While at this year’s Urbanworld Film Festival, I was blessed enough to meet Carmen Madden, the upbeat Writer/Producer/Director of the film festival favorite Everyday Black Man. Since its 2009 debut, Everyday Black Man has made the rounds at Oakland Int’l Film Festival, San Diego Black Film Festival, San Francisco Women’s Int’l Film Festival, American Black Film Festival and became the Best Narrative Winner at the Tallahassee Film Festival, Best Narrative Winner/Programmers Award at the Pan African Film Festival and the Best Feature Winner at the Peach Tree Village Best Int’l Film Festival. And I’m proud to announce it will soon appear on DVD and VOD!
The trailer and story have been covered here on S&A before, but for those unaware it’s the tale of Moses Stanton (Henry Brown), a quiet and thoughtful man who since closing the door to his violent past, runs a small neighborhood store while watching over his daughter Claire (Tessa Thompson) who doesn't know he exists. When a young man, Malik, comes in claiming to be a black Muslim that is doing good for the neighborhood, Moses takes him on as a partner but soon realizes that Malik (Omari Hardwick) is nothing but a drug dealer seeking to destroy the neighborhood and Claire. Does Moses stand back and accept things the way they’re going or does he become the man he used to be in order to save his beloved neighborhood and his daughter? That’s the essence of the story.
I spoke via telephone with Carmen at her CLM Productions office to discuss the movie, her career, and her new distribution deal.
What made you want to make Everyday Black Man?
Everyday Black Man was a script I wrote that came together pretty quickly. It was one that just worked and that we could put on film rather quickly. There were a series of extra-violent things going on in Oakland that inspired the story. Basically, we were having an issue with some local black Muslims - they killed a journalist doing an expose on them – and people found out they weren’t doing good for the community as they claimed, like targeting and destroying stores that sold alcohol, but were dealing drugs out of a famous local bakery. I found it interesting the amount of power and money they had. These Muslims here have their own little movements so I don’t think they’re connected to the Nation (of Islam) at all. For years the bakery that inspired my story was thriving, but we all found out it was a front. Somewhere the religion got lost.
Has there been any reaction from them to your film?
No. I don’t think they know about it. They’ve lost focus since their leader is in jail.
So what is it about secrets that made you focus on that being a prevalent theme throughout your film?
My experience is that in the Black family there are a lot of secrets – people raised by aunts who aren’t really their aunts, etc. People like Malik have a great veneer but don’t like to tell you who they are, and that’s a reality in many people’s lives. Moses is hiding because of his guilt and doesn’t really feel like he’s worthy enough to tell his daughter who he really is…and his being like the old Moses is still a stain on him that he can’t shake. It’s possible for people in his situation to change, but the answer is not to try to escape but to handle it because perhaps a total escape is not possible.
Your films in development also focus on everyday people. Why do you choose focus on everyday folks as opposed to extraordinary ones – and is that marketable?
I find everyday people interesting and amazing. A great example is author Walter Mosley’s most famous character Easy Rawlins (Devil In A Blue Dress, A Little Yellow Dog) – all he wanted was his little house with a white picket fence and people always tried to take that away from him, thus making him getting caught up doing detective work.
The hardest thing about life is to get through the everyday-ness of it. If you can survive that, you can get through anything. I think most characters out there are our everyday people. What I liked about the Batman remake is that all of it was do-able without superpowers – it was all something a normal man could do.
Do you feel that’s marketable enough to make a financially successful movie?
One of the good things about my film is that people say, “I know that person.” They seem to know them intimately. They’ve reacted verbally and physically to characters in the movie. So yes, I think these films are marketable. That said, I’d love to do a sci-fi movie with a million dollar budget!
Is there something specific that you wanted to say about violence in making of Everyday Black Man? Anything about life in Oakland?
Since they idea came from a local story I wanted to situate it there. But the stuff happening in the movie is happening all urban communities, gang violence and the like.
