Today we’d like to introduce you to Jamaal Scott.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Well, I’m currently a filmmaker here in Atlanta – writer, director, editor, actor, producer – but it all started back in the summer of 2013, the beginning of my senior year at my HBCU Central State University. I had just lost as Mr. CSU to my good friend Aamar Blair, and a group of friends and I were writing a web series about life on an HBCU campus called THE YARD. We wrote the storyline and started writing the script but we were all just actors. None of us had a camera or knew anybody that actually did, so I took it upon myself to purchase a Nikon D3200 from Amazon (had no clue about cameras) and I taught myself how to shoot. That year FCPX had just come out and was about $300 for the software.
Of course as a broke college student I didn’t have any money, but they had a 30 day free trial that you could get with your email, so I signed up on every computer in our lab so I could have it free for the rest of the semester and teach myself how to edit from experience and watching YouTube videos. After a month or so I purchased a Canon t5i and a 50mm lens and started shooting friends music videos and eventually shot a documentary for my HBCU that I used to get accepted into grad school for my MFA in Directing for Film and Television. During grad school, I wrote, directed and edited my short film KINGS that has been in many festivals across the world and will have its television premiere on Revolt TV later this summer. The rest is history.
Has it been a smooth road?
Oh, definitely not. Even after getting accepted into grad school for directing, my passion was still acting and I planned on switching to acting after my first semester. I took an acting class for non actors and after a few performances, my professor asked why I wasn’t in the acting program. I told her I was switching after the semester. She asked what my current major was and I told her it was Directing. Thankfully she told me to stick with directing because not only was it better to have a degree in Directing than acting, but as a filmmaker, in general, it was better to know both sides of the camera, so I stuck with my Directing major. Now with that came the struggles. I graduated from Academy of Art University in San Francisco which was an art school and about 80% international. Up until my senior year, I graduate school, I was the ONLY black kid in all of my classes.
And a lot of my classmates had already wrote or directed a short or feature film. I felt like I was way behind and at times I felt lost and not worthy of being there. My plan had been to find a black screenwriter who knew our struggle and was focused on writing so we could work together creating and producing amazing stories throughout our matriculation. That didn’t pan out the way I expected. Why might you ask? Well, because I was one of the few black kids in my MFA program. I wanted to leave. I renumbering calling my mom and telling her this and if she had accepted my BS, then I was for sure going to transfer back to an HBCU to finish grad school, with people who looked liked me. Fortunately, my mother is absolutely amazing and told me “Baby… it’s ok. You are exactly where you need to be. Stop telling yourself you’re not a screenwriter and write your own shit. You got this. God gave you those stories and your creativity for a reason. Trust Him.” That’s all I needed to hear.
So I enrolled myself into a bunch of screenwriting classes the next two years so I could learn structure and how to truly tell a story. How to show and not tell when it comes to dialogue. In my mind, I competed with all the other screenwriters in my classes who actually had been writing for years. I studied. I watched and observed. I listened. Now I’m not going to lie, I wasn’t much of a reader back then so I didn’t go and read screenplays all the time. I rather watch movies, so ‘what I did. I watched A LOT of movies. Everyday. And in my advance screenwriting class is when I first started writing my first short film, which was going to be my thesis film at the time, KINGS.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Aligned Productions – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
I have my own video production business here in Atlanta that produces any type of video content a client might need from weddings, events, and commercials to promo videos, birthday parties, dance videos, you name it. I’m currently shifting my business to luxury real estate videography.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
Well, I was raised here in Atlanta. I moved here when I was six years old and moved to Cali when I was 14. I just moved back about six months ago so it’s a bit different living here for the first time as an adult. But what I love about Atlanta is how many black professionals we have here. There are so many entrepreneurs and small business owners doing their thing and creating opportunities for us, as well as the youth and I think its absolutely amazing. I also love how big the film and entertainment industry has gotten and will continue to get out here.
Contact Info:
- Website: vimeo.com/jamaalscott
- Phone: 937-545-8915
- Email: jamaal_scott@yahoo.com
- Instagram: @therealjayscott
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dezk7IttbXQ&t=138s
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