DENIESE DAVIS on Producing ONE OF THEM DAYS
By Rebecca Green
After making waves with the breakout hit ONE OF THEM DAYS, a film that went from production to theatrical release in just six months, producer Deniese Davis sat down with Dear Producer to discuss her journey through Hollywood's television and film landscape. From her early days producing digital content with Issa Rae on AWKWARD BLACK GIRL to launching both ColorCreative and Reform, Deniese shares insights on navigating the entertainment business while staying true to her creative vision. She also reveals the launch of The Producing Playbook, a workshop designed to demystify the industry for the next generation of producers.
I’d love to start by hearing about both ColorCreative, which you co-founded with Issa Rae, and your company Reform. How did they get started and are they connected or separate entities?
Issa and I started ColorCreative together in 2014, two years after AWKWARD BLACK GIRL, when we were producing a lot of digital content. We launched it as a mission-driven company designed to create opportunities and pipelines for emerging creators and diverse people with great voices. We helped usher their careers, whether that meant representation, getting them jobs, or just helping them get paid to do what they did best. This came from what we saw as a lot of gatekeeping and limited opportunities outside of labs and programs.
The company was successful with various partnerships and continued to grow over the years. In 2020, we relaunched the ColorCreative brand with the same mission, but positioned it in the representation space. Now, ColorCreative exists as a management and production company. It's run by Talitha Watkins, who came over from CAA in late 2020 and has built it into a formidable business in this town.
When Talitha took over, I stepped away from my time with Issa and that company to launch Reform. The companies exist completely separately. I'm more passively involved with ColorCreative from an executive leadership standpoint, while Reform is my shingle and producing brand as I build a slate of stories I want to tell.
I listened to you on a podcast where you mentioned reading Lawrence Turman's book "So You Want to Be a Producer" as a very young person on a flight. How did you even know that book existed? What did he say that made you believe you wanted to produce?
The real origin story starts in high school. I got into video production when I was 16 and learned how to edit and produce videos for school announcements and commercials. By senior year, I realized I could go to school to learn more about film. I'm from Las Vegas and I didn't know anyone who worked in Hollywood or had thought about a career in this business. My first instinct was to apply to film school. I wanted to move to New York, and it seemed like a great launching pad to learn more, but I felt a bit of imposter syndrome. I decided to go to film school at Brooklyn College, but didn't know this world at all. That led me to Google, "What are all the positions on a film set?" By process of elimination, I started considering producing. This was 2005 and when I Googled "What does a producer do?" Larry's book popped up. I immediately bought and read it on the plane while moving to New York for college.
The book broke down the role of a producer as it relates to all parts of the filmmaking process. It blew my mind because producing wasn't just one thing. It was creative while still being business-oriented and you could be part of something from inception through completion. Many positions in filmmaking come in at only one part of the process, but producing allows you to be involved in the entire thing. The book changed my life because it validated my interest. It allowed me to go to college knowing I wanted to be a producer. No one in film school wants to be a producer – everyone wants to be a director, writer, or cinematographer. I was that anomaly, this young Vegas person saying I wanted to produce even though I hadn't done it yet.
I went into film school thinking I would be a cinematographer. I was a photographer for my high school yearbook and it felt like the right fit, but when I got to film school, I realized how technical cinematography is and that’s not one of my strengths. And It's even more technical now, gaffers walk around with iPads controlling the lights.
What's funny is that in your first year of film school, they make you take classes in everything. I remember taking editing and screenwriting classes. I joke with my DPs now that I had a C-minus in cinematography. I knew that wasn't my jam. I couldn't wrap my head around it. I give cinematographers so much credit. They're the smartest people I know, it’s all math and science. It's a real skill set to be good at and love.
What was your entry point into the web series THE MISADVENTURES OF AN AWKWARD BLACK GIRL?