to give them a second chance? I think In the Hive is about second chances and how [Executive Director] Vivian Saunders was able to encourage and inspire these boys based on technology. One of the themes is what do you do with at-risk youth. A lot of times they don’t have parents or the parents don’t know how to be parents. Then the teachers have to do everything. Television influences [the youth], music influences them, the gangs influence them, and so the film opens up a big can of worms and offers some answers.
You work directly with inner-city youth when you’re not filming.
Well, I come out of the West Side of Chicago, a really rough neighborhood. My mother raised four kids on her own, so I have a real sweet spot for kids who are like me. I think that sometimes their worlds can look very bleak and they have no hope. If all they see is poverty and all they see is gang-banging and drugs and the dark side and there’s no light or upside, they won’t dream the other way.
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The Web is a new medium for you. How did Diary of a Single Mom come about?
[One Economy CEO Rey Ramsey] said, “Can you tell a story in 12 minutes?†The first thing he wanted to do was a show about single moms, and use Internet tools that could make it interactive and make their lives better. Billy Dee [Williams], Richard Roundtree, and Diahann Carroll signed up. Monica Calhoun stars in the show. And Leon, my brother from The Five Heartbeats, signed on. Everybody came on board this little series.
You addressed the difficulties of black entertainers in Hollywood Shuffle. Nearly 25 years later, what are your thoughts on the state of black film?
You do see more African Americans in roles that are nontraditional, but we don’t have as many original stories. We have more artists of color blended into the blockbusters, but we need more balance of the personal stories.
When I was trying to catch you earlier, you were out of the country.
Yeah, I went to France. I went to the Louvre and I went to see the “Mona Lisa†up close and personal. It really inspired me as an artist because you want to create a piece of art that people will want to see again and again. I’ve been able to create a few movies and television shows that people would consider classics. For me as an artist, I want to step up my game.