You’ve been working in the film industry for a few decades now. Please explain to our readers what it is that you do exactly.

I started in 1979 in the 11th grade at North Side school cards in Atlanta Georgia. I’m proud to say that makes 40 years working in the business. I’m primarily known for doing lighting in film and television as well as live events. I also do some production design and production consulting. I’m the person who is primarily responsible for executing the lighting. Some jobs I collaborate with the director photography. Some jobs I am the director of photography or the lighting designer and I create the images on my own. The job includes specifying equipment and labor and then overseeing the crew on set. The fun part is that some days I get paid to just think of interesting images and then go out and execute them.

 

You were the gaffer on Akin Omotoso’s latest film The Ghost and the House of Truth which took home the World Narrative Feature prize at Urban World Film Festival. How did you come by the opportunity to work on that film?

I’ve been working in Africa for 13 years now, so many people will introduce me to other people they know who are working in that space. I taught technical theater after I got out of college and 30 years later a former student of mine introduced us – that’s the value of relationships. Akin works between South Africa, Nigeria, and the US. We’re both very focused on doing work that combines the US and African industries, particularly if the work contributes to the development of the African film industry.  So of course, we hit it off instantly.

 

What are some of the ways working on this film allowed you to be innovative as a gaffer?

There was a lot about the film that required shooting Lagos, Nigeria as it is and at the same time trying to create an image that is considered suitable to western eyes. And budgets being what they are, you mostly have to work with what’s already in Lagos. 70% of the lights used were battery powered LEDs which was crucial to our success because of the limited power, fast shooting schedules and the labor budgets.

We used a lot of cheap light sources – lights that you buy on the street or any shop. Many of the practical bulbs shot in homes and stores were a mix of inexpensive florescent, tungsten, and LEDs of various colors and intensity. We did a whole night-driving seen in a car with some $1-dollar, super low quality LED lights that were so cheap they almost fall apart in your hands.

One of the great things about the project is it honed my skills in doing more with less. Often not having enough money makes you really focus on what is most important out of all the ideas that you have. We know that Hollywood movies are not necessarily good because they have more money. We’re having the same conversation on the African continent.

 

You’re an African American who spends half of his professional life working on the African continent. What sparked this passion for Africa and what is your vision in terms of what you’re contributing to the homeland?

I grew up partly in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. While living in Los Angeles I got booked to do THISDAY! Festival in Nigeria. They had a bunch of big U.S. acts – Beyonce, Riannah, Jay-Z, Shakira, John Legend, etc. Since I like black people and I like to travel, of course I said yes. When I got to Nigeria I felt like I was halfway home – half way back to St. Thomas.

That job repeated itself several times a year, for three years. After that if the subject of filming in Nigeria came up, people would put my name in the hat because there weren’t many Americans with Hollywood experience and Nigerian experience. I started doing other shows in Lagos with new clients because, thanks to the Internet, people in Nigeria were watching content from all over the world so producers were trying to improve the look of their content.

By year two many of the crew guys in Lagos would ask for help with skills development and equipment access. One really important moment came in 2012 when I was on set in Hollywood telling one African-American guy about my work in Africa and suddenly there were eight African-American guys gathered around listening in. That was the beginning of me realizing that there was a real interest from the US side as well. Then a friend of mine took me to meet Akon who was recording in a studio in LA. I didn’t get to meet Akon that day, but I did meet his protege Wizkid, and it hit me that there’s a whole bunch of people on both sides of the ocean looking to connect with each other and that I could play a part in that.

That’s when I started actively pursuing anyone who is working in this space. I would go to every formal meeting or informal meet-ups that had to do with Africa and America coming together. I spent a long time on LinkedIn connecting with people in the industry in Africa or in America if their business had a connection to Africa. I took every job in Africa for several years whether it made financial sense or not. Sometimes I would do a job where the pay was sufficient but then I would stay for two weeks after to make new connections and to learn the industry more. Many people in the US thought I was crazy because clearly it wasn’t paying as well as my Hollywood gigs.

