A champion of celebrating diversity, passion, and the power of chasing your dreams, Coke’s work is centered around capturing stories of resilience and the spirit of the young Black entreprenuers. His latest film “Waterboyz” premiered at this years ABFF in Miami, taking home a grand prize as Best Director. Read the below interview to learn about his experience.
Q&A
Q&A
What does it mean to you to receive the Best Director Award at ABFF?
Winning was huge for me. I'm still floating, I felt like I won an Oscar. Cause it's from my people, my culture saying yes. And not only that, there was the best picture award, then there was the best director award and either one or both would have been great. But the fact that they pointed me out specifically as a director, was amazing to me because I started off as a writer and early on in my career a lot of studios, investors and production companies wouldn't give me an opportunity to direct. So the fact I was awarded best director just brought things full circle for me.
And on top of all that it was Cadillac sponsoring the award, so it was twofold. I've owned five or six different Cadillacs over the years. Pretty much exclusively. I love Cadillac. It's luxury, its old school, it's hip hop, it's culture.
Cadillac has always been a staple in our community. It's always been a fabric, when it comes to the way we drive vehicles. What does Cadillac mean as an American luxury brand to you?
Class, elegance, sophistication, culture, quality, reliability are definitely some things that come to mind. People tell me all the time that my car fits my character.
Something about when you pull up in that Cadillac, it just sets the stage when you get out. And when you're going to a meeting or you're showing up to set, it lets people know the quality of the person that they're dealing with. I just love Cadillacs and what they represent and, you know they represent me.
You mentioned that as a writer it was hard to break into being a director. What did you have to do to break in? What is your niche that set you on your own path to create your own lane, to get into this industry and to be seen?
Well, I started off as a hip hop artist.
I was in a group called Madkap. We were the first group signed to Loud/RCA records back in the early nineties. We dropped our debut album in 1993 and we performed and toured with the likes of: Tupac, Biggie, Wu Tang, The Pharcyde, and Tha Alkaholiks to name a few. So I was already well versed in writing rhymes and telling stories. However, when I transitioned into film, it took me a long time to really learn the art of visual storytelling because I was only a writer in the beginning. So, at first, all I cared about was the words in the script and the performance.
I didn't know anything about color palettes and camera movement and lighting for mood and different tricks, techniques, blocking and composition. Eventually I started learning all the tricks of the trade and just little by little got better and better. And I'm still learning, visual storytelling more so than just the words on the page.
At Cadillac, we always say, be bold, be undeniable, be iconic. After hearing your relationship to Cadillac, what is your BE_____?
BE EPIC.
I believe that everybody should have a motivation for their art. People ask me all of the time, “what is your goal?” And my answer is always “to be considered amongst the greats.”
You know, I want to be mentioned in the same sentence as Spike, Scorsese, and Hitchcock.
