Robert Johnson, founder of BET, is getting [ back ] into movies:
Yesterday, Robert Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television, moved to even the landscape. He announced the formation of Our Stories Films, a company dedicated to producing African-American family comedies. He's chosen partners who've proven themselves at making fresh inroads with audiences and moviemakers: Bob and Harvey Weinstein, co-founders of Miramax and co-chairmen of the Weinstein Co.
"The one consistent cry I've heard from the black creative community in Hollywood is, 'Why is there no black-owned film studio where a black person green-lights the movies?'" says Johnson. The obvious answer, to Johnson, was, "No African-American was in the position or willing to take the risk to put up his or her money to put that studio in place."
I have something harsh to say about this, and I don't care if I'm called a "crab in a barrel" for saying this, but it must be said.
When Johnson took BET public, one of the things he said he was going to do was to create a production studio for television AND movies. This is really the second incarnation of Our Stories.
When he said this, he stated that he was building a production studio in Largo, Maryland, which he did. He placed the restaurant, BET Soundstage, there. ( It had good food and was THE spot for a bit ). Tim Reid approached Johnson to use Johnson's studio and Reid's studio, which was located in Virginia, to collaborate on production. Reid thought that the two studios, working together, good get good stories by and about Black people out into the public.
Johnson, according to Reid, didn't bite.
Remember, this is Robert Johnson who said that the 'E' in BET stood for Entertainment. This is the same Robert Johnson who has defended the business model of BET saying that, as a businessman, bootieshaking and degrading videos made money. This is the same Robert Johnson who, when BET first came out, said he wanted to serve the Black audience with information and entertainment, then said it was about entertainment only, and killed the SMALL information/news portion of BET.
I have no problem with the brother making money. I just don't appreciate the lying to the Black community and the world about intentions.
Here's the real deal: family entertainment makes money. Right now, family entertainment is what is making the most money for movie studios. Ergo, what should Johnson do to make money?
Make family movies. Only, he claims he's going to do it in Black-face because "we" want to see it.
True, "we" may want to see it, but the money is going to be made with all races, not just Blacks. So, mark this: in time, if the studio stays, they will do mostly "white" movies with some Black ones thrown in.
That's not a bad thing. I'm just saying, be upfront instead of frontin'.
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