these FREEFALL streets: Shots Fired at Cypher Ave

Nope...we created Discreet City/Cypher Avenue, a site ranked higher than any other predominantly black gay blog with hundreds of original articles, quality podcasts and a dope forum community like none other....so that dude can't be talking about us.

 

Lastly, check the comment from the dude at the 4:21 mark...he admits that most of the cast had the same issues with the previous season of the show that we had...yet we were negative and non-supportive.

 

One more thing...the last time we even posted an episode on our site was over 2 years ago...dude in the video still got sand in his vagina from that long ago?

 

Because we're the only site even bothering to review these black gay web series....

 

#butthurt

 

Damn. Bitches STAY salty.

@Ockydub and @Nick Delmacy , please drop this meme on they site...

 

One of the dudes said he was worried about somebody else coming in and taking over the show. So did he think the show was a major production on CBS and Les Moonves was going to swoop in and revamp the whole thing? I think these people only hang around each other giving them a false sense of success. The reviews on here were brutal but the Lamont would've been wise to receive the criticism and try and improve on the show instead of taking everything so personal.

 

Full disclosure: I recently reached out to Lamont Pierre to get him on a round table podcast with other indie black gay filmmakers. He didn't respond. So we found a replacement. I may have been critical of the work but as this "documentary" shows, my sin was not being supportive even though my criticisms were harsh but valid.

 

Basically. Me, a non writer with some technical ability and HD SLR camera, should be able to sit in front of it and make a gay web series starring me, cast in all parts and put it up for the masses and not get any blowback on my lack of skills for acting, writing, editing and the like because everyone should support me and my creative vision and for having the balls to put it out there.

 

ironically, this is the best thing they've ever produced.

 

Maybe they have the same "keep our business in our house" feeling that we African Americans often have about our problems. Black folk consider you a traitor if you don't support your own but the funny thing is, for the most part, only gay people are reading CA reviews so you guys are keeping it in the family. I think Lamont and some of the cast are confusing professional reviewers who have a duty to give their honest feedback to their readers with gossip columnist who are throwing shade. CA isn't anyone's daddy, thus you guys aren't obligated to carry their water if you feel it's tainted worse than Flint water.

2nd, I think @Nick Delmacy extending an invitation to them to talk about their successes and struggles with other indie directors was an olive branch in a way. Nick may disagree with that assessment I understand, but they missed a great opportunity to dialogue with other artists and creators in our community and discover new and innovative ways of producing their craft. They(FreeFall) are choosing to hold grudges and stay entrenched in mediocrity. The way they handled their own supporters by not delivering episodes as promised, ranting at them on twitter and blaming them when they complained about said missing episodes, and then having the gall to continue to ask these very same supporters for financial support tells me they have a tin ear when it comes to handling their business and basic customer service. They will never get far in their trade with this unprofessionalism. Nobody can do it alone.

 

This. All of this.

I'm not hurt or disappointed that my invitation was passed on (sent via email and Facebook), I just thought it would be a good chance for the filmmaker to speak amongst film peers. Like you said, this would have not only been a good opportunity to discuss the struggles, but to also push back on the criticism. Despite how I felt about the series, its clearly very successful in the black gay web series niche. Actually, the topics that I sent in advance to be covered were more about the business side than the creative. And I doubt that any other gay or straight blog or website is reaching out to the creator of the series for in-depth interviews. If anything its the members of the cast who are called up for interviews asking if they are Tops or Bottoms.

 

The odd thing is I don't think I can recall Lamont, or any of the other producers, giving themselves gleaming reviews. If they're honest with themselves, as any good business person should be, they have to acknowledge that they are lacking in so many areas that have been pointed out on here, REPEATEDLY, from sound quality, picture quality, awful acting, disjointed and whimsical scripts etc etc etc. If CA can't be honest about it in a REVIEW, would they have been happier if you had just ignored them altogether, which you ended up doing anyway. I used to watch it only because it was being reviewed and talked about on CA. It's funny how people's viewing habits are impacted by reviews. Once CA stopped covering Freefall, I also lost interest. It was as if it no longer existed because it wasn't present in my face when i logged onto this very website. If no other websites took the time to review them at all, I wonder how many of their other fans started to tune out. I honestly thought the show ended and he isn't savvy enough to realize you were extended him the largest platform being offered to this show to set the record straight and reach all CA members and their friends on social media. If I were CA, I don't think I would even try anymore. Kids are running that show. It's a lost cause.

