We recently connected with Isiah Barnes and have shared our conversation below.
Isiah, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
Our main mission at Reigning Talent is to help showcase homegrown talent on national platform, whilst showing kids from here that they have a real avenue to chase their dreams. As a kid from a small city, I was always told I lived in the wrong place and I needed to move away to be noticed. We want to shatter that stigma. We want to people from this state. Not just the youth, to know even though we may be from a small city, doesn’t mean we can’t do big things. We want to bring the magic of Motown back. But this time instead of music, outrageous, memorable films.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Yes, I’ll try my best to be brief. I have been a performer as long as I remember, started acting since the age of 7, doing local plays for over 20 years. Majored in theatre in college, then at 19 I started transitioning to film acting and filmmaking. After doing a few local movies, I really had a strong passion for it and knew this is where I was supposed to be. Shortly after, I wrote my first screenplay and after failing a few times with a previous production company. I went out on my own, raised capital, got it shot and completed in 2018. I was shocked by the reception it garnered. It was selected to 6 national film festivals and ended up winning “Best narrative feature” at the Cinema World Fest awards in LA. That success gave me the confidence in myself and my production crew that we can pull something big off. Now we are currently in pre production for our 2nd feature film. With the level we stepped up to from our equipment, to production, to distribution. We hope this outrageous comedy will be an experience that helps people laugh together, forget their stresses and for even a few hours. A fun film that everyone from here to not only enjoy, but be proud of.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Absolutely, I have to first give a ton of credit to my mom. She always instilled a strong belief in me to never give up on my dreams because anything is possible. Especially in the industry of film, obstacles and adversity happens all the time. I’ve faced a lot of hard times chasing my dreams, that’s why it’s important to be transparent with the audience. So there’s no assumption that everything goes perfect, with no problems or set backs because in every industry you will face all of the challenges and more. It takes a strong, stubborn person to be able to fall and get back up, but when you finally make it to where you want to go, all the blood, sweat and tears will be worth it. I’ve dealt with equipment breaking, last minute recasting for lead roles, SAG strikes, mistakes, having close friends quit or get fired, to unfortunately try to steal credit for your work. I faced everyone laughing in my face that films were impossible, to those same people years later congratulating me on my success. I’ve just kept my head down, prayed and walk with faith to that dream I’ve been chasing since I was a little boy. I want to show with my actions that us Michigan artists/entrepreneurs can go for it! Start with nothing and with years of hard work, consistency and resilience you create your own reality. Im not perfect but I try to do my best to make family and friends proud.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
As an entrepreneur; In any field, one of the hardest challenges most of us face is… Where do we get the capital to execute the idea?? I was faced with the same terrifying, doubt filled agony of trying to raise funds to produce a feature length film. Well I’m from Midland, a small city where a career like mine does not exist and nobody believes in. I had no money, a crazy big dream, and no contacts to make it happen and I feel many people face this major challenge when we start. How I found my way, I started where I was at and at the time I was working as a host at Bob Evans. While working I started telling people my vision with no expectation, then I realized some of them really loved it too and after months of showing exactly how I would achieve the plan I was talking about, I earned my first investment. My advice would be to start where you are, with what you have, even if it’s nothing. Being resourceful and a good person goes much further than you could ever imagine.
Contact Info:
- Website: Reigningtalentproductions.Com
- Facebook: Isiah Alexx
Image Credits
Ashley Brown from Eleven Creative photography