We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Aaron Nelson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Aaron, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
The first time I knew, or the first time I wanted to pursue? Because those are both different instances. I’m just joking. I have to say, honestly when I was a kid. I had this vivid, weird imagination that only comes from being an only child, you know? Thank God the energy translated to art and creativity And, my grandmother used to take me to Broadway plays and small theater shows, alike, and I realize now that those instances shaped me. Then in high school, my English teacher of junior year made us journal and read them out loud to the class. And my writings were, entertaining, to say the least. Whether wrong, right, or just hilarious, my teacher, she saw something special in me and convinced me to go further with my pieces.
I knew I wanted to be a creative in college, at Claflin University. Sophomore year, I became a mass communication major, and I wanted to make a show, I already had 10 episodes written, it was full of characters. I thought it was good enough to pitch to the whole department. And, welp, it did not get done. A lot of reasonings, but it wasn’t just time yet. I went on to make that series my senior year, but that one failure was when I knew I loved creating. Because one way or another, I was gonna create, even if I got knocked down. I love overcoming obstacles.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Outside of being a Kendrick Lamar & Succession stan, I am a film creator, screenwriter, actor, director, photographer. In a summary, I am creativity. That’s how I feel, expect for singing; that’s the Achilles heel. But, I own MorsCalumnia Productions, my creative company that I started in college when I was mostly working on music production. And then I made my first web series under MorsCalumnia in 2017; “Dying Is Easy, College Is Hard”, and from that point, the world became not my oyster, but the whole seafood boil. I won 3 years in a row in my university’s film festival, graduated and kept writing, kept filming, even if we only got the pilot episode of series out, I created multiple shows like “BOI-Friend Therapy”, the low=budget sci-fi “Negro In Colour,” a fictional reality show like “Blacked-In” and other projects, too. I made sure that the imagination that churned and developed in my mind was seen, and in continue to be seen, visually. Whether it’s beautiful, thought provoking, or disturbing, the work will be seen.
What sets me apart is tough to answer without me sounding egotistical, so bare with me, this comes from confidence and 25-year-old optimism. I believe that it’s my writing, and my ideas that make me the most talented person around my contemporaries. I truly believe that no one is creative like I am, and can come up with concepts whether funny or dramatic in a way I can. I wake up every day to a straight black cup of coffee and 2 notebooks full of the most funny, disturbing, and traumatic brainstorms and show concepts ever. I guess I can add drive to that, as well. My life is film, my life is creating, because it’s who I am to the core. I can’t live unless I create, so it’s full throttle for me 24/7. It’s the obsession of creating that I will live and die with.
Proud is a word that I don’t even think I like to use yet, if I may. Umm, I can’t say proud yet because I haven’t reached my biggest goal which is an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series. I’m not where I really want to be as a vessel of the arts; there’s a lot of room for growth. And, plus, every project and film and show that I’ve made, I always felt like I could get it done because I believed in myself. I’ll say this, I’m proud that I was blessed with every person that has worked with me. I’m proud to have a team of people whether new or I’ve worked since Claflin, they have that passion for creativity and to make awesome things, man. All of my crews that I’ve worked with, the actors, directors, camera operators, PA’s, all the way down to the extras, I treat and think of all of them as family. I genuiely love each and every one of them, and I couldn’t get these shows done without them. I’m proud to have brothers and sisters in this world of black art.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
There’s a lot that drives me, for starters I’m from a small town of Kingstree, South Carolina that most people would confuse with any other small town. But it’s a lot of trauma that while I’m turning them into diamonds now, that shaped me. Even though my neighborhood was kind of a rough area, you know, I had a mother and grandmother who basically made sure I prioritized education, and reading, and to further my thoughts and self-teach my views. So, my city shaped me in ways or pain, in trial and error, it also helped me be resilient. I’m also driven by, I guess you can say, insanity to others, but perfection to me.
One of my favorite mantras to go by is “My crazy works”, because my mind now functions on being great, and being the best, and pushing myself to keep creating, and keep writing, and studying, every day with every ounce of free time in my livelihood. You have to sacrifice part of yourself to what you love and are passionate about. I’m driven by the goals I’ve set that to one day have my own show on HBO. To be able to create and produce a post-apocalyptic sci-fi series starring Jurnee Smollett, Steven Yeun, and Jharrel Jerome. To create a fictional novel about a HBCU college girl that becomes a dominatrix. Your brain can’t be normal, you can’t focus on being normal when your goals are greater than the madness that consumes you. I want this. I want everything, and every piece of art to come into fruition, and I won’t stop until then.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
I can speak only as a black male creative for this, because I have my gripes even though things are progressing in black media. We’ve gone from the “Amos and Andy” days, to the “Blaxploitation” era, to now having a range of black cimena and TV shows with different premises and concepts like Atlanta, Insecure, BMF, Abbott Elementary, Snowfall, P-Valley, South-Side & The Godfather of Harlem and so many more that go under the radar. And I think we are in a great movement of more avant-garde representation of black cimena that helps shows not all black experiences are a monolith.
Personally, I think society should do two things. One, we should not try to push only black art that fits the stereotypes and Euro-centric values that were forced on and traumatized our ancestors and keeps getting passed down through generations. And two, as a black community, we have to do a better job of working across, and forming networking systems. When you think South Carolina, you don’t think movies, you don’t think nationally televised TV shows. You think of the bible belt or us being a slave state, low in education, all that. But there is so much talent that is here, so many diamonds that are just waiting to grow from the soil. Actors, directions, artists, visionaries, all from here, and we just need that attention, and we can become a force if we just network and push each other. We need to push each other to create a great film environment here. We have all the potential in the world to be like Altanta; if not, better.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/morscalumnia/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MorsCalumnia