Photos courtesy of Lamont Pierre / BOAcollective
“THE TROUBLE WITH GOING SOMEWHERE ” stars Moses Jones, Borge Etienne, and Jared Wofford as three college buddies who are tired of taking the hits from an endless lack of gainful employment. The trio is forced to take their dire circumstances into their own hands trading in their college degrees for a life on the dark side.
Writer, director, producer Lamont Pierré briefly chatted with PrideIndex about his latest web drama collaborative. He discussed among other things why he was not concerned about so called backlash due to the dark nature of this show.
PRIDEINDEX (PI): When and where does “THE TROUBLE WITH GOING SOMEWHERE” take place?
LAMONT PIERRE (LP): “THE TROUBLE WITH GOING SOMEWHERE ” takes place in Newton, Georgia, initially, but as the heists continue, the story expands to different towns across the South.
PI: How is it different than anything else you’ve produced so far?
LP: This series is intentionally a heist drama series as opposed to just a drama series which has been my forté. In this series, at every opportunity, we want to incorporate action infused with drama and romance. I get to be introspective with this story as well as play with the pacing. I love slow pacing and I love making the viewer be forced to live inside of a moment — even if it’s uncomfortable…especially if it’s uncomfortable. With this series, I get to have more of a balance between the fast and the slow. That is exciting to me.
PI: What is the one thing you want audiences to retain from it?
LP: I’m hoping I can capture a certain state of mind through this particular story — a feeling of helplessness — like your destiny is not really in your control and the feeling of needing someone else to take you where you know you deserve to be. And ultimately and hopefully, people can relate to, not necessarily agree with, how these guys choose to take back their power and the consequences of that.
PI: Were you concerned about any backlash regarding the dark nature of this series?
LP: Nope. It’s no darker than CSI or something like that. Not to mention, I consider myself a dark writer/director. My creative influences are Bernardo Bertolucci in directing; and Fyodor Dostoevsky and James Baldwin in writing. So creatively, I have an affinity for the darker side of life which is reflected in almost all of my film projects.
PI: Tell us about the backgrounds of the actors that are involved in this series.
LP: They’re all a talented group of experienced working actors out of Atlanta. Three of them I’ve worked with for years. One of them, Jared Wofford, is my fellow executive producer, who’s also one of the lead characters.
PI: Where did you get the idea for “THE TROUBLE WITH GOING SOMEWHERE?”
LP: While working on this past season of FREEFALL, I’d become more interested in writing stories with more movement. I’m trained as a dramatic writer and feel like I do that very well, but lately, I’d been looking for ways to take that further and add other components to my writing. I had this idea for this premise, but I didn’t have a title. I usually can’t really get cooking — writing-wise — until I have a title. This phrase kept coming to me: The Trouble with Going Somewhere. I went through other ideas, but this one just wouldn’t go away. So I just listened and accepted that that was the title. It’s a reference to how I feel at the moment in my career, which is probably a temporary feeling, that I’m ready to be doing what I’m doing at a much higher level with more of a payoff. Knowing the industry and how it works, I feel like it takes so much to compromise and do things that you otherwise wouldn’t do — creatively and business-wise — just to make it. It’s the feeling that what you bring to the table artistically isn’t enough to get you to where you’re trying to go — that you have to wait for someone else’s permission or green light or money or artistic sensibilities (as skewed as they may be) — before you’re allowed to get there. So, that’s the personal inspiration and connection to the title.
PI: Why did you make this series?
LP: The reason I make any of my projects: It was a story that wouldn’t leave me alone until I made time to bring it to life.
PI: You have produced other web-series such as “MY BROTHER’S KEEPER” and “FREEFALL.” What lessons have you learned from making those series that you referred back to when making “THE TROUBLE…?”
LP: Keep raising the quality with every episode. Don’t listen to the haters and focus on your audience: they matter the most. Quincy Lenear (of the DL Chronicles) gave me that last piece of advice and it helped me a great deal during FREEFALL.
PI: Tell us about some of the obstacles you’ve faced during the filming of this series and what did you do to overcome them.
LP: No real obstacles, honestly. Other than the normal production issues that always go awry, I have a great team in my producing partners and we’re pretty seasoned at running small productions like this. It was a pretty easy shoot and my cast made it a very enjoyable experience.
PI: Is there any possible that Ellis (or the characters of this series) might cross paths with Nico or the boys from FREEFALL? Why or why not?
LP: You never know! We’re known for a little cross-promotion.
PI: Is there anything else you would like to share about this series?
LP: Just that it feels great to continue to challenge myself and put my work out there and expanding to new audiences. I think the fans that enjoy the first episode are really going to enjoy this series and we’re looking forward to producing a whole season this fall!
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