DavidJasonOrr

In the early 90's, drug-related crimes in Washington, DC were so common that the city earned the notorious title of "murder capital" of the United States. Independent Filmmaker Bruce Brown captured this violence as purely as anyone could while providing an entertaining film with a very low budget.

After years of homespun roles, I was fortunate to play a small role in this film, and am still amazed that they pulled it off. As Bruce often said "this ain't Hollywood, it's Hardly Making It." But he did it, and the film was seen in theatres across the U.S., and at film festivals. Now available at Blockbuster Video across the country, the film has been seen by hundreds of thousands of fans.

We await the sequel very soon as it has been shot, and should bring more true grit from the streets of DC.

I was fortunate enough to audition for and land a part ("Tom Tom")in this independent film that was shot on a budget of less than $300,000, and distributed independently. I learned alot about the process, and therefore am far less critical of the final outcome than I would be as an outside observer, although I am always critical of work that I am involved in.

Bruce Brown and his staff did an incredible job of pulling this off despite political and industry red-tape. We opened to over 2,000 fans at the historic Lincoln Theatre in Downtown DC. You are talking about an independent African American film maker in our Nation's Capital attempting to produce a film about Black on Black crime, and drug dealing that is taking place on the front steps of the White house. This during a period where DC had become known as the Murder Capital, and we were still recovering from the Mayor Marion Barry scandal. It is hard enough to get a film on screen already.

Many of the actors were first time performers, although I think it has been repeatedly overlooked that several of us were either professional theatre performers, or accomplished musicians. Looking at the credits you see Big Tony of Trouble Funk who are a world-wide reknown Go-Go band with hits like "Drop the Bomb", DJ Kool ("Let me clear my throat"), James Funk of Rare Essence Band, and currently Proper Utensils band, DC Scorpio (Stone Cold Hustler, Beam Me Up Scotty).. Although, these artists may not be household names to contemporary fans outside the metro area, they definitely hold their own in front of a camera.

I think a fan would have to try to make a movie themselves to fully appreciate how good this effort actually came out. We're talking about buying your own cameras and equipment, obtaining licenses to film, or shooting around them, dealing with cast members who disappear during filming, etc.

I also would say that those who expect what they see from a multi-million dollar film may be the most critical. I have experienced that from my own peer group, but all in all, the response has been fantastic.

I would like to thank all the fans, and especially BlackPlanet.com for their support.

I hope to participate in forums on this movie, so join me there, or email me. I do my best to keep up with responses, personally.

You can rent "Streetwise" at Blockbuster Video, or buy it online at Amazon.com

Be on the lookout for the upcoming sequel, entitled "Divided City." The production team is currently wrapping up shooting.