Yesterday was MLK DAY! Come on, People! WAKE UP!
Probably the most difficult thing for an artist to do Any 'day and age' is to be ahead of their time. First of all, how would anyone even know? The marketplace being what it is, it is so inundated with worthless, untrue 'Content,’ that anything of real and lasting value becomes completely obscured by poorly executed obfuscation.
This is very much the case in my story. More than a decade ago, I began work on a project that became the film, "COLLAR." A script idea that I held back for more than 20 years, it was to be an exposition and exploration of a condition in society that had persisted over many decades, centuries, if you will, namely, 'de facto' racism and the treatment of the majority of people of color by the political establishment overlords and their policing forces.
A story about a top police detective, known and honored in the community as a real fighter for justice, wherein he kills a young black man while executing a bust for drug trafficking. An extremely 'truthful' telling of an all-too-common occurrence, it was intended to bring to light the de facto racism lurking below the surface of ‘well-intentioned’ law-enforcement officers. Our purpose was to make the world see for the first time what the truth was about how we execute people of color in the name of justice.
It is a film that would never have been made in Hollywood because of the controversial content and the fact that no studio or network would be willing to distribute it at the time. We made it independently anyway. What we were met with upon completion was exactly what was anticipated, a stone wall. Touted by those who knew the quality of a good film, we were completely shut out. The result is that here, a decade later we are still experiencing, on an almost daily basis, exactly what the film was intended to remedy; young black men, brown men and black women are still being slaughtered by those who wear the badge. It is totally unacceptable.
Finally, we pulled our critically acclaimed, award-winning film from 'the marketplace' because we could not find the support in the mainstream that was required to produce the desired result. The good news is, we are still in control of the product. The bad news is, unfortunately, the story remains very current and all too real. The sadder fact is... it is still 'the truth' and it is long past the time for this 'truth' to change. Like the title obviously states, "Yesterday was MLK Day!"
You can watch the film here. https://watchwillygillycom.vhx.tv
