JS: I
was born and
raised in
New York City.
LTG: Did you grow up interested in the movie business?
JS: No. I played basketball in junior high school, Martin Van
Buren High School and received an athletic scholarship for basketball to
Long Island
University.
LTG: How did you start out in the
entertainment business?
JS: A
Speech teacher at LIU introduced
me to the theatre and I
fell in love.
LTG: Will we ever
get a chance to see your acting skills in one of your own films?
JS:
No, I believe my
acting days are
just about over!
LTG:
How did you
become interested in making films?
JS: I
always enjoyed watching movies, but when I became an actor I began to look at
the whole process and started to get interested in how to make a movie.
LTG: Where did
you train to become a filmmaker?
JS:
I attended NYU film
school.
LTG:
How many films have you directed?
JS:
I had actually
written and directed
a total of
12.
LTG:
How many films do you make in a year?
JS:
In the last 2 years we have made 3 a year.
LTG: You
are the busiest film maker out there. You write, direct, and produce all of
your films. How do you come up with ideas for your ideas for your films?
JS: Truthfully,
I have no idea.
The ideas just come.
LTG:
You
have used Several
LTG actors in your films. How does that come about?
JS: I
always want stage actors in my films (they are the best actors) I've seen many
of LTG productions and I found a wealth of talent to choose from
LTG: Tell us
about your most recently completed film, Kickin' it High?
JS: Ah,
now this movie is special because of the many positive messages. It is a PG-13
story of 3 boy’s lives during 60 days of their senior year in high school. It
encompasses their home lives, school, romances, friendships and confronting the
negative aspects of inner city life. It stars LTG member Eric Thomas. This one
will not go straight to home video. It will enter the film festival circuit
starting with our 1st entry "Diversity Film and TV market in Washington, DC July
24-27, 2003.
LTG: Most
of your films are urban action based, is there a particular reason for this?
JS:
Yes. Action is the number
one selling genre in the world. I wanted to make as many commercial urban action
films as I can until we get to where we are now. Now we can start moving in
different directions because we have the money and a
track record.
LTG: Tell
us a little bit about your most recent release, Lost Money?
JS:
Lost Money is an urban
action/comedy film starring LTG members
Kimberly Bailey, Keenya Woodruff and Tawfiq. It’s a story about a crew
of thieves who steal 7 million dollars and one of the crew members steals all of
the money from the crew and everyone is trying to find out the theft is and
where is the cash.
LTG:
What kinds of films can we expect from you in the future?
JS: Hopefully more action and more PG-13
films.
LTG: What are your future goals for your film
company?
JS: To keep making
pictures and eventually distribute them ourselves.
LTG: Who inspires you as a filmmaker?
JS: I would
have to say of
the filmmaker who
inspires me the
most, it would have
to be Gordon Parks.