…YEA, I HAD IT PLANNED THAT WAY…

Okay, I had been in Bloomingdales for a long time. How long? Both terms of Reagan and I strictly remember where I was when GeorgeBush Sr. declared “war” – or was it a “police action” against Iraq. I was in the bath rug stockroom when I heard it. I said a prayer for the world and for the soldiers, as I saw the death that was to come. …Amazing how things repeat themselves.

The Hudlin Brothers followed “HOUSE PARTY” with “BOOMERANG”, a huge step up in terms of budget and scope. The Hudlins, who if you read the last blog, founded and ran the Black Filmmakers Foundation, which I was part of.

As the resident cartoonist in the BFF (as the Foundation was known), I was learning about storyboards, as I figured that if I got on to movies, I could tell people in the business about my scripts, which I had written since college.

The problem is, the Hudlins didn’t know I did storyboards. My caricature art decorated their offices, but they didn’t make the connection. Why would they? When they needed storyboards, they hired…TWO GUYS FROM LA! Yes, Eric Ramsey and Darryl Henley. Okay, Darryl is a Chicago native, but he was living in LA for years. Just as bad. They were NOT NEW YORKERS, where the movie was being shot. Okay, they were black, but I wasn’t feeling very Malcolm X-like when I thought my job was being taken.

It rather sucked being around BOOMERANG’sfilming, and not being able to be a part of it, or get paid! I did get to see Eddie Murphy on set, as well as this new girl Halle Berry (what ever happened to her?) but I was left out in the cold and was still a stockperson. Yes, I had helped Keith Hernandez, Whoopi Goldberg and Terrence Stamp find the right towels and bathrugs –the latter two were especially nice people, and Keith was cool too – but I was mentally wasting away and not using my God given talents.

Let’s not boo hoo here, folks. I got complacent, and I was paying for it. I should have been long gone, but my occasional publications in magazines like THE SOURCE, made me a little too patient. It was my fault, period. Ditto, my not getting the movie gig.

My childhood friend, Greg Mays had coaxed me out to visit him for a few days in Los Angeles, where he was working at Sony studios in distribution. He took me around town, showed me the sites, and I had a blast. But, Greg did something far more valuable for me. He got me a gig storyboarding a short for some friends of his. I wouldn’t get paid, but I would have samples. I did the job gladly on my spare time when I got back to New York.

While I was in The Black Filmmakers Foundation, I made a lot of good friends. Some of them I am still close with to this day. One of them, Rodney Stringfellow was the personal assistant to the Hudlin brothers.

Besides being a talented writer, Rodney was an artist, as well and had done storyboards for a number of up and coming filmmakers called “The DROP Squad”,

Which was the name of their production company. These gentlemen were associated with Spike Lee and worked with him on commercials.

They had a feature deal for a drama called “D.R.O.P. SQUAD” (they kept the name) which was adapted from a short they had done called “THE SESSION”. They needed a storyboard artist. Rodney was overwhelmed with his day job and he recommended me. Thankfully, I had samples this time do to the short.

I met with producers Butch Robinson and Shelby Stone, in addition to writer/director David Johnson. The interview went great.

Now, came the BIG decision. My job would take at least six weeks to do. I could take a leave of absence at Bloomingdales…or I could just quit.

It was a huge case of “get off the pot or piss”. I was not making a lot of money off D.R.O.P. Squad, so I couldn’t sit back and relax, but I had to make a change in my life.

My friends were behind me. Yvonne Kenny, who is now a talented documentary filmmaker, had left Bloomies the previous year. She said “being out on your own makes you crafty”. She was all for me leaving permanently and to stop messing around in a job I was tired of. My buddy Gaston (whom I out weighed by forty pounds) told me if I ever came back to work for Bloomingdales he would “kick me in the face”. If that ain’t love….

My mother, the still lovely (in her eight decade) Ruth Elaine Drummond gave me her blessings…though during my slow years she gently informed me “there are also tests for the Post Office and Police Department”

So, I left Bloomingdales. I even got a cake and farewell party from my co-workers. What totally sucked though, is that the movie got pushed back a few weeks, so I had to work in the store (hey, money is money, yo!) until my new gig began.

But, finally…I was IN THE FILM BUSINESS!!!!!