He’s conquered the airwaves and he’s tackled book writing, but now radio personality Russ Parr can add filmmaker to his sprawling résumé. After breaking out on to radio in the late 1980s, Parr later went on to host his own show on the District’s WKYS. Now, the nationally syndicated Russ Parr Morning Show reaches 3.2 million listeners in 45 cities across the country.
Parr is currently gearing up for his new movie 35 & Ticking. The independent film, which marks his fourth work that he’s written and directed, is a hip romantic comedy with an all star cast including Nicole Ari Parker, Kevin Hart, Meagan Goode, Wendy Raquel Robinson and many more.
The AFRO spoke to Parr about his breakout in the movie industry and the efforts it took to put this new film together.
AFRO: Starting off, you’ve already had an amazing career in radio. Explain your crossover into becoming a filmmaker.
Russ Parr: I’ve always dabbled in the TV and film side. I actually have a degree in radio television and film from California State University, Northridge. Radio provided me with an opportunity to feed my kids. The entertainment industry is very competitive and can cost you a lot of money and I didn’t have that. But I always had a love for writing and in fact, I wrote my first script about 15 years ago. It just sat in my drawer for about 10 years before I decided to do something with it. That’s pretty much how I got started. You don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket.
AFRO: Explain the creation of “35 & Ticking.” Why did you want to bring this story to light?
RP: I watched so many of my friends hit “that age.” It’s not just women —but guys , “I haven’t found the right ” and “I don’t have any kids.” And women want to start having kids before they reach that magical age of 40. I’ve watched a lot of friends of mine just say, “I’m getting married no matter what…the clock is ticking.” I’m dealing with real Black relationships in a fun and dramatic way.
AFRO: How was the chemistry you and the cast members had with each other?
RP: Incredible. A lot of them signed on because they liked the script. I have just one rule and it is no one is allowed to yell at anybody on the set. We shot 35 & Ticking in 15 days, so we had to move. You can’t have conflict and people going at it. So, everybody pretty much followed the rule. Everybody liked each other and we had fun. to give actors a little room to bring personalities to their characters. It really worked out.
AFRO: Explain why you think it’s important for the African-American community to embrace Black independent films.
RP: We’re not getting the same amount of opportunities and we’re all put into the same box. It’s like the definition of success for Black films is Tyler Perry. There are a lot of other Black films that are not going to get the backing, and have to go the independent route. It’s sad because there are a lot of great stories that don’t get told. There are a lot of great independent films that I know about that should be in theaters, but they’re not going to be. Then they want to put us in the same box — If Tyler Perry’s movie doesn’t do well, we’re not seeing another Black film for another six months. Hollywood looks at it like, “Black films aren’t in right now, look what Tyler did.” I’m not being disrespectful to Tyler in any way and I’m not knocking his hustle at all. I’m glad he found a formula that works, but some of us have formulas that could work, too. To be honest, I haven’t made any money from any of my movies, but I’m still doing it because I think that someone is going to recognize me as something other than a radio personality. There’s more to me than just that.
“35 & Ticking” comes to theaters in Washington D.C., Baltimore and Atlanta on May 20. For more information, visit: www.therussparrmorningshow.com.
