Film Courage: Your first short film was in 1994?
Adisa, Filmmaker: Yes.
It was called NOTES IN A MINOR KEY and my collaborator on that was Avery Williams.
It was more like a mini feature.
I say that because Avery (I love him dearly.
He’s in Atlanta right now.
He’s teaching at Morehouse) but he wrote that script and he brought it to me to direct.
And I was like Well are we going to do this in school?
And we sort of did do it in school but we sort of didn’t do it.
We kind of broke all of the rules right?
We used the school’s equipment and we started the film’s process there but then because
of some of my earlier work I had gotten some attention from Disney, Hollywood Pictures
and they had started this discretionary fund program and so they decided to give us $40,000
to make the movie.
It was a period film, period film, set in Harlem in 1947.
And we had Keith David in it, we had Harry Lennix in it (both big actors right now).
We were just young kids.
I was just fresh behind the ears (21 - 22).
But you know not really knowing a whole lot about what we’re doing, figuring it out
as we go and keeping it very professional That film went on to get a lot of awards and
get both of us a lot of attention.
Film Courage: And $40,000 in 1994?
That’s a lot.
Adisa: That’s a lot.
Film Courage: It’s 2019 now and you are just releasing your first feature film?
Adisa: Yes.
I think this old adage about what’s holding you back?
You?
It probably stands true.
I think for a years I resisted writing.
I became a better writer over the years.
But when I first started out I didn’t particularly write as much.
I think the filmmakers that are really prolific are the ones that can get there faster, they
generate their own material and they write.
So it goes hand in hand, they write and the direct.
If you don’t write you are going to either have to find material or work with other writers.
I didn’t write for a lot of years.
When you look at the gap from when I graduated film school to when I came out with my first
feature, a lot of it was because I was learning how to write in that period of time.
Film Courage: Were you reading screenplay books?
Adisa: I was reading screenplay books but then life happens.
So I came out here in early 2,000 with high hopes of directing but it just didn’t happen
to me right away.
It didn’t happen and I had to get a job and then I started looking at what are my
options?
I’d always done sound in school.
I was a pretty good sound person in school so I started doing sound out in LA for commercials
and videos.
Film Courage: What was it that made you want to do a feature film?
Why were you ready, what was it two years ago?
Adisa: Time was getting away from me and that was my dream.
I didn’t want to get away from my dream of being a director and so I just hankered
down and did whatever it took.
That was my mantra.
I just decided I’m going to do whatever it takes and I’m going to confront myself
at every corner and look at my weaknesses and I’m going to make my weaknesses into
strengths.
So then I just started to write and write and write.
Then I hooked up with another collaborator/writer Steven Palmer Peterson and he wrote SKIN IN
THE GAME.
Film Courage: So were you almost emulating Spike Lee, getting up at 6:00 a.m.
Adisa: I was getting up at 6:00 a.m.
Even right now, it takes a lot to be a filmmaker and I think those that make it are probably
more determination and persistence versus talent a lot of times I mean talent hand-in-hand
(you don’t want to take that for granted) but you want to be talented at it.
I think it’s really about persistence and determination and how much you’re willing
to sacrifice in some cases.
Because in some cases you may not be eating, you may be eating Top Ramen or taking some
least attractive jobs because it allows more time to write.
And I think I made that decision and you’re not leaning on other people.
In other words the responsibility for your life and becoming a filmmaker is yours.
It doesn’t belong to your wife or your partners or your boyfriends or your mother’s or your
father’s.
So it’s not about them sponsoring you or giving you a cushion or saying “Okay, you
go ahead and write.
I’m going to go ahead and pay your rent for the next couple of months.”
So it was about taking complete responsibility for my dream and what I wanted to make happen
and what that looked like.
So if it meant working all day and writing all night, that’s what I did.