From the big screen to the smallest, the entertainment landscape has been disrupted. A new crop of young, black, and bold creatives and executives are leading the charge to create diverse and dynamic content for global audiences.
And it’s working. Director Ryan Coogler’s second feature film, Creed, opened with a successful domestic box-office weekend of $29,632,823. Cable networks are green-lighting projects created, produced, and directed by young black women, such as Issa Rae’s new show Insecure. Web distribution is bursting, with platforms such as Amazon and Netflix garnering industry recognition for their own original content, as well as praise from the consumers. As a result of this shift, the opportunities for fresh talent, both in front of and behind the camera, are slowly increasing.
Entertainment is big business. The U.S./Canada box office was $10.4 billion in 2014, according to the Motion Picture Association of America, while electronic home video revenue is set to rise from $15.28 billion in 2014 to $30.29 billion in 2019, according to PriceWaterhouse Coopers. But who’s getting a piece of that pie? According to the 2015 Hollywood Diversity Report: Flipping the Script from the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, there have been small to modest improvements in minority participation. Minorities were credited as creator in 5.9% of the broadcast scripted shows for the 2012—13 season, up from 4.2% in the 2011—12 season. Minorities wrote 11.8% of the 170 films examined in 2013, up from 7.8% in 2012, and directed 17.8% of the 174 films examined in 2013, up from 12.2% in 2011. By contrast, in the executive suites, 94% of CEOs/chairs of film studios were white and 100% were male.
Still, these movers and shakers continue to navigate the industry with a tenacity that cannot be denied. Their creativity, commitment to their craft, and hard work will prove to all watching that they’ve got next.
Melina MaTsoukas
Director, music videos and television
If you caught the blazing Run trailer by Jay-Z and Beyoncé or danced the night away to Rihanna’s “We Found Love†video (for which she was the first female director to win a VMA and earned a Grammy for Best Long Form Video), you’ve seen Matsoukas’s work. A graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and the American Film Institute, the 34-year-old New York City native has cultivated a following as she continues to create provocative content.
Widely known for her high-concept music videos and films, Matsoukas’s roster of collaborators is made up of some of the most influential musical artists today, including Solange, Lady Gaga, Lil Wayne, Pharrell, and Snoop Dogg. In 2011, she stepped outside of directing videos when she served as the creative director for Beyoncé’s album 4, where she led all creative elements of the project, from tour aesthetics to editorials, advertising, and a perfume launch.
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With a strong international appeal, Matsoukas has directed commercials for a number of the nation’s largest corporations with global reach such as Nike, Coca-Cola, Toyota, and Target. And her industry accolades speak for themselves: a DGA nomination for her short film Negros Negros; 2009 MVPA Director of the Year; 2008 UK MVAs People’s Choice Award; and her video for Beyoncé’s “Pretty Hurts†won the 2014 VMA for Best Video with a Social Message.
Now entering new territory, Matsoukas will make her television directorial debut with Awkward Black Girl’s Issa Rae’s pilot Insecure, which was picked up by HBO.
Cameron Mitchell
Motion Picture Talent, Creative Artists Agency
“I’m an artist’s advocate.†That sums up Mitchell’s mantra. Mitchell is a motion picture talent agent at one of the nation’s leading entertainment and sports agencies, Creative Artists Agency, which he joined in 2012. He’s a fierce proponent for the artists on his roster, which include Common, RZA, Terence Howard, Mike Epps, Zendaya, Gabrielle Union, Reginald Hudlin, John Ridley and others, striving to discover and lock down the best opportunities for his clients. “I grew up in the theater. My cousins ran the National Black Theater in Harlem, so I’ve always been interested in the arts.â€
A typical day for Mitchell includes connecting with clients and meeting with senior leadership to ensure the CAA clients’ goals are being met. He is somewhat of a curator of relationships and holds that responsibility close to his chest. Knowing that he wanted to pursue opportunities on the business side of
entertainment, he started his career in the United Talent Agency’s mailroom. Mitchell insists that internships at an agency are important–they provide a view of what’s to come. “Study law, art, and/or business. There is no direct path to becoming an agent. But get a mentor. Mentorship in this business is important.†Where does he see himself in the next few years? “A leader within my agency that continues to champion for my clients. A strong advocate.â€By remaining passionate and focused, Mitchell continues to live out his teenage dreams.
Ryan Coogler
Writer, Producer, Director
The 29-year-old director and screenwriter is on a roll with feature films Fruitvale Station, which won the Grand Jury Prize and The Audience Award for U.S. Dramatic Film at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, and the seventh Rocky film, Creed.
