We recently connected with DC Talib and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, DC thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I am a filmmaker,. Not a screenwriter, not a director, not and actor…a filmmaker. Now what does that mean and how is it applied? That means as an independent filmmaker I had to learn all of it or at least be able to speak to and give vision to all of it. I had to learn how to take an idea than give it structure and life in an acceptable format. First I started out learning how to put the ideas into a novel format from developing the story and making 3 dimensional characters to having a purpose behind the writing then I had to learn to take that vision and put it into a second format for screenwriting. Upon learning that I then had to learn the tools I would need to bring structure to the original vision. Cameras, lighting, sound, budgeting, costuming, locations, casting, and everything in between. My partner and best friend Jose W. Byers was also on this journey and having to learn all the angles of filmmaking. We were helped along the way by acting in some major films that we were cast in as preferred extras or featured roles. We would talk to the crew, lead actors and directors and absorb their knowledge in order to be able to expedite our journey into crafting our own stories and films. Networking is key and putting your ego on the shelf is essential while maintaining the purity of what you want your story to be. Never let someone walk you away from your original vision. Your vision is what makes the story unique.

DC, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

We (Jose W. Byers and myself) started i71Movies after working on Captain America the Winter Soldier. We were on set on different days and talked to everyone that would talk to us. We talked to Frank Grillo, the Russo Brothers the crew, the casting directors just everyone we could to see how we could do this properly. We created our production company here in Ohio and that was the biggest hurdle because Ohio does not know how to support a multibillion dollar industry yet. We do filmmaking and it takes time to do that with little support. One thing I would say is nothing can be done without money and a business plan. Before we did our first film we put together a business plan on how we would 1. pay our investors back and 2. get the movie distributed. There is nothing worse that doing a project that is not seen and just sits. Admittedly we were naive at first about investment and ROI, but now we are so much more solid with HOW to get the return on investment for a film or television show and we unknowingly are following the same pattern the A24 or Blumhouse uses for their films. Make quality films at a reasonable price to insure a solid ROI for your investors. Investors have to also learn too that if they want their money back they may be wiser than to cast a named actor nobody really cares about anymore than an actor or artist that is active on their social media game, that has a built in audience. We have been told that we would fund your project if you can get say “John Travolta” or “Cuba Gooding Jr.” who say has 332k followers on Instagram versus oh say Emily Ratajkowski who has 29 million followers. Emily alone could make a 5 million dollar movie successful. Times are changing and the filmmaker and artist and crew should be working together in unison to make these productions successful. The best picture this year was only made for six million dollars with no big named actors attached. Quality filmmaking can outweigh star power. Indie films are changing the film industry and viewers are tired of remakes and superhero movies. They want a different vision and streaming has also added another wrinkle that has to be consisdered.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

I think as far as support goes for artist in the film world the best thing society or I should I say investors should do is support it financially. Filmmaking is a multibillion dollar industry and in Ohio at least investors do not understand it nor are they trying too. We have a decent tax credit here in Ohio, but the money here is brick and mortar. There really is misplaced funding opportunities here. I know several filmmakers here that have literally zero help from investors here and had to go outside the state to receive funding or help. In fairness these are states and countries that understand how to make money and want the industry there, like Atlanta, New York, Canada, Austria, to name a few. In fairness to investors artist need to come at them with a business plan and show what the ROI is versus saying “Hey I have a great idea for a movie give me 2 million dollars”. Do your research, show your market shares, what will the cost versus reward be. The landscape is changing on how to make a film and what constitutes success. Get in on the ground floor of the changing environment and cash in now. We have a plan and just need the right people to support it and we can be the next Blumhouse or A24.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Our original goal was to bring Hollywood to Ohio and make Ohio the Hollywood of the Midwest, but we are not concerned about bringing making Ohio the filmmaking center like Atlanta is now. There is just not the support here. We now have branched out past Ohio and are working with other countries and states that understand what we are trying to do and willing to back and support it fiscally. We are in meetings constantly with executive producers, angel investors, and casting agents all across the country. We have grown since we stopped focusing on keeping everything here and now we are getting the support and connections that we need to move our company i71movies forward. We are in discussion with a person who has invested millions in film and cannot get a call back from our own film commissions here. We had to learn a hard lesson that you really have to trust your gut, keep your knees bent, hands folded and stay in prayer. We have a strong faith and God has brought us through so many tough times. We want to be the film company in Ohio to work with other indie film companies to start a brain trust of creatives investing, working and producing quality indie film be it here in Ohio, or NY or Tennessee or wherever we can get the product out at a reasonable cost with a strong ROI for our investors.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.i71movies.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/i71moviesllc/

Image Credits

Derek Talib Jose W. Byers