You got three top-notch actors to appear in your movie. Though Henry Brown is pretty unknown, at least by name, how’d you go about convincing Tessa Thompson and Omari Hardwick to appear in your film? And how important is it in independent filmmaking to have a ‘name’ in your film?
I met Henry at a writing conference in Santa Barbara where he was doing a reading. Come to find, he was actually raised in the Bay Area. Henry loved the script and agreed to do it. He was working with Tessa at the time and liked her and wanted to bring her in. When I approached her agent, he wasn’t sure yet that she was able do it but loved the script and also recommended another of his clients, Omari Hardwick, who I felt was perfect to play Malik.
Having even one name actor is huge to your film. My distributors told me that if say, Sam Jackson, was in my film that it’d already be in theaters. It’s depressing in some ways because an actor trying to come up won’t be able to get as many starring roles. Getting someone recognizable really helps.
Great segueway, as I was excited to hear that you got a distribution deal! Can you give us some more details about it ?
We signed with EOne Entertainment [Entertainment One] who are best known for distributing the Twilight films but are also starting an urban division. We are one of the newbies for them so it should be interesting. We’ll have a DVD run, as well as on cable, VOD, and hopefully they can even try to sell to BET. Winning multiple festival awards, and even being nominated for jury prizes, allowed me to meet with multiple distributors and at least now I know them know and can build a relationship for the future; we met at lot of them at ABFF (American Black Film Festival). After spending so much time with this film I was a little depressed about letting it go, so I just hope we made the right choice. But with EOne starting their urban market I think they’ll push it. They need it to succeed.
Switching gears, do you feel that you get a lot of support being a female filmmaker?
People like to take advantage. They’re surprised that you’re doing it and don’t think that you can. The hierarchy on the set is…interesting – even my team was used to taking direction to men. Even though people respected me, finding a way to work with a woman is difficult for so many. I learned a lot.
Do you find that Black female filmmakers are supportive of one another?
I haven’t gotten to know many others. Living in Oakland, I’m very much an outsider. I try to attend things, but I don’t’ see many Black female filmmakers so I haven’t seen that much support.
How’s the audience reaction been to your film?
It’s been good. It’s been great in Oakland. The Black community tends to want a happy ending to a film though. Every now and then I get the question about showing Muslims in a better light, but I make it clear in the film that this guy is not a real Muslim - he’ s just using the religion. What I love is that people talk to the screen and overall respond well to it. They are ecstatic when a certain character meets a grim fate, and they cry at the ending so I think I’ve done my job.
I was always a writer - writing is my love and I consider it what I do best - and I never intended to be a director or producer. So in so many ways the reaction has been wonderful.
To close, please tell us about your next project, Shadow Fight.
The main character came out when I was writing Everyday Black Man but I had to put him aside and pick it up when I finished EBM.
The premise is that after serving prison time for murder, Emmett Dunbar, once an up-and-coming boxer, considers his debt to society paid. He gets out of jail and hopes to reunite with his wife and son while even possibly getting another shot in the ring. But once he’s free, Emmett discovers that his son, also now a boxer, hates him, his wife wants nothing to do with him and getting a decent job is next to impossible. But when his son’s manager seizes an opportunity for fame and fortune that’ll put Emmett in the ring with his son, he has to choose between his last dance and losing his son forever.
I’m interested in boxing, that’s my workout, so that connection is there. But also, as I looked at my sons and how they react to the world I wanted to do a story about a man having to prove his worth to a son he doesn’t know because he was in jail most of the boy’s life. As a parent myself, the fight that we have to have for our kids against society, their peers, and to keep your connection with them is constant. An in Emmett’s case, has to reclaim his life AND his son. The plan is to start shooting in January.
For more information about Carmen Madden, go to www.CLMproductions.com
For more information about Everyday Black Man go to www.EveryDayBlackman.com
(reprinted from my post in ShadowandAct.com)
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