But his short films also make a mark. Locks, which first screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, won the Dana and Albert Broccoli Award for Filmmaking Excellence. The Sculptor and Gap, both released in 2011, won the Jack Nicholson Award for Achievement in Directing.
It was, in fact the American Black Film Festival’s HBO Short Film Competition that launched his career. After winning the prize for Best Short Film in 2011 for Fig, Coogler–who will receive the 2016 ABFF Awards Rising Star Award–was able to gain the financing for Fruitvale.
At Sacramento State University, Coogler squeezed in as many film classes as he could while majoring in finance. Soon after, he studied at USC School of Cinematic Arts, where he made his shorts and revealed his natural talent for storytelling.
Coogler has come a long way from the $900,000 Fruitvale budget. Creed carried a $35 million budget and he’s currently rumored to be in talks to direct Marvel’s Black Panther, expected to hit theaters in 2018, which will no doubt carry a significantly higher budget–placing him among the ranks of veteran black filmmakers such as John Singleton and Tim Story.
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Alana Mayo
VP of Production, Paramount
This experienced 31-year-old production executive at Paramount Pictures is one of the few blacks shaking things up on the film development side. But her talents don’t stop there. She also produced the acclaimed civil rights drama Selma
Mayo has been the driving force behind script acquisitions such as Bounty, a crime thriller starring Will Smith and purchased by Paramount in February 2015, and Ex Machina, the British sci-fi thriller that was lauded by critics as among the best in the genre in recent years. She’s also one of the creative executives behind Interstellar and Noah.
She oversees development on films including the soon-to-come political thriller Hacking the President’s DNA, which was recently adapted from an article written in The Atlantic about advancements in bioengineering and individualized medicine that are enough to create an individualized virus to wipe out specific individuals, even the president.
Though she majored in English at Columbia University in New York City, Mayo worked with filmmakers such as Lee Daniels and Warrington Hudlin before moving to Los Angeles to pursue her goal of working in feature film production and development. Before becoming an executive, she worked as an assistant to Warner Bros. producer Andrew Lazar. She then went to Twentieth Century Fox as a creative executive before heading to Paramount Pictures.
Dantley Davis
Design Director, Netflix
“Design is the intersection of technology and art, and those are two things I’ve been passionate about since I’ve been a little kid,†says Davis, design director for Netflix. Davis leads a team of designers and prototypers that create the user interface for Netflix for all mobile devices. “What’s most compelling is reflecting back on the new user experiences that my team will be shipping to Netflix that will continue to disrupt Hollywood and the cable industry.â€
Davis’s days at Netflix vary based on the scope of a project and the point within the development life cycle. “First, I generally check in with my team. I provide feedback, critique, and conduct whiteboarding sessions to work through design problems. I also work with my engineering partners to make sure the state of the actual code aligns to the core goals from a design and product standpoint.†Additionally, he works with product management partners to make sure current projects align with Netflix’s core business strategy.
So how does one enter the field? “It really starts with being curious,
looking at the world around you and all the products that you interact with, and realizing that everything you touch and engage with has been designed by someone.†Davis encourages those interested to think about business problems they want to solve for a given company and ways to improve it from a customer standpoint and to create a website or app for the company. “Just start to design and build that particular concept. Through the exercise of building you’ll start to develop a craft.â€(Continued on next page)
Andrew Augustin
Founder/Creative Director of Notion Games L.L.C.
There’s no stopping Augustin, the 27-year-old founder and award-winning lead designer at Notion Games L.L.C. In an industry with hardly any known African American names, he is a fast-rising star. His success has so far landed him on the 2015 Forbes “30 Under 30†list in the games category, making him the first black male to do so.
What originally started out as a career in illustration soon led to game designing for Augustin. His first big project, “Super Ubie Island Remix†raked in $6,500 in support on Kickstarter and $20,000 in overall support, says Augustin. Going the independent route means he has to fund the projects through gigs and money he saves up and through the generosity of supporters. His goal, he says, is to diversify the industry and become a “black Walt Disney.â€
Currently he’s working on a new action-adventure game called “Team Notion.†It features three women of color, an African American, a Latina, and an Asian, who are agents protecting the world. “My aim is to show that women are powerful and can be action heroes,†he says, adding that he felt a need to create it after interacting with so many students over the years at summer camps and after-school programs where he volunteers to teach art and programming skills. “Some of the coolest concepts I’ve seen have come from females, yet they don’t get the recognition in this male-dominated industry.†The game is in the production stage now and he is aiming to release it in early 2017.
–Additional reporting by Lisa Fraser