Netflix co-stars bring Hollywood ambitions to The Rock

Close to signing on the dotted line, American actors Richard Lawson and Ricco Ross are primed to begin shooting film and television projects on The Rock soon for their separate production companies.

The television celebrities, co-stars on the hugely popular Netflix drama Beauty in Black — created, written and directed by Hollywood mogul Tyler Perry — are finalising discussions with the luxury hotel brand Princess Hotels and Resorts and Jamaican-based WES (Worldwide Entertainment Studios), led by Danica Robinson-Liles, to move ahead with a slate of planned creative endeavours here.

“The energy in Jamaica itself is infectious,” said a chipper Ross.

Whipping off his Ray-Ban specs with a debonair air reminiscent of his cosmetics tycoon TV character Horace Bellarie that has riveted millions of faithful viewers, Ross shared more of the localised plans in the offing.

“We have talked very seriously about making projects that are suitable for filming in Jamaica. You have amazing talent here, and a location that is amazing for certain projects that would work perfectly,” he disclosed.

On the drawing board, according to Ross, are three feature films now under consideration, as well as a possible TV series.

“Our big job right now is the very first project we do. We want to make sure it is a winner because that will be our track record here in Jamaica. We want to make sure that we come out of the gates blasting,” shared Ross, whose résumé includes acting turns in director James Cameron’s 1986 sci-fi classic Aliens and 1996’s spy thriller Mission: Impossible, helmed by Brian De Palma, which kicked off Tom Cruise’s decades-long action franchise as globetrotting secret agent Ethan Hunt.

As to a definitive timeline for when cameras will roll in Jamaica, Ross said: “We haven’t signed off because we haven’t got the specifics, but everyone is on the same page and agreed that this is an amazing opportunity. Opportunities don’t last long, so when you have that window of opportunity, [you’ve] got to go through it.”

Ross was speaking with The Sunday Gleaner on October 9 at the close of a masterclass workshop at the Negril Universal Film Festival (NUFF) at Skylark Negril Beach Resort, where his colleague Lawson delivered a tutorial on ‘The 10 Laws of Vertical Filmmaking’.

Repeatedly approached by workshop attendees and others milling about with requests for phone pictures with him to immortalise their celebrity encounter, Ross said he has been constantly recognised since landing on The Rock just days earlier.

“Every time I step out, I meet fans. It’s kind of this God-given superpower because I meet them and instantly they are smiling and happy, and it becomes infectious,” he admitted.

Pressed to share spoilers for the next season of Beauty in Black, Ross said he was departing from Montego Bay to Atlanta, Georgia last Monday to begin work on season four.

“I was just reading scripts for the new 16 episodes, and I am amazed at the brain of Tyler Perry because, after season three, I was thinking, ‘Okay, that was great, but where do you go from here?’ and he’s shown me where you go from here. I will say this to the audience: if you loved the first three seasons, fasten your seatbelts; season four is coming.”

Lawson is mirthful, polite and a charmer in person, a stark contrast to the scheming, underworld operative Norman Bellarie he portrays on the Netflix hit.

His 10-point NUFF presentation on the fundamental ‘laws’ of vertical filmmaking, which he developed with his Hyperlens Studios co-founder Denee Busby-Howard, was well received by participants at the late-Friday-morning workshop at Skylark’s upstairs yoga deck overlooking Negril’s Seven Mile Beach.

Vertical filmmaking, the two presenters noted, is a fast-growing cottage industry in which video content is shot or cropped – specifically in a 9:16 portrait orientation, as opposed to the standard 16:9 landscape format – for mobile phones and social media platforms.

Micro dramas, popularly referred to as verticals, are shot to run between one and three minutes, and can span 50 or more episodes a season.

“The hook is the contract, so the opening seconds must immediately capture and lock in the viewer’s attention before they swipe away,” Lawson advised attendees of one critical tenet to abide by.

He and Busby-Howard impressed upon their rapt audience that storytelling needed to be airtight in vertical filmmaking and, naturally, impactful enough to keep audiences with increasingly short attention spans interested.

To this end, they urged that structure and cliffhangers were both imperative in the process.

“Episodes must be built around rapid pacing, tight structural beats and cliffhangers designed to sustain binge-watching,” shared Lawson, no stranger to the process as a former cast member of such iconic American soap operas as All My Children and Generations.

“Anyone can make a vertical film. If you have a cellphone, if you understand the story you want to write. When you use the principles of storytelling, it doesn’t matter whether you are in Jamaica or South Africa,” Lawson explained of the value for Jamaican filmmakers. “Because the Internet does not discriminate in terms of where you are and who you are. You can get your project to the platforms that do it. Space and place does not limit that.”

Turning to monetisation for prospective vertical filmmakers, Busby-Howard noted it puts the economics directly in their hands.

“They can make as much money as they want to make. The vertical filmmaking is a billion-dollar industry. By 2030, it will be worth more than $50 billion, and that is only in the US. It offers the Jamaican filmmaker an opportunity that has never existed before. He or she can make a vertical film that’s not exclusive that can exist on multiple platforms, that offers a 50-50 venture.”

Besides their stop in Jamaica, the vertical-filmmaking-touting presenter duo have made sojourns to several international destinations, including Europe and Africa, to discuss techniques and strategy.

Meanwhile, for Lawson, who remains an age-defyingly stunning gent at 80, how does he script the next chapters of his own story?

“The three stages of life is you learn, you earn, and then you return. This is the return for me and also the continual earning,” he reflected. “Sharing this information for other people to achieve their dreams is ultimately my purpose. I am a dream weaver.”

entertainment@gleanerjm.com