Rick Famuyiwa is a Nigerian-American Hollywood film director, producer and screenwriter of films such as The Wood (1999), Brown Sugar (2002), Talk to Me (2007), and Dope (2015)
Famuyiwa is a graduate of the University of Southern California (USC) and has Bachelor of Arts degrees in Film & Television Production and Critical Studies, from the USC College of Letters, Arts & Sciences and the School of Cinematic Arts, respectively. Rick Famuyiwa is a member of the Director’s Guild of America.
Rick Famuyiwa grew up near Los Angeles, California in the City of Inglewood. The son of Nigerian immigrants, Famuyiwa is a first-generation American. Reflecting on his time growing up in Inglewood, Famuyiwa recounts, “The thing you gotta understand about L.A. is that everything is suburbia. Los Angeles isn’t set up like San Francisco or New York. People come to L.A. and they expect to see a ghetto like the projects, but that’s not the way it’s set up. Inglewood, in particular, is the furthest thing from a ghetto.
It’s a middle-class community, but it’s gotten a bad rap over the years…because of Grand Canyon and Pulp Fiction and other films.” Famuyiwa continues about his hometown, “I would be lying if I said there isn’t a negative element in the city, but I would say it’s no different than any other city. You come across gangs and you come across negative things — but it’s like everywhere else, if that’s what you gravitate toward and that’s what you want to do, you’re gonna find trouble no matter what you do. But we were never into that. My group of friends were never into that.”
After high school, Famuyiwa attended the University of Southern California (USC) and double majored in Cinematic Arts Film & Television Production and Cinematic Arts Critical Studies. During his time at the University, Famuyiwa worked intimately with film professor Todd Boyd, who would later help write and produce his first feature film. In 1996, prior to graduation, Famuyiwa created a 12-minute short film entitled Blacktop Lingo that garnered critical positive feedback and led to his invitation to the Sundance Filmmaker’s Institute. In 1997, during his time at the Sundance Director’s Lab, Famuyiwa perfected his craft and put the finishing touches on The Wood, what would later be his first feature film. In 1999, Famuyiwa married Glenita Mosley whom he met at the University of California, Los Angeles.
In 2003, Famuyiwa served on a panel of directors for a discussion conducted by the Directors Guild of America African American Steering Committee. In the panel, other African American directors Kasi Lemmons and Gary Hardwick joined Famuyiwa as they discussed the challenges and opportunities faced by African American directors in the cinema industry. Reflecting on his own experiences of securing funding and support for his films, Famuyiwa believes that there are still many stereotypes and barriers to break down in the industry in order for African Americans to be accredited the respect they deserve.
A common belief and reality for African American filmmakers like Famuyiwa is that films with a majority black cast and direction often face obstacles in securing funding and support for such projects. Famuyiwa explains that there is a formula to be followed in order for anything to happen for a black director saying, “Make it under $10 million, put this much into marketing, make 25 to 35 million dollars and we’ll walk away with a profitable film. And as long as you can deliver scripts that are under $10 million with no effects that you can shoot in 30 days and get back ‘X’ amount, I think you can always have a steady stream of a certain kind of film.”
While working on The Wood, Famuyiwa experienced difficulties in generating the kind of support he would need to make the film a box office hit. In sum, it was hard for Famuyiwa to have others take him seriously at times. Although the film did recuperate its costs, it did not reap the kinds of financial success that major Hollywood directors often experience, some say because of the African American cast or that it was directed and written by an African American.
Famuyiwa’s films mainly explore themes of racial diversity and acceptance of oneself and others, especially within communities of color. In the majority of Famuyiwa’s films, friendship plays a central role to the characters’ development and progression throughout the film.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Famuyiwa
