Today we’d like to introduce you to Metta Bastet.
Hi Metta, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hello all (:
I’m Metta, journalist, filmmaker, collaborator and accidental sculpture and extended media major. My intention was to study Communication Arts and Design at VCU however, I wasn’t accepted into that discipline. If you didn’t make it into your intentioned discipline, you were placed into the sculpture department. Needless to say, I struggled. The fortunate thing, though, about VCU’s sculpture department, at that time, was they were adding new classes like kinetics, computer graphics and video. As a youngin’, I always wondered how movies were made so I decided to explore that curiosity and take the Video Tech course. I was hooked.
My teacher Mason saw promise in my work and told me that VPM, Richmond’s PBS affiliate known as WCVE at the time, was hiring. That was around April 2004 and I still work with him, he’s my forever mentor. Mason encouraged my persistence and has always treated me like my perspective mattered. Some other folks that guided me along the way are Pixie Curry, Paul Roberts, Shawn Freude, Darryl Baker and May Lilly Lee. Pixie taught me how to manoeuvre, Paul, Mason, Darryl and May Lilly taught me technique and Shawn taught me how to be bold. I remember being on-location with Shawn and she saw that I was being hella timid and delayed with my actions. She said to me sternly, “Be Bold.” Whenever I start to feel unsure, I feel her words in my chest.
In 2006 I became an edit assist. I helped other producers with their pieces which meant a lot of beta tap logging by hand. NLE’s were just becoming an industry standard and HD hadn’t grabbed hold yet. After about two years of assisting,Pixie encouraged me to pitch my first piece. It was about Raymond Cherry, a Richmond native that played in the negreo league. My big opportunity, though, came six months after my spinal surgery in April 2007. I co-produced a feature-length documentary with Mason, titled “Witness to a Century.” I learned the process of making a full-length documentary. It felt amazing having my mentor ask for my input and give me final say on matters. I fell in love with storytelling using the full “QWERTY.”
In 2009, I became a film consultant for Shawn Utsey PhD the Dept. Chair of AFAM studies at VCU, taught for a bit and produced a few pieces here and there. In 2011 I became a story producer for Virginia Currents which was VA’s longest-running program. This was a position I created for myself. Virginia Currents was going through some structural changes. They were hiring stringers but I suggested to the lead producer that they should hiring one producer to create stories, replacing the need to find different stringers which was a hassle. I suggested that I should be that producer. I suggested this without knowing anything really about journalism and I didn’t even know how to shoot! All I saw was an opportunity to further my career. Editing for all those years prior taught me how my shots should look and how my audio should sound so I mimicked that. I was a crew of one for several years. I set up, shot, edited, ran audio and interviewed by myself “with half a back” as my friend jokingly says.
My favorite thing about producing for the show was listening to people’s stories. I got to hear what powered their smiles and how they’ve turned pains and passions into purpose. My camera has been a passport into the personal lives of hundreds of people that have invited me into some of the most vulnerable periods in their lives. Producing taught me the importance of editing with integrity because these individuals are trusting me with the presentation of their life story.
In 2020 I directed my first documentary for VPM, titled “Why This Moment” about the protests in response to George Floyd, racism and the socioeconomic gaps that COVID 19 made hard for us to ignore. I was recovering from surgery during this. I have to say VPM has made an environment that is easy for a person with a disability to work in. They made me feel safe to say, “I’m not feeling ok” without the fear of being fired. During this time, I was also directing content for my first national campaign, consulting and shooting content for two full-length documentaries. I was doing too damn much. If it wasn’t for my parents, Jessa Gaul, Brandon Cooper and Lance Williams, helping me, l don’t know how I would’ve made it through 2020.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My biggest challenge in my career has been chronic pain and the fear that people would find me incapable. The stress of this caused depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts. An extremely cathartic moment in my career was writing and directing “The Healer”, honoring the Goddesses Sekhmet(Markeeta Le Model) and Bastet (Nori Jane). This short film was a collaboration with Who’s Johnny Creative and Fortresses. This piece touched on my challenges with chronic pain, suicidal depression, embracing the “shadow” aspects of my being and with crawling my way out of the pit with the help of the Divine. It’s taken over a decade to feel comfortable talking about that struggle because I felt ashamed. The interviews I’ve done, watching people tell their stories, served as a template on how to “be bold” in my truth. As I became more vocal and honest things got a lot better.
Here I am, five Emmy nominations and one Emmy win later, bless God. Still pushing.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Through VPM I produce and direct pieces covering a range of topics like history, the arts, education, activism and human interest. Through Digital Fruit Snax my niche is helping non-profits produce documentaries about history in particular African American history. I also do corporate and conceptual work as well.
I’d like to try and answer the question about how I see the industry in the future. If it’s too late to add my response I completely understand.
Viewing content has become a la cart. We aren’t stuck with cable and network television as our only means to watch movies and shows anymore. Subscription video on demand services and OTTs create a plethora platforms for filmmakers/content creators to showcase their work. Hopefully more options alleviates the worry of having to compromise your craft out of fear your work won’t be seen. Plus you have the option to make a channel of your own. Broadcast quality equipment is more attainable price wise as well. Creatives are paramount when it comes to social engineering so it’s important to provide platforms that support truthful, innovation, inclusive, thought provoking and proactive content.
Contact Info:
- Email: Info@digitalfruitsnax.com
- Website: digitalfruitsnax.com (currently under construction)
- Instagram: digitalfruitsnax
- Other: Vimeo.com/digitalfruitsnax; LinkedIn.com/in/
digitalfruitsnax
Image Credits
Personal Photo by Nathan Croslin | Midnight Media Additional photos: 1 credit my mom (: 2 crew photo “Future of America’s Past” by Lance Warren 3 credit me 4 BTS by Brandon Cooper | Who’s Johnny Creative 5 Black Spirituals credit me 6 still from “The Healer” 7BTS credit Tim Wright 8 Les Twins performing at Something in the Water credit me.
