We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lawrence “LAW” Watford a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Lawrence “LAW” , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

It’s a bit hard for me to pick a project that I’d say was the “most” meaningful to me. I guess, it’s because I primarily write and develop projects that I’m deeply connected to, so each one is meaningful, despite being a distinct and unique work.

That said, my most recent project, SHADOW ACTING is particularly meaningful because it’s the very first time that I wrote and directed a film with a semi-autobiographical component.

The film centers around the complexities of communication in romantic relationships in a time of evolving gender norms. And while most of my films have touched on social matters that are important to me, they’ve never required the kind of vulnerability that exposes my own personal issues and insecurities.

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?

So, I’m an independent filmmaker, which means that I write, direct and produce stories for theaters, television and the web. I’ve always had a vivid imagination and a love for creating stories, but I decided to pursue a career in film when I saw it as a pathway to satisfy that creative urge while giving me the opportunity to tap into my other skills and interests.

While I’m mainly focused on narrative films (with an affinity for drama) I’ve expanded into television with a number of scripted television series that I’m developing – including a limited series based on the biography “The Seminarian: Martin Luther King Jr. Comes of Age” which I acquired the rights to last year. The hope for 2024 is that we’ll get a couple of these projects sold as I focus on developing a feature film.

I love what I do because I’ve experienced the value in being able to take someone out of their reality and onto a journey that fuels the imagination, lifts the spirit and allows them a temporary escape. Or to the opposite extent, I’ve experienced what it feels like to be in a movie theater and watch a film that plunges me into the depths of my own lived experiences (be it pain, love, death, injustice, etc) and gives me license to fully wrestle with the range of emotions. That kind of storytelling has the power to heal, challenge and enlighten – that’s what I want to do.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

One lesson that I’ve had to unlearn is the equating of boldness with lack of humility. I’ve always had a knack for connecting with people, but it was often in service to others, and it’s always okay to be bold and audacious if it’s on behalf of others, right? But what about working in service to my own needs or goals?

In that case I operated under an assumption that it’s not okay for me to be my own advocate; that I should never “toot my own horn”. For me there was (and still is, at times) a disconnect and in my interactions it showed up as timidity as opposed to humility.  That’s a particularly bad trait in Hollywood, where people routinely inflate and over exaggerate their status to sell themselves.

So when I attended film festivals or conferences I’d often be smart enough to strategically place myself where I’d be able to talk to an exec or producer without 10 other hungry filmmakers trying to cut me off, but when I got that precious moment alone with them to pitch, I looked scared and not confident. And who wants to buy a product from someone who isn’t confident enough to sell it?

What I wish I’d learned was that I have a gift, a talent and a unique voice as a filmmaker, and that there is tremendous social and economic value in that for people who are in the business of making a profit from telling stories.

What I wish I’d learned is that having the talent isn’t enough to create a platform for my success; that the talent must be paired with the ability to boldly declare it to potential business partners (studios, producers, networks, agents, etc)… That is, of course without coming across like an asshole or as disingenuous.

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

I hope that there is a method to my filmmaking madness. I’ve always said that I not only want to be able to communicate my feelings about life, love and humanity in a way that can only be accomplished on screen, but that I also want to persuade people to consider or reconsider they way they see life, by allowing them to connect to the “reality” of a fictional character, experience life through that character’s eyes and empathize with the choices that character makes based on their fictional truth.

I always want cinema to be a safe space for people to enter with their biases and preconceived ideas while actively giving themselves license to try on new ways of seeing the world and connecting to someone on screen that they would ordinarily refuse to sympathize or empathize with. As our society grows more polarized and encased in our bubbles, this mission is of paramount importance for us to coexist in peace.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.divinewritepictures.com
• Instagram: @laws_inner_monologue
• Youtube: @divinewritepictures3366

Image Credits
Chris Fox-Kelly, CFK Photography