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Tim Greene is pictured
here at one of his many free kid's filmmaking workshops that he
holds all around the country. At the end of each free workshop Tim
gives out computers to low-income familes complete with
internet service and filters absolutly
free!!
Is Filmmaker Tim Greene the New "Disney" of Hip-Hop
Film?
By Josh Miller
HOLLYWOOD,
CA - Writer, producer and director Tim
Greene wants to be the Walt Disney of hip-hop cinema. The filmmaker
feels his new comedy for kids, to be screened at a sneak preview
next week, could catapult him into that stratum of silver screen
stardom. Greene declined to divulge many details, including the
dual-syllabic title, of his latest film. Still, the man who knows a
little something about marketing movies revealed enough information
to entice viewers’ intellectual appetites. The cast comprises a
litany of local little ones from diverse ethnic backgrounds. I
picked out those kids who had that spark," Greene said. "You can see
these kids are born to act."
Greene also promises moviegoers will enjoy experiencing a wide
range of emotions.
"It’s G rated but will make you laugh
like crazy," he said. "And you’re definitely going to cry if you cry
at movies." Hollywood traditionally steered clear of
urban movies geared toward adolescent audiences, but trends are
changing, Greene said, citing the success of Are We There Yet? The
PG-rated road trip tickle, staring Ice Cube and Nia Long, opened the
weekend of Jan. 21 tops at the box office, and has already grossed
more than $60 million in less than three weeks.
"That shows there’s a curve coming up and I’m just going to hop
on that curve," Greene said. "I’ve put myself on the executives’
radar screens." As grand marshall of the KNBC
Martin Luther King Kingdom Day Parade, the 31-year-old from
Germantown recently put himself on hundreds of thousands of
television screens in the Los Angeles area.
"He’s well known on the West Coast,"
said Larry Grant, founder of the KNBC parade. "I’ve known Tim for
about 15 years now and he impressed me the first time I met
him. He can always be involved in
anything that I do." During his visit to Southern California, Greene
sat down with several CEOs of major studios. A dearth of urban
directors in Hollywood, he said, puts those in touch with hip-hop
culture in high demand. Greene has not only proven his
credibility in the funk-infused genre, but also has been able to do
it in eye-catching fashion - with zero-budget productions.
"They see some entrepreneurial skills," he said. "They know if
they give me five million I’ll give them back fifty." Greene
employed an array of unconventional measures to finance two
full-length features - Creepin’, a spoof on scary movies, and
Raykwan’s Cuties, a parody of Charlie’s Angels.
He clipped rebate checks to acquire an array of freebies -
from film, computer equipment and cell phones to gasoline, batteries
and food. He scoured yard sales and consignment shops for
bargain props and promotional materials. And he read more than 50
film books, including many of the same titles that a student at UCLA
or NYU may encounter in class. Now, Greene has collected the
coupons, receipts with next-to-nothing balances and photographs with
captions in a scrap book, which will one day be developed into his
own instructional guide.
With hip-hop firmly in the mainstream, the majority of the
culture’s consumers are white suburban children. Still, his films have
been distributed in 21 countries and three languages - English,
Spanish and French - without the help of agents or
lawyers. He placed advertisements in Hollywood trade magazines,
mailed screeners to movie rental retailers and used the internet,
where "there are 42 million kids online," to market and move his
product.
"You have to think as a mogul," he said. "As Def Jam did for
music, Tim Greene will do for film." Greene grew up as one of his
single mother’s six children, including five sons. Picking up tennis
at age 11 allowed Greene to escape the hardships of his
neighborhood. His unrelenting racquet has
earned over 120 tennis trophies and granted Greene access to the
ears of Hollywood executives.
With a datebook that demands ink like a
Dostoyevsky novel, Greene is booked through
October 2008. As a
romantic and comedic drama panelist for the National Film and
Discussion Series Tour, he spoke in Baltimore two weekends ago, in
New York and in Washington D.C. on Saturday.
"Tim is a tremendous crowd
hit," said Corey Jennings, President and CEO of Next
Generation Awareness Foundation, Inc., the organization responsible
for the discussion series tour. "He is really spreading knowledge
about how to break into the film industry and how to be an
entrepreneur."
Greene travels to Phoenix, London England,
Detroit, Atlanta and then to Los Angeles this week for the Uplifting
Minds Tour.
He then returns to Philadelphia to participate in Sayre Morris
Recreation Center’s 2nd Annual African American Film Festival.
There, he will debut his new comedy and screen his music video
satire, Ya Grandma’s A Gangsta, starring octogenarian Rappin’
Granny.
An increasingly hot commodity in Hollywood,
Greene expects to spend considerably more time in Tinsel Town,
hammering out directing deals.
"I’m still shooting my films independently, but one or two studio
films won’t hurt," he said. "It’s a good thing. It gets me to that
next level of filming." Big budgets would permit Greene freedom to
add more camera pans and special effects. "The thing that gets my
movies over is the story line," he said. "I’ll be able to tell
bigger stories."
The writer, director and producer
also wants to continue discovering raw talent. To achieve that aim,
Greene will launch the Ultimate Hip Hop Motion Picture Consortium
with the help of marketing guru Beryl Wolk, cofounder of the Cable
Guide magazine. The consortium will have branch offices in
Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Charlotte,
NC.
"We’re kind of like the Disney of
Hip-Hop," Greene said. "When you hear the Ultimate Hip Hop
Motion Picture Consortium, you know the whole family can sit there
and say wow this is a great movie."
Regardless of what fame and fortune may come
for Tim Greene, success will not stand in the way of giving back to
communities in need. "You’re more likely see me at a center,
giving away 600 computers to low income families than at a
party with a drink in my hand," he said. "I’m more on that tip of
helping people."
(kid’s photo by: John Patillo) | 
