Nick: Even from the first season of My Brothers Keeper I saw that you had at least one Gay black character on there. How difficult was that…because the climate was different back then than it is now.
Nick: In the past you’ve focused on a crash type storyline where you have different characters and their lives intersecting, what made you say, “we’re going to make this an entirely gay storyline focusing on theses characters?”
Lamont Pierre: Okay, I kinda anticipated this question…it was a natural evolution to do this particular show this particular way. I have to say if you were to actually look back at all of my projects, including the short films that I’ve done, a smart person would probably make the conclusion that my films are a progression of my own sexuality. Getting to the point where I’m doing a completely gay show from the gate. The issues and situations are exclusively that…and exclusively around the lives of these three types of characters. It was a natural thing that I’ve wanted to do. “My Brother’s Keeper” allowed me to get into certain things but it was more of an ensemble show. This project I wanted to do something different than I’ve done in the past, (something) that wasn’t necessarily “me.” I don’t know if I answered your question though (laughs).
Nick: Nah I think I get a sense of it…it was just an internal artistic thing, you felt like it was time…
Lamont Pierre: Yeah, there’s something that I’m leaving out…You guys can claim a little bit of the credit for me doing this show.
Ocky: Oh wow! (Laughs)
Nick: Uh oh…(Laughs)
Lamont Pierre: I’ll explain myself (laughs). Now, you guys are aware of all the different online outlets out there, all the different blogs and sites. The same way you guys are aware of it because this is what you do, we’re aware of it on our side, especially the ones that are making content. You guys…your site is different. It’s a different perspective and there’s really nobody comparable out there that is looking at the community in the way that you guys are doing and analyzing it in the way that you guys are doing. When I discovered your site, I don’t know how, I think I’ve been reading your site for at least a year. I would go to your site because I always know that I’m going to get a different perspective on things. So I’d be checking out your site and see something that you guys have written over time and I’d be like, “ You know what, yeah…where’s the series and projects that your demo would be interested in?” So that kinda got the wheel turning. And I’m not trying to say that “Freefall” is exactly that, but its important to look at the lifestyle of gay men in different lights. I wanted to do this concept, but knowing that at least there was somebody that was open to seeing something like that was definitely one of the inspirations behind creating a show like this.
Ocky: Just so the listeners know, this is not a paid interview!
(Everyone laughs.)
Lamont Pierre: That’s why I was excited to talk to you guys because its different. I’ve done press before but sometimes it tends to gets “the same”…as opposed to somebody else (that are) coming from somewhere else and they have a different perspective of the content and what you’re doing (as a content creator).
Nick: No, we appreciate that, having said that I guess we can “get into it”…I’d heard of “My Brother’s Keeper” before “Freefall” but I only saw one episode. Once we set up the interview, I went back and watched a bunch of them and a lot of it is really good. I was surprised to see that Octavius felt the same way.
Ocky: I looked at “Freefall” before I looked at “My Brother’s Keeper.” Looking at “My Brother’s Keeper” after, I felt there was a difference. There was a perspective, environment, scope and style that I felt “Freefall” was missing that I felt “My Brother’s Keeper” actually had…I felt that the same person who did “My Brother’s Keeper” was holding something back.
Lamont Pierre: With “Freefall”…it was supposed to be an experiment. We’re actually on an extended hiatus from “My Brother’s Keeper” right now, we’ve been filming that hardcore for the last 2 years. We got down to this (past) fall and I really wanted to do something different. I kept saying that to my team. I said, “Well, let me go off (solo).” I had an idea but I didn’t tell them about “Freefall.” I went and kinda developed it with a friend of mine. We worked out the characters and the story and what we wanted to do. We really wanted to approach “Freefall” from a minimalistic perspective production-wise because it was just supposed to be an experiment for me, me personally, artistically…And I’ve got to be honest with you, “My Brother’s Keeper” has been my baby for so many years but it’s a challenging project to really make catch on and be a hit. It’s a slow grower that takes a lot of resources, time and money to be able to produce. We weren’t really getting the returns that we felt like we wanted especially being in Season Three, filming in 4 different cities. I really wanted to start over with something. “Freefall” was my experiment in creating something that was for a specific demographic. We did the first episode and I didn’t go into it with the same force that I usually do because it was just supposed to be an experiment. “My Brother’s Keeper” is very socially conscious project, its very hard to build an audience for that because it is so heavy. With “Freefall” I really was like, “I wanna see what kind of audience we’d get if we took this approach and we talked about this and had these type of people in it…I just wanna see.” So we put out Episode One and that was really…I personally was pretty surprised at the response form it. I felt like, “Okay, now I need to give the show my full treatment. I need to start treating this like it’s not an experiment any more. One thing that I’ve learned from releasing “Freefall” is that the gay audience, maybe even specifically the gay black audience is really starving for content. At that point I said, “I can let this show be a bunch of bullshit or I could really put the kind of heart into it the same as I would any of my other projects that are important to me.”
Ocky: Do you personally identify yourself as a homosexual man?
Lamont Pierre: I do…I do now.
Ocky: You do now…So that evolution had not yet taken place when you were producing, writing and directing “My Brother’s Keeper”…With “Freefall,” are you using any of your own personal experiences are you using the experiences of others or both?
Lamont Pierre: Definitely both…But that can be said for anything that I write…No that’s a lie, certain projects its like that and certain projects stand on their own…
Ocky: Can one assume that these characters will evolve? Even though your writing with someone else, will Lamont Pierre’s consciousness and evolution eventually begin to show with “Freefall” also?
Lamont Pierre: Absolutely. Basically I have to find a way. Because I really love the work that did on “My Brother’s Keeper” and I would like to find a way to marry everything that I thought was awesome about that show…Marry that with something that can work specifically for this audience.
[It didn’t end there…later we spoke on Sex, stereotypes, coming out of the closet and more! – Nick D]
Hear the full interview below!
INTERVIEWS: “Freefall” Creator Lamont Pierre
