We recently connected with Jalen Coleman and have shared our conversation below.

Jalen, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

This is one of my favorite stories actually. I was in 2nd grade and my teacher Ms. Anderson gave us a homework assignment to go home and write a story. For some reason, I remember being super excited about this so I went home and immediately did the assignment. The next day Ms. Anderson was going desk by desk reading everyone’s story. The other kids wrote a paragraph, maybe two. As she went from desk to desk she was saying some of the same things over “Good job” or “Good job but you misspelled this word” and blah blah.

I so vividly remember her standing in front of me and grabbing my paper and noticing it was a full page. She looked at me for a second puzzled but started to read. Her eyes lit up and I thought I did something wrong, she immediately started over and read the story again. She put the paper down, looked me in the eyes, and told me words that changed my life forever “Jalen, you’re a writer”.

I didn’t even know what a writer was, the concept confused me. Once she explained it’s someone who gets paid to come up with stories I was like wait I can get paid to do this. But my moment of high was quickly deflated by a student next to me who very loudly said “Man you can’t be no writer” and that absolutely crushed me. I went home so sad and my mom noticed and asked what was wrong. I told her this kid said I can’t be a writer and my mom told me another set of words that changed my life. She said “You can be whatever you want to be, screw that kid” and I lifted my head and went into my room and wrote another story.

Jalen, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Yeah I’m a writer/director/journalist. I started writing at a very young age, at 7. That carried me through elementary and middle school until it morphed into filmmaking when I started high school. From there I started writing and directing my own short films to get better at my craft and find my own voice you know. While in high school I was lucky enough to win a few awards and even garnered the attention of the National PTA for a film I made in my 11th-grade year about bullying. The National PTA flew me and my dad out to Florida to screen and speak about the film. That was one of those moments I knew I was on the right career path.

After high school, I kept creating short films and went on to enter and win numerous film festivals making a name for myself. The journalism came years later in 2015 when I started working with BlackTreeTV and was able to sit down and interview some idols of mine like Spike Lee, Tyler Perry, Jordan Peele, and etc.

My most recent short film “The 20-Year-Old Virgin” has definitely been my most rewarded and door-opening film. It led me to my first writing gig and I can now say I’m a paid screenwriter. I’m currently working on my first feature film “Crabs in a Bucket”

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

It is without question making a positive impact on someone’s life and or day. I first realized the power of this while in high school. This short film I made about bullying was seen by the National PTA and I was invited to screen and speak about the message of the film at their convention in Florida. At first, I just thought it was a cool free trip to Florida but after I screened the film and spoke a husband and wife approached me and started to tell me about their daughter who almost committed suicide due to bullying and how much the film meant to them. I realized to never take the power of this for granted.

For a while, most of my work in the early days was on heavy topics like bullying, school shootings, rape, and other important issues. As of recently, it’s been lighter-hearted and comedy driven and at first, I wondered if I would still feel like I’m making a positive impact but there’s nothing like hearing people laugh collectively at a joke you wrote that landed on the screen. Now the mission is to keep telling messages through my work no matter the genre.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

The artistic answer is I don’t have any other choice. God gave me this talent and I’m really just a vessel for him. The other answer is I want to take care of my family and friends. It may sound ridiculous to some but I really have a dream of owning a big mansion and having my family and friends there in their own quarters not them having to worry about anything. If I love you as a friend or family then that means I got you. I hate seeing my loved ones working jobs they hate just to get by. I want all my people to be financially worry-free so whenever I get tired or lazy I think about my mom who’s still working, my grandma who just retired, or my friends who are always there for me who are in debt because of school and pursuing their dream.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @jalenjcoleman
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd-AXbxqfZjfitS00ebSJRA