Millicent Shelton: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Became A Filmmaker

Listen to everyone. This doesn’t mean doing everything that everyone suggests but be smart enough and open enough to hear thoughts that may lead you to something great.

As a part of our series called “5 things i wish someone told me when i first became a filmmaker”, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Millicent Shelton.

Millicent Shelton is an award-winning, noteworthy director in television with an array of Comedies and dramas including, Insecure, Locke & Key, The Walking Dead, P-Valley, Titans, Black-ish, and the pilot episodes of Awkward and the Starz comedy hit, Run The World. Most recently, she directed the Netflix feature film, End Of The Road, starring queen Latifah and Ludacris. Originally, the St. Louis native enrolled in Princeton University to become a lawyer. In her sophomore year, Shelton signed up for a hands-on summer film course at NYU, where she quickly discovered her passion for directing. She worked as an intern on spike lee’s do the right thing and was eventually admitted into New York University’s prestigious Tisch school of the arts. While at NYU, Shelton received the Willard T.C. Johnson fellow award for her outstanding student work, which landed Shelton her first music video. The success of that video spawned a directing and producing career that created over 100 music videos.

In 2009, Shelton was the first African American woman to receive a primetime Emmy nomination for outstanding directing in a comedy series for the “apollo apollo” episode of NBC’s 30 rock. She was also the first recipient of the NAACP image awards for outstanding directing in a comedy series for the Bernie mac show. In 2010, Ms. Shelton won a Peabody Award and a second NAACP image award for outstanding directing in a dramatic series for an Episode on men of a certain age. In 2014, she won a third NAACP image award for outstanding directing in a comedy series for the hustle.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us a bit of the ‘backstory’ of how you grew up?

I grew up in St. Louis way out in the suburbs. I went to college at Princeton university in new jersey and every weekend I’d ride the train to New York City to hang out. It only made sense for me to move to new york after graduation and eventually earn my master's in film from NYU while directing music videos to pay the bills.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

I had to decide what I was going to major in at Princeton. I grew up believing that I wanted to be a lawyer but after interning for a summer at a law firm, I knew that was not the job for me. My mother told me to select a field that I loved but I had no clue what that was. It took me a while to do some soul searching. I remembered that I enjoyed creative writing. I took a summer course at NYU to explore what it was like to create a short film from a writer’s perspective and ended up loving being a director. By the end of the summer, i knew that there was no other job but directing for me.

Can you share the funniest or most interesting story that occurred to you in the course of your filmmaking career?

One of my craziest experiences on set came during the filming of “end of the road.” I had just called cut on a scene with beau bridges outside of our motel location and we started to set up for the next scene when suddenly the blue sky turned brown, and we were hit with high winds mixed with sand so thick that you couldn’t see 3 feet in front of you. It’s called a ‘haboob’ which is a crazy intense dust storm. It lasted for 45 minutes then suddenly stopped and the most breathtaking sunset appeared. We filmed the SUV driving up to the motel in that light.

Who are some of the most interesting people you have interacted with? What was that like? Do you have any stories?

I have worked with so many brilliantly talented people. It was a dream of a lifetime to work with Al Pacino on “Hunters’. Every time I search for a visual film reference, one of his films appears! He’s been in so many iconic movies, its mind-blowing. He was a truly lovely actor who was collaborative and giving. There was a moment the first day that we worked together that I thought maybe I shouldn’t give Al Pacino a note, but that’s my job as a director. I gave him notes but I made sure that they were smart notes that I could back up and notes that would further enhance the magic that he naturally creates. He gave me a big hug on his last day and said, “I’d like to work with you again, kid.” I liked that he called me kid. It would be a blessing to work with Al again.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

My favorite professor at NYU was Nick Tanis. He taught me how to transform my daydreams into filmable images. Paris Barclay has been my mentor for years. I shadowed him off and on for 3 years trying to get my first break as a director in episodic television. On the first episode that I was hired on, Paris promised the producers that he would guide me through it and be there if I froze up then privately he told me that I could handle the job on my own which I did. Until covid, I was having an annual breakfast with David Nutter who is also a mentor to me. He was instrumental in helping me to move into action television and was a sounding board for me during my first pilot. There are countless other people that have helped me, but it would take up pages and pages! I am a driven person but have had lots of help along the way.

