We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cimone Green a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Cimone, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Alright – so having the idea is one thing, but going from idea to execution is where countless people drop the ball. Can you talk to us about your journey from idea to execution?
Green Heart Studios came about in 2016 or 2017, after I had a major heart attack due to a blood clot in 2015. Most people think the “Green” comes from my last name, but ironically when formulating the name, I never even factored in my last name. I associate “green” with life, with living. My heart stopped beating, I was rendered breathless. The doctors had to revive me and happily were able to bring me back to life. The following year I had another blood clot, was under a lot of stress which ultimately led to me having to quit my job in the hospitality industry. I felt that was a way of God telling me to sit down, heal and walk in my purpose to write. So all of me going through that and having the passion to create stories that will transform the way we as a culture see ourselves is what led to me creating Green Heart Studios. Just a matter of me being obedient and listening to that inner voice telling me what I needed to do and now I’m where I need to be 6 years later.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m a natural born screenwriter, a gift truly from the most high. I took television production classes in college but none geared towards screenwriting, so I pretty much taught myself. From there one of my friends was just like if you write a story, I’ll shoot it and it just took off from there. I volunteered as a PA on many people’s set in Atlanta just to get that insight knowledge and network, meet my peers, see what I could learn. Everything is about connecting with the right people, finding your tribe and I’m fortunate enough to have found mine.
I’m always eager to learn something new. When it comes to the writing process, I have so much experience to pull from because of where I come from and what I’ve experienced. I’ve written several projects for others, and one thing I can say is I love being pushed, I love a challenge. Most of all I love the reaction I get after bringing someone else’s vision to life.
Every year it’s just about taking my business up to the next level. I put in my free labor to build up my name to now I get paid for building worlds. I get paid for doing what I love and there’s no better feeling than that.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
My goal is to inspire my people by using my films to change our narrative. We are the heros of out own stories, we are not all thugs and gang bangers, we are so much more and I want to showcase that.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I had to unlearn giving too much of my time a way. I had to learn how to be selfish and focus on my goals and dreams and not everyone will understand that. When you’re always there for them, always available and then you just stop because your focus has shifted to something so much greater, people are going to feel some type of way. I had to learn that I’m entitled to take space and time to myself. It would be selfish of me to not be selfish with myself.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @just_cimone
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UC60Bl2OkbJtJVBeCmtRWiog