More than a dozen supporters including family members and colleagues have pledged to change the color of Hollywood, $1 at a time.
A 60-day Kickstarter campaign was launched, Feb. 10, to secure the necessary $100,000 budget to independently produce “Vice Versa,” the first science fiction film written and directed by an African American. Producer Ryan A. Cole is no stranger to blazing new trails. As the first student Emmy winner in Howard University’s history, four years later, Cole continues to shoot for the stars, literally.
The first two things that come to mind when thinking of sci-fi are big budgets and predominantly White casts. Cole would like to change that. The film takes place in the year 2025, where a new technology called Extraction allows for the removal of sin, in return for a “perfect life.”
What seems like an ambitious concept proves to champion the support of a once overlooked and marginalized demographic. “The lack of quality scripts, stale stereotypes, and flat out ignorance are a few factors resulting in the African American moviegoers’ unsatisfactory experience,” Cole told Blacknews.com.
“Hollywood is programmed to exploit these black tropes for maximum profit.”
There are thousands of untold stories Cole believes can ultimately lead his community into what he calls, a “Black Renaissance.”
With the bar set high, $20,000 raised in less than a day, it is up to the African-American public to make a bold statement. “We have to raise our own funds and write our own scripts, so that we can create diverse roles for black actors.”
For more information or to contribute to the film, visit Vice Versa’s Kickstarter page http://kck.st/1g0oTnB