Can you please give us your favorite “life lesson quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

‘Never give up’ is my favorite quote. I started directing during a time when women and especially women of color were not welcomed with open arms as Hollywood television directors. There were lots of doors that were not open. I wanted to give up a lot, but that quote would ring through my head. My testimony is that I am here today because I had blind faith and perseverance and did not give up on my dream.

I am very interested in diversity in the entertainment industry. Can you share three reasons with our readers about why you think it’s important to have diversity represented in film and television? How can that potentially affect our culture?

I wholeheartedly believe in diversity. To me, diversity is a little bit of everyone, inclusive of all races, gender, and LGBTIQQ+. It’s important because cinema should be reflective of real life and our world is diverse. The more we have diverse voices behind the screen, the more our stories will ring true and have realistic characters, dialogue, and actions. The more that we explore diverse stories, the more that we realize that despite our ethnic or socio-economic differences, we are all very much the same. Family is family. Fear is fear. Love is love.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

Being able to shepherd ‘end of the road’ has been a wonderful experience that I am very proud of. It was great to collaborate with queen Latifah again. We worked together to create a black family with a female matriarch who is a smart, strong, mama bear willing to do whatever is necessary to protect her family. After this, I am in development on a Josephine Baker limited series with Ruth Negga attached in the leading role. I am super excited about that. We’re looking to delve deeper into Josephine than ever before. I can’t wait to see what ruth does with this part. She’s amazing!

Which aspect of your work makes you most proud? Can you explain or give a story?

I am most proud of my ability to collaborate with actors. They are the conduit for the soul of the characters and I respect their position. I love hearing their point of view and then working to make sure that the feeling that they desire to convey is truly coming through. Both queen Latifah and Chris ‘Ludacris’ bridges were laser-focused on representing their characters in their truest light. They trusted me to give them feedback in order to make their performances stronger. Another actor that I’ve worked with is Forest Whitaker. He is the king of nuanced performances. When I worked with him on ‘empire’, I noticed that he would subtly change his performance with each take. We’d discuss it after each take and then land on the read that we both felt sold the story and character best.

Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why? Please share a story or example for each.

1. Get sleep because production will seep into your dreams, and you will never have a sound sleep again.
2. Trust your gut because you must stand up or fall down based on your own thoughts not because someone told you to do it.
3. Be fearless. A healthy amount of fear is normal but don’t be too scared that it limits your ability to dream outside of the box.
4. Listen to everyone. This doesn’t mean doing everything that everyone suggests but be smart enough and open enough to hear thoughts that may lead you to something great.
5. Learn to say ‘no.’ it’s actually a secret power.

When you create a film, which stakeholders have the greatest impact on the artistic and cinematic choices you make? Is it the viewers, the critics, the financiers, or your own personal artistic vision? Can you share a story with us or give an example of what you mean?

When I create, I can’t think about what critics will say or it would make my mind spin. I read the material, daydream about it, and try to stay true to it. My goal is to take the 2-dimensional words off the page and breathe life into their 3-dimensional existence with the help of actors and amazing crew members. I like to say that as a director, ‘i service script.’

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

My movement would be for equality and parity for all. In particular, a woman’s right to choose how she uses her body.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in business, vc funding, sports, and entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might see this. :-)

I would like to sit down and have a quiet lunch with president Barrack Obama. I can’t imagine the stories he has to share but I know they are deep.

How can our readers further follow you online?

They can follow me on instagram at @shelton9mil. I try to keep it updated!

This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!