I was born in Mississippi, I preserver through bipolar disorder and as a child struggled with many night terrors. Much of the pain and history that is expressed in my films I believe derive from being born in the Deep South. There is such an immense amount of history , joy and trauma with being a southerner. On the thought of trauma I experienced a lot of emotional distress and trauma as a child which I believe had a great impact on me developing bipolar disorder along with my biology and family history. Because of my mental health struggles I always try to include a message or some insight to mental health in my films with the hopes of normalizing the awareness to mental health.Lastly having so many night terrors as a child triggered me to include nightmares in the short films Ive produced and written. I believe dreams and nightmares are a way to delve into different aspects of the human psyche in a creative way. I love who I am as an artist and hope to continue to pour my being into my projects.

My artistic practice for producing a script starts with what I call an idea fest. The idea fest is were I purge any and every thought or idea I have regarding the script. This can be character names , scenes , locations etc. From there I develop what I call a skeleton or a rough draft where I really mold together a body of sorts. Following the rough draft I create a list of all the scenes in order , this way when it comes to the first draft I can rearrange scenes as I see fit. Following the rough draft comes the first draft where I “trim fat” cutting any excess scenes or dialogue .Finally comes the final draft where I make sure the “body” is complete and prepared to go into pre production. Pre production entails the shot list , scouting locations, casting calls , budgeting , funding and more. Once pre production is complete its is now time for principle photography one of my favorite parts. Finally before the last step of distribution comes another favorite part being editing. Editing is where the magic really happens. And lastly is distribution where I have the profound joy of getting a response from the audience. All of these steps together summarize my artist practice and approach to completing my art.

The project will be a feature film . The genres include historical , psychological thriller, action and drama. The project is based around Officer Du bois Willams. He is a historian and writer who is struggling with nightmares , alcoholism and finding funding for his movie. The screen time is expected to range from 2hr 15 min to 2hr and 30 min. Here is a synopsis of the film: Police Officer , Writer and Historian Officer Bois has been struggling with nightmares and lack of sleep following being off of his bipolar medication for the last two months. He dreams vividly and vicariously relives some of the most horrific and mortifying scenes from the history of his people. When he’s not dreaming or on the clock he is producing a script that he’s struggling to find financing for. Watch as Boyce battles internally and externally to overcome his nightmares while finding funding for his dreams.The projected budget for the film is close to twenty thousand. During 2024 I will try to fund the budget through grants. If I can acquire the needed budget by September 30th 2024 then I will proceed with production. If I can’t acquire the needed budget the 3,000 that I’m requesting will go towards producing a proof of concept .Completing a proof of concept will help in getting funding in 2025.

The film will advance wellness by shining a light on therapy as a means to better mental health in a society where therapy still has a great deal of stigma.We will also advance wellness through showing the importance of medication for those with mental health disorders and how substance abuse can negatively impact ones mental health.The film focuses a great deal on the lack of justice in the black community . In fact the protagonist Officer Bois is tormented with nightmares of the unjust murders that have happened in recent years. By confronting his nightmares he is able to conclude that his anger and frustration can be used as a change agent. Inclusion will be built into the script as many African American women will get representation. Also colorism has generated a very skewed representation of actors being predominately lighter toned or white people in film. I intend on combating this narrative by utilizing darker toned African Americans. Also we will celebrate historically black communities by highlighting their names and locations and addressing why they aren’t as prevalent today. As well many African American individuals and groups will have a light shinned on their efforts. As well I would like to cause change in police to community relations. There are segments in the film where Officer Bois pushes for a better connection between police and the community through block parties and working with community engagement leaders. Also I would like to change societies views on unlawful murders by putting the audience in the shoes of those mostly impacted by the murders.

I would love to begin principal photography in the beginning of June.If we get complete funding for the film by September then we will begin filming in October. As well I anticipate filming for twenty-twenty five days.

Currently there are no partners.

I want to be a great filmmaker with a film career expanding a minimum of twenty great feature films. Internal discourse will be my first feature film. It will set into motion the goal of creating twenty great films. As far as changing the community goes with all my films one goal is to educate and inform. I know undoubtably Internal Discourse will shine light on a great deal of American history. As well by normalizing therapy and showing what it looks like and feels like I hope to change the perception of therapy with the hopes of causing audience members to take action to try therapy.

Being that Internal Discourse will be a cop film I will need a connection to Roanoke City Police Department with the hopes of using one of there squad cars and possibly other officers. Locations and props will give the film an authentic look and feel so acquiring locations and props will be critical. I will also need a connection to an armorer to assist with gun safety as there will be at least one shoot out scene.

• Revenue-Expenses.pdf
• Film-Budget.pdf