Filmmakers Making A Social Impact: Why & How Filmmaker Ray Lënard Brown of 83 Days Film Is Helping To Change Our World
I am blessed to have accomplished as much as I have in life, and there is so much more that I have left to do. My journey to this point has had its struggles, but also its victories. I’m not sure that I have five things that I wish someone had told me when I first started, but I do have at least one.
As a part of our series about “Filmmakers Making A Social Impact” I had the pleasure of interviewing Ray Lënard Brown, Writer and Executive Producer of the award winning short film titled “83 Days”.
Ray Lënard Brown is the Writer and Executive Producer of the award winning short film titled “83 Days”,
which gained nationwide attention and won multiple honors and awards both domestically and abroad. He is the author of three published novels, “The Quest, Book One: Dunumos” (Adventure), “Condemned’ (Horror), “Kidtropolis” (children’s story). He is a Pastor and an Advocate of Social Change, and he currently serves as a Professor of Screenwriting at Georgia State University.
Thank you so much for doing this interview with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to get to know you a bit. Can you share your “backstory” that brought you to this career?
At age 10, I went to see Star Wars. I walked about 5 miles to the Uptown Theater in Washington D.C. with four of my friends. Stood in a ridiculously long line for about 4 hours before I was finally able to get a seat. I saw the trailer and it looked amazing, but I didn’t really know what to expect. I didn’t know that what I was about to see would change my life. I watched the movie and left the theater differently. While all of my friends were acting like they were Luke, or Han, or Vader, I wanted to know how George Lucas made that film. That’s when my journey began. I began writing scripts that next week. Even though I had no clue what I was doing, I was determined to figure it out. I frequented the library, I read up on story telling and filmmaking as much as I could. When I turned 13, my aunt gave me a Super 8mm movie camera for Christmas and I went from just writing scripts to making movies.
I made crazy movies about anything that I could think of. Nothing was impossible, even though in a lot of cases it was. In my mind, if I could write it, I could make it; and I wrote a lot of stories. All of the scripts that I wrote up until I was roughly twenty, I wrote in pencil, because it was convenient and I didn’t know how to type.
That’s my beginning really. I had a lot of challenges, many obstacles, many reasons to quit, but my calling is to create, so I just kept pushing through.
The first real production that I ever worked on was as an intern on Spike Lee’s “Mo Better Blues.” Since then I have been blessed to work on many other projects, and I developed a few of my own, including “83 Days.”
83 Days tells the story of George Stinney Junior, a 14 year old black boy that was falsely accused of killing two white girls in Acolu, South Carolina. Rushed through the system, he was executed by electric chair in just 83 days. He was the youngest to ever be executed in the United States in the 20th century.
With the help of an amazing crew, including our Director Andrew Paul Howell, we were able to give a glimpse of his story through this short film, but there is so much more of his story to tell; we hope to do that soon.
“83 Days,” has been a passion project for almost 13 years. It was a project that turned into a mission and, ultimately, became a movement. It had a purpose and a cause that I didn’t see coming, and a calling that I had to answer.
So simply put, I’m just a nerd turned filmmaker that just happened to write a few books, and make a few films. I am a pastor and a professor, a husband, a father and an advocate for truth and change. This is ME.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
So when I was in Junior High, I wrote a short film titled “Miracles.” It was about a teenage boy that had the ability to manipulate fire. Well, I didn’t know how I was going to do that on a Super 8. So I had this crazy idea, that I wasn’t sure would work. I had a notion that perfume was flammable, don’t know how I knew that. I grabbed a lighter and flicked the flame. Then I sprayed some of my mom’s perfume mist into the fire and ignited a large fire ball right in front of my face. It was great!! Until I looked into the mirror later and realized that my eye brows were gone.
The lesson that I learned was that there is nothing wrong with testing the limits, as long as you understand the limits of the test.
Who are some of the most interesting people you have interacted with? What was that like? Do you have any stories?
I love working with kids. They are the most interesting people to work with and, by far, the most fun. They believe that they can do anything, which makes them sure. Their talent is raw and real; they are inspiring.
Dejean Deterville, the young man that played George Stinney Junior, I found him when he was 11. I think Dejean is 20 now, but at 11 he was a phenom. A young talent that rivaled some of the most seasoned male actors that I know. He can channel any character presented to him, often times with little direction. Dejean, was just one of the uber talented young people on the film.
Which people in history inspire you the most? Why?
Agents of change. The person or people that nobody knows, determined to take a stand for a cause that may not directly effect them. But they stand anyway, because somebody has to. I am inspired by those people because they do so with no personal agenda.
Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview, how are you using your success to bring goodness to the world? Can you share with us the meaningful or exciting social impact causes you are working on right now?
Interestingly enough, I don’t typically go looking to change anything, I just find myself in that position. For instance, when I decided to write and produce 83 Days, I did so because George Stinney’s story had been hidden beneath the annuls of South Carolina’s history for over 70 years, and the world needed to hear his truth. What I didn’t anticipate was how involved I would become in his conviction being vacated. I, during my research of his case, uncovered evidence that suggested that he was not only not guilty, but railroaded and illegally executed. So I, along with my attorney (at the time) James Moon, pressed Governor Nikki Haley and South Carolina legislators to make it right. It wasn’t easy; they pushed back.
When I discovered something that was even more disturbing, and albeit more damnable to the state, South Carolina elected to clear George’s name. I imagined it was with the hope that I would stop pursuing this other thing.
So, 83 Days opened peoples eyes to the truth of a pattern of this injustice that was swept under the rug. But it also provided for me a platform to speak against injustice and inequality. Ironically, I discovered that people wanted to hear what I had to say.
