Who is Sid Kali? I've written, directed, and produced two full-length urban features, CONSIGNMENT and IN WITH THIEVES, plus have a third feature in production titled STASH SPOT.
Some people feel that when you attach the word urban to an independent film the story will be based on slices of life that unfold in housing projects or the barrio. Which do provide rich and colorful backdrops that reflect a slice of americana.
On the flip side urban culture has moved beyond the housing projects and barrios. Taking those attitudes and feelings into new environments. This opens up new backdrops for you to shoot urban films. You no longer are forced to only shoot in the inner city to produce urban films.
A few other hits urban movies take is that the production quality will be less than an art house film made on a similar budget. That urban movies don't have well written scripts and they all look the same style wise.
Many innovated filmmakers that love the urban genre are changing the way people think about that. They are putting out high quality urban movies made on indie budgets that are freshly entertaining.
The diversity of the urban genre continues to grow because the storylines are connecting with a larger audience by going beyond what you would expect to see in an urban movie. The elements you can fold into an urban drama are becoming more complex earning these films more respect.
Through networking I've connected with Irish-American filmmaker Mike O'Dea founder of Shamrock Films. He is currently in production with TOWNIES. A film about the Charlestown mob. Looks like a great urban movie being delivered from the viewpoint of Irish-American gangster characters.
The word 'crime drama' is used to describe films like 'Training Day', 'The Departed' and 'Scarface', but to many urban movie buffs these aren't crime dramas. They are urban masterpieces done by highly talented and respected filmmakers at the top of their creative game.
Shooting urban movies has always been a goal of mine. When I began fleshing out the script for CONSIGNMENT my first feature film I wanted it to be authentic across the board. Nothing kills the vibe of an urban movie more than it being completely phony. Like in the older Westerns when the Native-Americans were played by blonde hair blue eyed actors. Imagine how different 'Dances With Wolves' would have played to viewers.
There are tremendous actors out there at every level that can deliver powerful performances. On a larger budget feature actors are able to get into character, research the role, or work with a dialect coach if needed. On a truly independent film budget you will be lucky to get in a decent amount of rehearsals before shooting.
It is sometimes a benefit to work with real people for what I see as tailored roles. In CONSIGNMENT we had a character named Smiles that was from the streets and had survived a nearly fatal shooting. My friend Ruben Navarro was cast. Unfortunately, he did survive a near fatal shooting in his life. It made sense to me as a director to work with him as a first time actor since he understood the character from personal experience. It wasn't like he was being cast as for a role he had zero knowledge of.
As the writer I felt that this particular script was best served highlighting a Black and Latino perspective playing out through the film. The plot centers around a Virginia Beach drug dealer that runs into trouble and has to lay low in Southern California. This being the movies all the problems that come with power, drug money, fast women, and jealous rivals has to come out. It was nice to be able to mix in the subtle cultural differences between the two places.
This came from being able to work with Co-Producer/Editor Tim Beachum that had lived in Ohio, Detroit , and Virginia Beach. I've only lived in Southern California. When the film was done shooting we were able to mix in some outlaw bikers and corrupt police. The personal bonus was being able to add people I grew up with to the cast to give it a real edge.
I felt comfortable adding elements from the East Coast because I could consult Tim Beachum. If that option had no been there I would have focused on writing what I knew. That would have been a film that was completely slanted to the West Coast lifestyle. If you're able to ever expand your film take advantage of that. If not and you have a limited budget write a film you can shoot within your resources using what you know.
Through collaboration with the website Jackin4Beats.Com we were able to add a quality soundtrack featuring East Coast & West Coast artists including Custom Made Recordings, Ayreon The Don