We recently connected with Jamaal Williams and have shared our conversation below.

Jamaal, appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

So presently where I’m beginning this part of my story, I’m working for a school district in the special education department going on my third year. Just as I began my journey with the district, I pretty much began an internship at a film production company in Houston as a writer. As I began to progress in the world of film having opportunities to write more, spend time on actual sets, and most importantly meet likeminded individuals at different levels. It became more and more evident to me that I was feeling like a version of myself that words couldn’t describe when I was in that world, and I had the skills to keep up. This made working for the district increasingly harder, I legit had no passion for the work, and the actual nature of it had me leaving with cuts and bite marks every day.(That’s another story for another day) Plus having co- workers that literally lived and breathed education made me feel out of place, or like I was faking just to keep a job. Eventually this led me to feeling guilty that I knew for a fact that I didn’t care anymore. All I wanted to do was pursue being filmmaker with everything I had because why not? We literally only have this one life to live and I refuse to have what if’s that could have led to me changing the course of how my family lives. So from there I left my job and went 100% into pursing writing and film.

Jamaal, 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?

So my name is Jamaal Williams and I am a writer and filmmaker with two major projects out currently. Redness Relief a solo short film and a series I wrote and directed entitled Soulmates Volume 1. Besides those, I’ve worked on countless other projects both short films and features, as well as writing on talk shows, blogging, and acting. In addition I write for hire when it comes to scripts and generally have love for all things film and entertainment. As a writer, I don’t feel limited to any specific genre, I enjoy writing comedies, horror, action, sci-fi, and thrillers. I like to think I write with a specific style that is similar to that of a Donald Glover. Applying surrealistic scenarios mixed in with everyday life that we all experience. My series Soulmates was heavily influenced by the hit series Atlanta, with influences from Quentin Tarantino and Hiro Murai.

: Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

As a creative and overall story teller I’m driven by several different factors. The first and most important is I have a daughter growing up 12 hours away from me and it’s very important that the time spent apart equates to something. Being that I know what I want to do with such clarity it’s almost not even an option to do it at such a level that she and my family can benefit. So every day in some form or fashion I have to do something that’s progressing towards that goal. In addition I just love telling stories and by the time it’s all said and done I want to go down as a legend in the writing and filmmaking world.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

To be honest the most rewarding aspect of being a creative or artist in general is reaching others with your work and allowing them to feel something. Even if it’s only for a moment or whether it’s anger, fear, happiness, etc, I just want to make people feel something and be able to see themselves through my art. As a writer, I personally go out my way to bear my soul while writing scripts in hopes that my transparency will translate to my audience. When I can properly execute that and people relate to my characters, the story, and find themselves viewing life from a lens different than their own. I honestly believe that through art and avenues of creativity like film we can truly understand each other a little bit better.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thecinematicaffair.com/
• Instagram: 6ixth_street
• Facebook: Jamaal Williams

Image Credits
Breanica Jackson Rey G.