Funny thing is, I said after 83 Days, that I wouldn’t go down this road again; it was a lot. I quickly discovered that I couldn’t get away from it; other projects with causes centered on societal issues keep coming. . I’m working on another project right now titled, “The Dressmakers”, about a group of seamstresses that survived Auschwitz because that could sew. With the war and anti-semitism on the rise…well, here we go again.
Many of us have ideas, dreams, and passions, but never manifest it. But you did. Was there an “Aha Moment” that made you decide that you were actually going to step up and take action for this cause? What was that final trigger?
If you only knew my journey, everything that I had to overcome and endure in my efforts to produce 83 Days and expose the truth. Too much to share in this interview, but you asked for a aha moment.
For me, it was when I found out that I was being federally investigated because no one knew who I was. I was directly challenging a governor and government of the state of South Carolina and I was making progress. I found information that I should not have been able to find and they couldn’t shut me down. They were hoping to find something on me that they could use against me; but, there was nothing. When that didn’t work, they made some stuff up and tried to convince those that stood beside me that I was a crook; it worked for some. Then came the phone threats, “you better not show your face in South Carolina.” I was told; my phones were even tapped.
That was a scary time. For about 3 years, I was afraid to even drive through South Carolina, but I didn’t stop; I couldn’t.
What all of this did was confirm to me that they had more to hide than I initially exposed and that was the trigger that just made me push harder. There is so much more to this story, but this was indeed the trigger.
Can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was impacted or helped by your cause?
Well I’d say George Stinney’s family specifically. At the time of his execution, he left behind two sisters and a younger brother. They had to live most of their lives as victims of a lie perpetrated by a corrupt system of the Jim Crow south. They were forced to leave the town for fear of death and then ultimately the state. They lived a life of hope, believing that the truth would come out; and it did.
The impact of this cause was that they got their name back and that their brother was redeemed.
Are there three things that individuals, society or the government can do to support you in this effort?
That is an interesting question. My cause was just centered solely on the case of George Stinney Junior; his case was simply a catalyst. My cause is now centered on change. We are a society that thrives on hate, it divides us on every front. We are divided by race, color, class, government, and even religion, yet, we are called the United States of America.
You ask me for three things that individuals, society and/or the government can do to support my effort to change, I would say learn. Learn to love unconditionally, learn to listen and not just hear, and then make a choice to stand.
Stand for equality, Stand against Hate, Stand for something greater than self.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why? Please share a story or example for each.
I am blessed to have accomplished as much as I have in life, and there is so much more that I have left to do. My journey to this point has had its struggles, but also its victories. I’m not sure that I have five things that I wish someone had told me when I first started, but I do have at least one.
I wish that someone had shared with me earlier in life the importance of advanced education, particularly as it relates to film. When I was coming up it was uncommon for a black boy to aspire to be a filmmaker. So the options for film school didn’t exist in my particular community. I taught myself how to write scripts, how to work a camera, lighting, etc. Yes, I ultimately did go to school when I was much, much older, but how much further would I have been had I known that my options were more vast than just the local library.
I told you earlier in the interview that I was 10 when I determined that I wanted to make movies. I remember running home, excited to tell somebody. My grandmother was the first person that I saw, so with a big cheesy smile, I announced, “Nana, I want to make movies when I grow up!”
She looked at me, with this most amazing and sincere smile, and said, “That’s cute Ray, but get a real job.” I didn’t know what a job was, let alone a real one, but as I got older, I understood why she said what she said. It wasn’t to shoot down my dream Instead. for her, it was a sort of confirmation of what society was like at that time.
To dream and/or aspire as a black man in the 70s, beyond the idea of working in a factory, driving a truck, etc, in certain sects was deemed to be unrealistic. The black man/woman was only intelligent enough for manual labor, we weren’t consider intellectually capable of more. In some cases, in societies around the world, this is still the thought.
So, when Nana told me that, it was based on the narrative of society and this country at that time.
Nevertheless, I wish I knew.
If you could tell other young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?
I have lectured, speaking to young people of all backgrounds at various colleges and schools from Alabama to New York, and they all ask me the same thing, “How can they help?” And my answer is alway the same, “Understand who you are.”
I tell them that before they can begin to contribute to the cause of change, they must first understand what needs to be changed and, more importantly, why. I tell them to examine themselves so that they know what they stand for. Because how can they expect someone to know who they are, if they don’t know themselves.
But once they do, then my charge to them is to speak! Speak through their talent and with their gift and then stand by what you say. Lastly, I have and will continue to tell them that the world is waiting to hear their voices and that their silence is not optional.
We are very blessed that many other Social Impact Heroes read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, whom you would like to collaborate with, and why? He or she might see this. :-)
You know, I would love to collaborate with Angela Davis. Angela is a true leader, and an exceptional educator. Angela’s impact on society spans decades, her activism and her stance on injustice is inspiring. I may never get a chance to meet her, and Lord, I have tried. But she would be my first choice.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
I am a firm believer that “If it hasn’t been done, it can be done and if it has been done, it can be done better.” I believe that to think otherwise is lazy. I am always looking to improve on what I have done, even when it doesn’t matter. If I am satisfied with where I am at any given moment, I will never get to where I am going.
“At the end of every journey there is always another destination.” Yeah, I live by this one too.
How can our readers follow you online?
Readers can find me online at:
https://rlenardbrownent.wixsite.com/iamray
https://rlenardbrownent.wixsite.com/-pleroma
on social media at:
https://www.facebook.com/ProducerRayLenardBrown
https://www.linkedin.com/in/raylbrown/
They can watch 83 Days @ https://83days.vhx.tv
Follow 83 Days on social media @
https://www.facebook.com/83DaysMovie
https://www.instagram.com/83daysmovie/
This was great, thank you so much for sharing your story and doing this with us. We wish you continued success
