LA WEEKLY FILM FESTIVAL
Dave Brown the Brand The founder of the Indie Night Film Festival thrives on his very own art of connection By Ca ro l Bada r acco Padge t t
weave friendship-building and trust-instilling into each of his Hollywood relationships, coming at them from a truly genuine posture. This has become the hallmark of the Dave Brown brand—one that works and has kept him on the pulse of the action in the LA entertainment mecca. Brown’s approach also sits well with his upbringing and the values he learned as a young man—the son of famed San Francisco pastor and civil rights activist Dr. Amos C. Brown of the city’s Third Baptist Church. “The apple does not fall far from the tree,” Brown says wistfully, “my dad and my mom are my rocks.” While in Canada for the shooting of Rebound, the Legend of Earl “The Goat” Manigault, and the directorial debut of Eriq La Salle, Brown met another important contact who would become pivotal to his Hollywood experience and his work: the actor, musician, and comedian Jamie Foxx. Since Brown’s roommate, DJ Twist, was an In Living Color alumnus as well, Brown and Foxx quickly found common ground. Through the years the two have become the closest of friends and professional allies, with Brown producing elaborate events for Foxx and numerous other heavyweights at the pinnacle of the entertainment industry. Of Foxx’s impact on him, Brown says, “Jamie let me see the other side of Hollywood. And for him to get that Oscar win was a great thing,” he notes of Foxx’s Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in the film Ray , about the rhythm and blues music legend Ray Charles. Another facet of Brown’s brand lies in his uncanny ability to realize a great concept and act on it, regardless of whether the idea resonates with others. His creation of the weekly Indie Night Film Festival, for instance, wasn’t initially an idea that everyone could wrap their heads around. “People said it would never work, because film fes- tivals are once a year,” Brown recalls. “They told me I wouldn’t be able to get enough content to make it work. But I found that there’s an incredible amount of con- tent—and why should people wait for once a year to be seen and miss all this work in between?” His intuition paid off, and for a decade the festival has rocked Hol- lywood’s TCL Chinese Theatre on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. “In Hollywood, it used to be that someone finished a film last week but nobody would see it until next year,” Brown states. “People need more traction. And so I’ve hosted the film festival every week since we started it, and we’re on consistently unless the theatre is bought out.” Since the goal for every writer, director, and producer is to get to the big screen, Brown’s philosophy is—why not just start there?
Yet beyond the Indie Night Film Festival and its fanfare and excitement, Brown is conscious of scouting out and encouraging filmmakers who may not yet have the courage to step forward and put their work forward. So, he relishes hooking up filmmakers with studios and networks that can get their work produced. He also invites his friends, like the legendary American casting director Robi Reed, who is credited with starting the careers of actors like Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, and Samuel Jackson. When Reed came to Indie Night some years ago for the first time, Brown says, she praised the concept and vowed to come back once a month to look for talent. He adds, “Now she oversees all the casting of talent for BET.” On her visits to Indie Night, Reed has brought people like Ruth Carter, the first African American to win an Academy Award for Best Costume Design for the film Black Panther . Then Carter, along with other entertainment icons like Morris and Foxx, will oftentimes come down to the front of the theatre and talk about their blueprint for making it in Hollywood, and what it took to get where they are. Of the impact of this experience on Indie Night Film Festival attendees, Brown says, “I want people to know that they can be great. They have to look beyond their fears. You won’t know the outcome unless you step out and make it happen. Everybody that’s great had to push through it.” Over the years, Brown has had the blessing of seeing many magnificent moments unfold at Indie Night Film Festival, and he recalls one in particular that sticks out with all the intensity of the night it happened. “I showed a film that got a standing ovation, and I brought the director down,” he remembers. “It was a 14-year-old kid who shot the film on his iPhone. You can do anything you want if you put your mind to it.” Brown recently snagged an award for his own talent and perseverance working in the entertainment industry—the John Singleton Award. The award is the first of its kind, given out by the family of Singleton, who was the pioneer that directed Boyz N the Hood and who consistently helped others in the industry get life- changing work. Moving forward, Brown will continue to cultivate his brand, much to the good fortune of writers, directors, producers, and others with big dreams in the film industry. “I strive to leave an imprint on anything that I do,” the Indie Night Film Festival founder says. “I’m the guy that helps the next person get to the next level.”
Dave Brown
A fter you speak with Dave Brown for the first time, you aren’t quite the same. He is, in a word, electric. And he likes to put that energy toward bringing out the best in everyone around him. Brown, founder of the 10-year running, weekly, and wildly successful Indie Night Film Festival in LA, is a 1992 graduate of Atlanta’s Morehouse College. To both honor the Morehouse con- nection and to acknowledge the link between LA and ATL, he has plans to bring the film festival to Atlanta, as well. “When I came to LA, the only person I knew was Morris Chestnut (American actor who sprang onto the scene in the role of Ricky in the film Boyz N the Hood ),” Brown says. “Morris gave me the do’s and don’ts of LA, so he was my mentor. But it’s a friendship first and the trust is there.” This connection and friendship gave Brown the op- portunity to see firsthand how to become a leading man and to continuously work in Hollywood. Through his bond with Chestnut, Brown has learned to intrinsically “ I strive to leave an imprint on anything that I do. I’m the guy that helps the next person get to the next level. ”
@davebrownusa | dave@davebrownusa.com
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