Spike Lee and Monty Ross: Independent Black Filmmaking in the 80s

fb from the longhorn radio network the university of texas at austin this is for him we have promised to listen a bit of a political solution in a trailer like a spike lee like independent filmmaker and creator and she's got a habit and school days understand first and foremost that filmmaking is a business and that i am myself now make the current films allocate goods see i think that they can have a hybrid thought provoking intelligent entertainment where people laugh enjoy themselves and still learn something at the same time as we tried to retire now it's b the pope

this is all a career exuberant dance music you're listening to is from the soundtrack of school days the nineteen eighty eight columbia released by filmmaker spike lee after his success with a refreshingly different she's gotta have it spike was able to command a larger budget and he embarked on the more ambitious school days spike lee and his co producer mattie ross broke the story of their filmmaking careers to the university of texas at austin campus at the texas union for american culture committee black history month activities like julian mcivor us understand the precedent that had been laid by foreigners like richard pryor and his indigo company but their company forty acres and a mule

contest to avoid the pitfalls that stalled those recent efforts have black filmmaking when richard pryor for mackerel thing under climate change is here like a twenty million deal we can make five pills will announce a wonderful and hours you do every why do when he was just a very an avalanche of scripts hopes aspirations of every black actor actor screenwriter director americas in one person and and we go into a meeting one film and you're set and we can't alleviate problems for black america forty acres and meals we just can't do are a little bit you know make its main event and try to bring as many people oh all because as possible because as be more than one

person it can be just a murphy oh build cars peel winfrey whole lot of us some members of the studio audience pointed advice about careers in the film business spike lee response to student query about making a living as a black actor be a nasty sod he is now spike lee credits outside influences when he gives the audience the origins of the new film do the

right thing there is again today we need to follow last areas this is where you see is these days

it is oh yes he says bbc it

does the uc support for blood products in institutions include support for predominantly black higher education spike lee describes his undergraduate education at morehouse and his film school experience at nyu it

is demons and asian guys is it he says that's when he says something you in your sixties became a fascinating yeah yeah he's trying to keep

it as you were it says areas now rice says we're seeing today many hollywood filmmakers must make compromises that these two filmmakers have a vision

wendy ross addresses a question regarding the degree to which forty acres and a mule can't protect itself from succumbing to commercialism this is weekend edition it is some filmmakers began as phil box spike lee was different here he describes the roots of his desire to make sales i really

enjoyed it who me so in some senses you can do it silvey says barrios it's b

it's likely in mind he rescued a running account of the effort and concerns of forty eight years wadi rosser despite these production manager on she's got a habit and as co producer for school based on the nineteen eighty nine release do the right thing their professionalism and their emphasis on expanding the levels of input of black actors and crafts people takes their products be on what some of their predecessors have achieved the painter the authorities in new film institute which the introductory courses to everything behind scenes and the foundations and star of the production assistant airlines and lighting cinematography producing yesterday the court as they are every saturday and we find that we teach about

forty students on weekend days plus on the new film do it we get ten black people made to you you maybe an hour you must be open to each going to commit more people in unions because historically this june to lily white or educated worker les sherman unions are so you know we're kind of as much better as we can yes dick this

vast for us we have it both ways where or independent may drop those who make those wanamaker making common wanamaker be a final cut we carve we want cats we want when the same time we go to high with foreign financing distribution because leaders have too many stories to tell the stand for party is a run around to get financing together because the peak week guy who knows what the sharks are crooks and where the jews to deal with police crooked warn you nobody really have a very good working relationship with universal last rewind all the time working relationship the olympics is a great job when she's gonna happen when it came time to do school day to fill the budget

was too much and at that time they didn't have the money do they track of what they see of the four million school days and of course six nationally i'll promise with school days began with david platt david pickford ministration and we made it from for decades dr stuart meaning common happens in hollywood when a new regime inherits films they had nothing to do with day to a treat those films very little guarded and sell school is not the only film that in the end it worked in his treatment i mean it's still a dozen more films are made it was made on the day the platinum mine that every see release undergone still and i ended up school is being the most made more money for college because we're at a writer nate dimeo it's only did and they did

not been altered more to film anything school is did it was on the america of the film along that we had no tv commercials near microscope to hear a newspaper we were in the right is working or not is but yet we still ended up making sixty million dollars or so with that request to find that don't give you very much concern apprehensive about doing do writing universal and we're waiting with a game plan and cummings acting demanding what we need and wanting so this peace force al is

