"You glean from your own life, and writers, and directors--people who are just intent in listening. That's what I did--a lot of listening. It wasn't just my story. You saw some things on the screen that were loosely based off of, actually, what my mom and I went through, but also on both sides of my family, we were a part of observing, and being heavily entrenched in what to do with someone's legacy; what to do with the inheritance, or estate that was left. So, yeah. You take dialogue from that. You research. I researched and talked to so many different people about what they were going through. Some people have and in South Carolina. A lot of people that I spoke to--two aunts aren't talking, to this day, after thirty years, because of the way something was left, you understand. At the heart of it, I want us to see ourselves--good, bad, and ugly. I want us to do something about that season and period in somebody's life, that they worked so hard for, and people are acting a fool over what they feel they deserve, you understand? Even, I have a Jewish friend of mine, whose bubby had everything in tact, but again, people are fighting over what they think they deserve. So, this is something I want to resonate with everyone--young, old, in between. I've had young people who have seen this, and said, "I'm holding a family meeting, okay, because I have siblings!"
There's always these interesting social constructs that we fall into, in families. We play our parts. Unfortunately, when someone passes, that part comes out, and there's a lot of things that are unsaid. So, why not, before it gets to this high, emotional stake situation. why don't we talk about it? Why don't we try to get some things in order, so that we can really, fully honor and respect the person's legacy that you're left with. That is my prayer. It's humbling, because every race, every ethnicity is going through this. If it's an immigrant family, I heard from them. Listen, we're dealing with this in India, and South Asia, because first generation is over here, but people are squabbling over land overseas.
So, this truly is a story that started inately for me. It was urgent. It felt like it needed to be out there, and as you can see in the news, what's going on with Chadwick Boseman, you know, and Malcolm Jamal Warner's wife, you understand? And then, the guy in New Jersey that shoots his neice over inheritance, because she was moving too slow on some things. So, we can point and judge, and see what's going on, and get all about it with the celebrities, but this is a very personal story. You have to figure out what side you're playing in it, too, alright? So, again, this is the artistic stance on "Let's get out affairs in order; let's love each other as family; lets heal those wounds"-- that may not be overnight--but the conversation that we have with each other, is tantamount. So, I hope you enjoyed it.
I'm DMV to the bone! Montgomery County! We live in PG, now. I mean, I'm not saying that's like a come up, I'm just respecting the place...lol...We tried to cover all the DMV...A lot of people were proud of where we come from, and I wanted to do a story about where we come from. When you think of the DMV; when you think of DC, of course, we're talking about the government, and scandal, and all of those things that are forward-facing, in that right, but I wanted to delve into the people that live here. There are teachers, you know. You saw the mother character. I wanted people to be represented. She's talking about her "babies that are now grown up". I wanted to represent some of the family that's from the LBGTQIA family, to hard working Metrobus drivers; great uncles of mine; all in between, I wanted that side represented. To my government GS-14's or 15's. Come on! We have a full-bodied experience, from this area, of Black professionals, to hard working middle class, lower class--we here. I wanted to make sure that was textured in the story from the music, too. Go-go. That's our language.
This is my directing debut, but I've been producing forever, and a part of producing is knowing your resources, and I think anybody who really wants to do good business, knows how to tap into those resources. So we looked into a lot of DC artists here, to make sure that they were represented.
When you look at good storytelling, you identify who to root for. That's a big thing...You do need someone to root for. In every scene, it should be turning. You should be learning something new. I wanted everyone to, somewhat, be even, because I feel that we all need to be given grace in these situations. It's really easy to say what you would do, and not, but being a human is incredibly beautiful and ugly at the same time. Because I have seen my reflection, I give Grace to everybody else--and that's not easy, you understand? The person who says they've attained? You need to run...I believe in making sure that everyone has their say; it feels real; they're given grace. You may have side-eyed them, but that's a part of being a human. I didn't want any villains... I wanted to leave you with some realness of how we make decisions...People, dare I say, are seeing everyone in it, and there's a communal gravitation to it. That's extremely humbling...I just want people to talk..."
~Tia A. Smith, Director
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