African Americans in the US film industry will continue to operate from a deficit as long as we are not a financial force to be reckoned. And Africa must be the cultural and financial engine to which African-Americans are tied. You get a seat at the table when you control money. In arts, culture and entertainment, people gravitate towards their own cultural groups. It’s normal. So when Africans on the planet have a cohesive economic system then others will listen. It only makes sense to me that Africans all around the world should have a financial base that is cohesive, then those of us in the Diaspora or on the continent can function in a self-sufficient way, and then we can intersect with others from a position of strength.

All of this is why I started Lights, Camera, Diaspora!. LCD! is a California based nonprofit that provides access to training and equipment across the continent. We’ve been very active in Nigeria and South Africa, as well as Senegal, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya and Ghana. We’ve partnered with AFRIFF, Durban film Festival, the US Embassy in Zimbabwe, the US Consulate in Nigeria, KZN Film Commission, Rwanda Film Festival and many more. We provide 1 to 5 day workshops with equipment in hand, 2 hour ‘Master Class’ conversations for working professionals, share information on equipment acquisition, and assisting on professional productions because having the right professional on your show can be a good learning experience for the local team. Of late, many international companies are trying to figure out how to move into Africa and Lights Camera Diaspora!, having been active in various ways for many years, is very well positioned to be part of that solution in a way that is healthy for Continental Africans.

 

What projects do you have coming up?

I have a movie called Sylvie’s Love, starring Tessa Thompson, that’s going to Sundance this year. I did Netflix’s first African original production shot in Johannesburg called Queen Sono, which comes out February 28, 2020. I’ve also got a new Nike Lebron James commercial that just started running.

 

What types of challenges do you typically face in your field?

As an African-American there is a tendency to only get calls on projects about African Americans or Africans. In the long run, your resume then looks like you can’t do mainstream projects and then this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that was imposed on you. So what works well is when my client roster is mixed 50/50 black and white clients.

I had to learn that my personal opinion is not always what’s requested. That was a bit of a conflict because it’s an industry that ask you to give your personal input at times – but at other times you’re just supposed to do the work and keep your opinions to yourself. That was a difficult lesson for me early on.

The freelance aspect of the business is brutal. If you can’t handle stressful conditions such as 17 hour work days, not being certain of next month’s income, not knowing if your idea is going to work or worse if it’s going to be rejected, not being certain of what you’re doing tomorrow, then maybe this is not the right job for you. I saw a number of people a few years after college realize that they liked the art but they detested the business part of it.

I think the biggest challenge I have personally is in realizing how much is out there and available at every level compared to my original image of myself in my career as a lighting guy. The access to the higher levels within the industry, I’ve learned, are just a matter of effort – what seems like it’s very far away is not. I learned this when I started Lights, Camera, Diaspora! because I literally just said ‘I’m going to work in Africa” and now I’ve become a subject matter expert. I created this opportunity to travel the world, to work internationally, to consult and advise at institutional and government levels, to collaborate at the producer and financing level, and to invest in infrastructure, merely by starting out saying “I’m doing this.”

 

What advice you can offer anyone aspiring to be a gaffer, DP or lighting designer?

“SAY YES”. Say yes to the thing you want and run after it full force. I did this in my lighting career when most people thought that I should choose something more “stable”. And I did it regarding my work in Africa as well. Since everybody’s going to have bumps and bruises in life, I always figured I should just pursue what I want and take the bumps along the way. At least that way I would be in a game I want to play.

Another suggestion is make sure you know what you’re good at. I never focused on the equipment. Because of my theater background I always thought about it as a design project. That turned out well for me because in the end most people who see your project want to know that it’s going to look a certain way – that goes for audiences and clients.

 

How long have you been connected with the African Artists’ Association and how do you think the organization has been beneficial to you and/or the African diaspora creative community?

It’s been about four years that I’ve been associated with The African Artists’ Association. Early on I thought most Africans on the planet were focused on Africa. In hindsight that was an ignorant thought. Through the 3As, I’ve meet a variety of people from different parts of Africa, each with their own interest or perspective, which has given me a more nuanced understanding of Africans.

3As’ series of speakers, which consists of Africans and non-Africans, has provided professional information from a Hollywood point of view as well as how that information is useful from an African perspective. I’m always hoping that I’m in town that first Saturday of each month to check out who’s speaking.