how you really do we get loads of those resumes and people you know one to workers of the world news it's now devoted to black owners because the phone company and he chatted you know stanley improve ourselves as a company as well as you know you're making black voters it is a business in london or quarters it

is who did best were became a castle even do i really i mean if white america has a calm understand what we're doing we do now no harm remember about changing their first post season you have to take some interesting note about black people or so we just try to make the best as we can and as long as high with things they can make a dime office he'll continue to find the seed but in the meantime you can look for alternative means of finance and so they ever do decide that it wanted widows what will still be able to make films i'm a mess as we try to do with within the tradition of the shooting from september selby for films of it at the end you can name our collective record has done that in the last

two longtime i thought hollywood we'd go straight from film to film to film just like woody allen on brian leveson any of those other directly go from project to project a project we read that continuity the paintings there used to be our schools colleges and loggers they don't have the money to distribute nationwide an award gets a lot of money i think they're about another area that we had to get into hopefully soon

candidates there's another was truthful and i learned a lot about coal miners against awesome rock ventures lives right to allow mining people who really know how to we get naked as bell using the example of mississippi burning margie ross comments on the contention that hollywood co ops some black dramatic history for commercial purposes there was they are about two three weeks ago now and latitude of the new york times saying that here again

the city burning for and the promise of the burning here again is another hollywood attempt to tell the civil rights story or ninety aren't you basically concluded her letter that there is a larger black audience sees in the news that there are stories and with one of the greatest back a little letter was a big article in the usa today talking and adjusting the same problem because this because it's hard and you know we knew like in their statistics say that but only one a body of ice goes to movies once a month but at the same time we have to begin to pull that together not how it's done if the last collective that twenty five million bucks less allow people to

get them to enforce hollywood to deal with these incidents that relate to us as a people it's no accident that mcdonnell's now a siege of chinese do it's a different world you know talk about black college experience a hole in it are just because you know because of school days you know a lot of this stuff has seeped into the mainstream culture like in new york because it is again in a school system you use today just couple days ago boston teacher got busted for selling hair and it's like school days the boulevards and so it is really important that's just because the experiences is unique because we're told never saw

western powers before alan as osgood is sharply believes that are actually people on a weekend they buy familiar with a black college that elmore goes on our justice system positive popular response to spike lee films is evident in their financial success spike lee describes the critical response in the media or she's gotta have it got good reviews school days the most work out the most part received mixed reviews i think the line awake greeks did not understand them and understand a critic or not liking it film but i mean she's understand what he's saying my renewed use a completely missed the boat and assist those leaving know nothing about black people told us why they couldn't stand the film sob the reviews with school is first with a wide audience since we didn't

have any tv commercial they know about the helmet they read about it in a sort of eugene oregon and go ah black people with regards to matter what the critics say you know what folks within a short scene is filled with great great for them critics are necessary evil spike lee response to the charge that he has taken a feminist position in she's got a habit you know people were really too cricket the label launched the ways people work there were trying to get you into a corner and elaine regis going to a film on a young woman's really liked as a miniseries they squeeze a role reversal thing and that's how the thing is really more about how many reacted this type a woman thin and about no

or are i think that music is one the most important things in the film i think that very too few directors realizes in utilize it to its fullest and he's disappointed me music disappointing is lying or acting or anything else and love where a father was a great musician a composer does the scores and he did the score for this one again i think his best score remember at moscow's planted and he's back he has his own group of six that goes back

like a tricky piece string orchestra messages for the score and for the songs and we have public enemy out a row take six guys still polls pre ruben blades joe austin ward pre eu and so the skin and you know it's very important it's b the pope spike lee's nyu pieces don't joe's bed stuy barber shop we cut heads when a student academy award for the academy of motion picture arts and sciences for

commercial release is produced she's gotta have it and school days his new film do the right thing is inspired by not based on the howard beach incident is scheduled for july nineteen eighty nine release party ross has worked with spike lee on college and future productions and his co producer for do the right thing the views expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect the views of the university of texas at austin where this station technical producer for foreign clients stubbs production assistant christine driver i'm a producer and host olive green that's a long commute seventy seventy one

at seventy seven christian telecommunication services university of texas at austin this is the longhorn radio network fb we had promised the schools lenny bruce's center because adult film school is the negative image and they get the trio a black eye situations like this week on the black independent filmmaker spike lee aid

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