On April 20, the Latino Committee’s meeting featured a conversation with Director Reinaldo Marcus Green (King Richard), moderated by Committee Co-Chair Edward Ornelas (Promised Land).
During the conversation, Green spoke about the challenges of moving from his start in short films to securing financing for his first feature, Monsters and Men. He recalled how his determination to get the film made finally paid off in financial backing that was beyond his original plans but noted how he had been prepared to go a different route if necessary.
“To any of the filmmakers out there, I was going to make that movie for $30,000 so in my mind there was the 30 grand version where was I was gonna’ shoot at my friends’ apartment and beg, borrow and steal to make the cheap version. It was just going to be a ‘friends and favors’ type situation. I'm really happy that it wasn’t because I could certainly add a level of camera sophistication to the film and not everything needed to be handheld. I could put things on sticks and it could feel elevated.”
In addition to his work on his Academy Award-nominated feature King Richard, Green’s directorial credits include the feature films Monsters and Men and Joe Bell; the documentary mini-series Amend: The Fight for America and the upcoming HBO limited series We Own This City; and episodes of the series Top Boy. He is currently in prep on Paramount’s untitled Bob Marley biopic. Green has been a DGA member since 2019.
ABOUT THE COMMITTEE:
The Latino Committee was created as a networking group to advance career and job opportunities for Latino DGA members by improving craft skills, networking, and making Latinos better known to the Hollywood creative community.
See video from this event in the gallery below.