 

I'll say this I believe Freefall was/is definitely one of the better LGBT webseries. They didn't capitalize off of being gay centered but instead normalized homosexuality in a way I do not believe has been done. The characters certainly haven't been portrayed before, as I feel most webseries recycle the same theme over and over that part was refreshing. However was the first season perfect, no, did I expect it to be, NO! It's the first season of a show, limited budget and investors and probably the first major role for many of the actors whom aren't playing the stereotypical roles that are easy to fall in to so of course it would take a second to pull it all together. I believe many judged the series without keeping all of those factors in mind and it was unfair to do also some judged this from the perspective of a television series and that too was unfair.

 

Um....the problem with your statement is it seems like you're suggesting it improved dramatically from season one to season two. I would argue that not may people agree with that assessment. As a matter of fact, I think the lack of improvement after season one in which they were savaged on CA resulted in CA growing unsympathetic and eventually, nonchalant about what was happening with the series. The show was horrible and after watching 2 or 3 seasons, I still can't tell you what it was about. This is just my opinion though.

 

I can respect your opinion. I disagree that it didn't improve however. In my opinion there are only two terrible actors one much worse than the other and I wont name them. Otherwise I liked the performances, enjoyed what they were trying to make happen and could see the vision they had both seasons. Again I dont believe it was executed to the highest standard because of the factors I mentioned but it wasn't crap either.

 

They added that fukked up green tint during season two i believe. That's the only difference between the first two seasons. Not enough to say it improved dramatically. Again, just my opinion

 

Yeah I've had long conversations with @Ockydub about this. It really saddens me that hardly any other gay websites, let alone black gay sites, actually cover these creative works at all, whether good or bad. At most, you'll see a trailer reposted with little to no critical commentary on the actual work at all. Same with the LGBT musicians.

But Freefall doesn't need us, they have the "support" of BGCLive for views. And we don't need Freefall, we have The Squad and our reliable Lurkers to hold us down. And when we get harsh criticism (which we often do), we go above and beyond to try to have a civil exchange of dialogue with the critic to get on the same page for possible improvement on our end or a change of opinion on theirs. Most times they refuse to engage with us.

 

"...we have The Squad and our reliable Lurkers to hold us down"

 

Is this A Tribe Called Quest? LOL

 

No we judged the series on OTHER web series...even compared to their web counterparts with similar budgets and resources, the show was mediocre. Check many of Black & Sexy TV's web shows. Or just do a Google search for "Black Web Series" and you'll see TONS of examples of First Season shows with better quality sound, camera, writing and acting.

Speaking of acting, even in our podcast interview with Lamont Pierre he admitted that Atlanta didn't offer the best actors who were willing to play gay characters (for free). He said the actors were of better quality in Los Angeles.

Unfortunately "our people" in the Black Community do this all the time, we give out Participation Trophies for just showing up...

No, we as People of Color need to be good, if not great, to earn a Gold Star...Even more so for us Black Gay/Bisexual People of Color.

If you saw an athlete on a team who wasn't very good, at some point you (or the other fans) would tell him, even if he had potential...for some reason ppl think its wrong to criticize people and work that clearly deserve criticism.

 

I would've loved to hear about the business side of these gay web series. I get the sense that they're hobbies because I don't see a revenue channel for any of them. I don't see advertisers and i'm sure they don't have enough subscribers to pay everyone a living wage which is why all of them continue to work full-time jobs. I guess it would help put things in perspective if it was clear Lamont's intentions. Is he trying to produce a high-quality show that could be picked up by some cable network or is this an attempt to be gay famous? Maybe we can get answers from the ones that show up.

 

Well to give you a quick update, members of The Squad informed us that Lamont Pierre recently split with his 2 other Heterosexual business partners, he's on his own now. He's distributing full length versions of Freefall through a subscription pay wall, the condensed versions of the episodes are still free on YouTube.

 

There were 2 problems with Band Of Artists that I could see that had nothing to do with production.

1. Their relations with viewers seemed awful. It always seemed like a "you're either with us or a hater" mentality which doesn't create engagement.

2. they tried to bite off more than you can chew. If you can't afford to do it, don't do it.

 

Wow so people are really paying a subscription fee for this terrible content. I could barely watch it when it was free. I only watched for the eye candy to be honest.