STEP 2: Gettin’ Grown
In 2003 Aaron Greer planned to shoot his first feature film, Gettin’ Grown.
He’d written the script while in grad school and had planned to return to shoot it in Philadelphia from Tuscaloosa (where he was teaching at U of AL). However he realized he had a better support system in Milwaukee and decided to produce the movie here. A high school friend and graphic artist, Anthony Ferraro, and I volunteered to help produce it.
Aaron Greer, Writer-Director
Anthony Ferraro, Producer
I thought I didn’t know anything about producing movies, but in fact I had produced several live action parenting videos in Spanish for an educational publishing company for which I consulted, wrote and translated. I was never called a producer, but I did the kinds of tasks producers do on a small crew and budget: getting locations, casting, arranging for food, lodging and transportation for cast and crew, finding props, set dressing, etc. I also had to direct both adult and child actors in some cases, because the official director spoke no Spanish.
As it turns out, being a producer is basically being an administrator, something that I’d done many times in my career(s). In the case of Gettin’ Grown, we had a shoestring budget, so I was also a volunteer coordinator.
Distributed by Film Life / Warner Home Video
At first I did this (unpaid) job just to help my son, but as I began to feel fair competent in it, the job became a pleasure of its own. Aaron, Tony and I worked well together, and I enjoyed being part of the creative decision-making. I’ve always taken pleasure in making something beautiful and useful, and experiencing the positive response of both children and adults to the movie at film festivals, the sense of accomplishment was wonderful.
I also felt fulfilled as both a social activist and a mother. Aaron’s goal is to make films depicting African Americans as real people – complex, nuanced and diverse – as opposed to the limiting and limited Hollywood stereotypes. (Aaron is well-equipped to do this, as he grew up in a large extended family that is both African American and Jewish, and in integrated neighborhoods and schools.) Gettin’ Grown has an almost entirely black cast, providing African American actors an opportunity to get work and get known. In addition, GG’s crew was very diverse. These things fit my long-time agenda of creating access to resources for people who are marginalized by our society.
I was hooked!
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