A little taste... What do you get when you mix one part kool-aid, two parts gasoline and a half-a-ounce of weed?...uh, a bad analogy? Alright, that was a terrible comparison, but there is something beautiful happening in the world of independent film making. Hip hop movies are finally being made the right way. No cheese ball concerts, or fake ass actors trying to throw out some slang that they learned from a "How to be Ghetto" handbook. These are not stories about music or artists, they are movies about life as we see it, straight with no chaser. In the same way that hip hop has dominated music and revolutionized the way it's made (...sampling, use of drum machines) these independent filmmakers are changing the way films, labeled hip hop, are being made. Recently, I had the chance to talk the founder of one of the fastest rising independent film companies, Lawrence Page of Lawrence Page Films. How do you turn $7000 into over $2,000,000.00? By reading on and taking notes......
How did you get the film company off the ground?
Blood, sweat and tears..nah mean independent style, just straight working hard. saving my money putting it in the bank, saving it and trying to lift as much as I can.
How did you get involved with directing movies?
My father was in the Vietnam war, he was a cameraman, so I guess it's in the blood. So it's something that I always wanted to do, because actually I'm an air force baby, I was born on an air force base down in Florida, growing up that's something that was probaly in my blood, you know, in the bloodline... so that's how we do that there.
When was the first time you picked up a camera?
I had to be like six or seven, but you know back then they didn't have movie cameras, I picked up a damn photography camera, taking pictures, and then years down the road, I decided that I want to go into film and pick up the camera, like my father used.
Did you go to school for it...any formal training?
I don't have the patience for school. I tried to go to school for it, but the guy was taking to long and I couldn't comprehend his direction of filmmaking so I decided to drop out and do it myself.
Do it the way you envision it...
....and do it the hard cutting way, because there is nothing wrong with school. But there are a lot of things that your only gonna learn on the set.. an actual set, that school can't teach you.
How long have you been in the business?
Well, my company has been up and going for about seven years, but I been in the business for like thirteen years, nah mean, since I was a kid. I call that business. I been thinking business minded since I was a newborn child. When I was a baby I never spoke a word and I never cried. I always had a steel mind and a steel mouth. They always thought something was wrong with me. So I been thinking business since I was a newborn damn baby. Nah mean.
THE VITAL STATS
Laurence Page
Film Director
Representing Long Island, NY
Birthplace: Florida
Current Project: Statistic - DVD and Murda Musik
Website: www.hollyhoodfilms.com
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