Greg Maurice is the film acquisitions lead at FilmHub, Black Cinema vertical. He has been in this space for more than 15 years, with his prior stops including Fox Sports and eOne, where he launched their urban channel. He was this week’s guest on A Seat At The Table, and informed us all about Black cinema.
Why did you get into film acquisitions?
The reason that I got into it is because, when I lived in LA and Hollywood, I worked with several film studios like the bigger ones, I realized that when it comes to Black cinema, or for filmmakers, Black directors and Black producers, like, they didn’t have a lot of lanes for them to distribute these titles. So I realized I wanted to basically work inside the studio, utilize the system, and to find a way to advocate and facilitate distributions, specifically for Black Filmmakers.
Was there a specific moment that made you want to work in this space?
Not a moment specifically, but I guess, the power of the Black economy in the U.S. we spend over $1.1 trillion like overall for the U.S. economy. And when it comes to Black Entertainment, when you look at the data for us at the box office and how much content that we consume, it’s like over, like $50 billion we contribute to this industry, but that data doesn’t match the amount of content and titles that we are putting out in the industry. So for me I realized it’s not matching, so that I had to do something about it. Like to advocate for more black films in Hollywood and all over the country. And for me I’m passionate about something like that, because a lot of those filmmakers, they don’t have the relationships or the networks they don’t have, like the insights to know where to go. And for me, I want to be the conduit, or even like to advocate for them, like to show them how to do that.
What was a memorable film you worked with?
So, so many is, I think one particular probably want to highlight, because it was a stand-up comedy, especially because I was like a big Katt Williams fan, and I was able to release and distribute his standup comedy special Kattpocalypse. So just releasing that to see how that performed in the box office, and also like he did very well at Walmart, and also like was able to license it to Netflix and also BET. So that was one for sure I want to highlight, because obviously like Katt Williams is such a huge icon and one of the funniest guys ever.
What excites you most about your role? and how do further the Black community with your work?
Us as a platform, we want to basically, give opportunity to a lot of filmmakers out there, because I said before, historically a lot of those filmmakers nobody pays attention to them, and they never get a shot. And for us, like we want to basically double down and also invest in them. Most of the time if you don’t have those relationships or if you don’t have access to certain networks, you’re not going to get your film distributed. For us, we want you to have that access.
How does one start a career in film acquisitions?
Mentorships and find an internship too. Find yourself like a mentor, basically within that space, and they will be able to give you some guidelines and also show you how it works within that industry, because our industry is, it’s evolving every day. There’s like, so many different pockets, right? There’s like marketing, there’s production, there’s directing and also, the distribution is probably one of the most important aspect when it comes to cinema, because you might have the best project, a great project, but if you don’t have like a distribution strategy, then how are you going to people not going to see it and how you’re going to monetize it? So, just learning about the different type of roles within the film industry, and to see which one like you feel like is the most suitable for you, and once you’ve figured that out that there are a lot of executives, and also like folks within the community, like myself, who are always willing to share the knowledge and mentor. So just gotta reach out, especially on LinkedIn.
