Today we’d like to introduce you to DaQuan Brown.
Hi DaQuan, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My journey started when I was little you know growing up with just my mother, my grandmother and my great grandmother. I felt defenseless helping them through life. And to feel better, I would write superhero stories where I was the main character saving the day helping my mother, helping my grandmother and my great grandmother out. I knew I had a talent for writing because my mother was a poet and my grandfather was a published author. I wrote superhero stories all throughout middle school including my classmates and giving them superpowers and everyone told me I was good. I didn’t know this at the time but I knew with my imagination my writing ability and also my mom telling me I can do and be anything I want to this world that the sky is the limit. I got to high school and I changed my desires to Football and after a failed attempt to get an offer and hearing my coach say Football doesn’t owe you shit, I decided I wanna do something that owes me I want to do something that is going to give me exactly what I put into it and I started writing and I started telling myself that DaQuan you’re going to tell stories for a living. And at the start of my journey, I was writing on google docs and I met my mentor Ambria Cornelius and she believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself and told me how powerful I was and she open so many doors in here we are. She trained me in all areas of filmmaking including screenwriting and working the camera and editing in and film shots and now today, I have made my fourth film in ten months.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been a smooth road at all. I’ve come from Decatur, Georgia the Wesley Chapel area to be exact and they never heard of a black screenwriter someone that tells stories by the old fashion style of writing. Most creators that come out of where I come from there photographers, videographers, singers, rappers, fashion designers not a screenwriter; it’s been so long. So it was kind of a respect thing. I used to beg for people’s respect that were better than me or had it going on. If I had to compare it to anything, I’d compare it to how Naruto felt when he had the nine tails in him you know, nobody was messing with him, everyone strayed away from him because they didn’t believe in him. I wanted it so bad I wanted to feel like I belong I wanted to push my way through not so much push but beg my way through and it is a cutthroat industry and when you beg they feel like you need them and they take advantage.
You know “crab in a barrel” mentality. But I had to realize that I’m different my talent and the way I tell stories is different and it is the foundation of storytelling if anything these people should be wanting to work with me respect my talent or at least valuing it even if they are not valuing me someone else that has this talent but I didn’t get that at first because I had nothing I didn’t have any resources and that translated into the mental battle that I struggled with. It was a fight almost every day with myself trying to convince myself that it’s too early to give up, never give up keep going it may be hard but everything is hard keep going you’re worth it, you can do it you will get to do exactly what you want to do someday so I would say the lack of support from my surroundings and the mental battle within myself made this trip hard and it still does. Because of one things you have to understand is that in any journey, all you need is yourself and the Lord. And as far as respect or someone valuing your work that really just starts with you and it really starts with your attitude and it really starts with your mindset. I wasn’t coming in telling myself I was hard at all. You gotta walk in like you the best person in the room and people Cling on To that.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
What I do I tell stories for a living. It’s what I like to do; it’s what I’m good at I’m in my element when I am writing a script door making a film for now even taking pictures. I don’t think I’m known yet. I don’t really care to be on at the end of the day but I’m starting to be known by my power to tell a story and I would like for the end of the day, I’d like for that to be the only thing I’m known for when I tell stories. I am proud of keeping my mission sticking to my mission. I write everything black from an all-black cast to a black main character everything black black black black. And my mission is more so deeper than that. I want to create for my people. I want to inspire the next generation of young black boys and girls and give them dreams you know, expand their dreams. Because now I’m saying poison being put in our black communities. Black boys think the only way out is to rap or play a sport or trap to survive and feed their families and they don’t have any male role models. And are black women they don’t have enough. I want to change that and it starts with television because the young generation watches television and they’re so impressionable. So if we create shows and movies that have positive black male and female role models that will not only increase the black community but the black economy as well.
And I am proud that I have stuck to my mission it’s been hard but I’m proud I stuck by that. What sets me apart is simply my imagination. No one has my imagination no one can ever have my imagination. People may have an imagination of their own but it’s not mine. I like to call my imagination black Neverlands. Because of how Kreative is in joyous and out of the box it is. Not to say that the way I think and my creativity is better than anyone’s. But take it how you want no one‘s imagination or creativity is mine and that is my best tool. My second best tool is lately the people around me. They are all creatives and I love them so much because they fuel my creativity that was once’s fueled by negative energy I mean shoutout to. Mac, Elizabeth, Chris, Meldryk, Kilo, Keaun, Izzy, Hasani, Nadia, Halle, Addie, Leah, Deeslime, Eli, Delbert, Logan, Ezekeial, Lawrence, Trysten, Winston and so many more I love y’all foreal. My journey started when I was little. I was raised by my mother, my grandmother and my great grandmother. I felt defenseless helping them through life most of the times And to feel better, I would write superhero stories where I was the main character saving the day helping my mother, helping my grandmother and my great grandmother out. I wrote superhero stories all throughout middle school including my classmates in the stories and giving them superpowers. Everyone loved it! I knew my writing ability was special being that my mom was a poet and her father was a published author. What I didn’t know was at the time my imagination combined with my writing ability and also my mom telling me I can do and be anything I want to this world was going to take me far. I got to high school and I changed my desires to Football and after a failed attempt to get an offer and hearing my coach say Football doesn’t owe you shit, I decided I wanna do something that owes me. I want to do something that is going to give me exactly what I put into it and I started writing and I started telling myself that “DaQuan you’re going to tell stories for a living” And at the start of my journey. I was writing on google docs and I met my mentor Ambria Cornelius and she believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. She told me how powerful I was and she opened so many doors for me and here we are. She trained me in all areas of filmmaking including screenwriting and working the camera and editing and film shots and now today, I have made my fourth film in ten months.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
Final draft! Final draft is a professional screenwriting app that has really took my work to the next level.
Pricing:
- Photographer: 75$ and up
- Screenwriting: 50$ and up
Contact Info:
- Email: Daquankevin0419@gmail.com
- Website: https://daquankevin0419.wixsite.com/my-site
- Instagram: @quan.dawriter @flicksbyquan
- Youtube: https://youtu.be/hl-eXv5dYoA
Image Credits
@1konfilm
