If the 1990’s were the golden age of Black Hollywood, with films like Eve’s Bayou, Boyz n The Hood and Love Jones, then the 2000’s are finally beginning to reap the benefits of that foundation. The recent domestic box office success of films like Jumping the Broom, which grossed six times its budget; Think Like a Man, which was No. 1 in the U.S. for two consecutive weeks; and virtually any Tyler Perry film demonstrate that Black films can be profitable. For producers such as former model turned independent Hollywood mogul, Datari Turner, such success only helps to further advance Black Hollywood.
Over the past several years, Turner has produced a diverse range of films including Dysfunctional Friends, Video Girl, and the all-White cast film starring Demi Moore, Another Happy Day. For Turner the doors being reopened by films like Think Like a Man, is the perfect opportunity to further diversify his portfolio with upcoming projects, including Neil LaBute’s Some Velvet Morning, starring Jeff Daniels, Kid Cannabis, starring Kellan Lutz and a tentative joint project with Sean “Diddy” Combs, Homecoming.
In between running around on set, Turner spoke with BlackEnterprise.com about why Black films fail overseas, his strategy to avoid being labeled solely a “Black producer, why he doesn’t want a studio deal like Tyler Perry, and what Think Like a Man‘s success means for Black Hollywood.
For many, Think Like a Man was a surprise success. What impact does that film’s box office draw have on the state of Black Hollywood?
I think it definitely helps Black Hollywood and Black films continue to get made. Now in Hollywood 70-80% of profits come from overseas. One thing Hollywood tells you is that Black films don’t translate well overseas. So when it can do that domestically it shows that we have an audience if the quality is there.
What challenges do you see limiting the success of Black films overseas, when Black culture is global and has a history of influencing people all over the world?
I think the reason why they haven’t started to be profitable overseas is because we don’t have anybody on the ground over there working those films to make sure they get into theaters and retail stores over there. Black culture translates everywhere but for whatever reason they are not opening films [told from the African American perspective] in a lot of countries outside the U.S.
In regards to the international scene, oftentimes the topic of African cinema is overlooked when it comes to discussions of Black Hollywood.
Domestically, with Black films, I think we have a long way to go. Right now we need to continue to have openings like Think Like a Man and Jumping the Broom. In terms of separating African films vs. Black films, to me it’s all the same thing. I want to see more films with people of color being made period.
You just mentioned two romantic comedies with great success for Black Hollywood. Does that trend influence the type of films you support and produce since there is a proven market for it?
As an independent producer I can choose to tell the stories I am passionate about and get behind the kind of stories I want to make. I don’t want to be known as a Black producer, I want to be known as a producer that produces highbrow great movies. I’ve produced all kinds of films. I did one with an all-White cast called Another Happy Day, which won the Best Screenplay Award at Sundance and this year I produced LUV, which has Common, Danny Glover and Meagan Good. So to me I like to get behind great stories.
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Do you feel like Think Like a Man‘s success will open the door for more independent producers outside of mainstays, Tyler Perry and Spike Lee?
I think two of the biggest production companies now in the business are Tyler Perry and Rainforest Films. I am a huge fan of Tyler Perry. He has his niche and is really hard working. He receives a lot of criticism but any person that went from homeless to half a billon you have to commend. I am also a huge fan of Rainforest. I look at myself and see that we are all in different lanes and important to the business. Those guys have studio deals and produce movies that cost from $10 million to $25
million. A lot of times with studio deals they want you to recycle that one type of film but with me I want to do drama’s, romantic comedies or a foreign language movie. As an independent producer I want films in Sundance and SXSW and the Cannes Film Festival. A lot of times they try to lump everybody in the same category but I’m not in a hurry for a studio deal. I admire those guys and I think we just need to continue to push and make quality films.On April 10th you tweeted, “I just did a deal with Bunim/Murray Productions to start creating more reality shows again. Tuesday = I’m not leaving no money on the table!†What can we expect from this deal?
As of recently, I don’t like the state of reality TV. There were no girls pulling each other’s hair out on the shows I’ve produced like The Ultimate Hustler and I Married a Baller. With reality TV it has to be positive and now I’m working on something really big. It’s about one of the wealthiest Black families in the country that owns the majority of a small town. Everybody in the family has PhD’s. The father has schools named after him. You would never think a Black family owned this much in one town. The father is a doctor and was the first Black accepted into Emory or one of these top schools in the 1940’s. It’s a story that more African-Americans have to see.
You had another interesting tweet on April 16th when you wrote, “Why is it that the person complaining about not enough quality Black films being made is the same person who would go buy a bootleg DVD #SMFH†Do you feel like audiences in the Black community don’t support Black films enough?
If you look at the 1990’s that is the heyday of Black films. Everything from Friday to Set it Off, and they didn’t all make a lot of money at the box office but home video sales were. New Jack City made $60 million on home video. If you look at a White film like The Tourist, it is considered a flop in the States with only $60 million at the box office and it cost $100 million to make, but internationally it did $275 million outside of the U.S. [Editor’s Note: The Tourist grossed an estimated $67 million domestically and $210 million in the foreign market.] With Black movies we don’t’ have the luxury to get released all over the world. So if they can’t make money off the film in the other 50 territories it has to make a lot of money on DVDs. Then when they bootleg DVDs it really does directly affect how many Black movies get made because it affects profits. I think people don’t realize that and you’re not saving money buying a bootleg for $5; you’re hurting your community.